EPL Talk » Shaun Wright-Phillips

Arsenal Hit By Double Injury Blow Just As Walcott Returns

Paul Bestall — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:53:25 +0000

Just when Arsene Wenger thought his injury problems were behind him, with Theo Walcott looking likely to return to first team action this week, Nicklas Bendtner decides to off road in his Aston Martin on the way to training on an empty road and Denilson has had a fractured bone in his back confirmed by Arsenal’s medical team.

Thankfully, Bendtner seems to be simply bruised and battered and no doubt a little shook up by his little escapade on the A1 yesterday on his way to training. Wenger seems to be taking a safety first option with the young striker, whilst he’ll miss tomorrow’s Champions League game against Olympiakos he should be back for the weekend fixture against Blackburn.

It’s unfortunate as his performance in the comeback against Standard Liege was probably his best performance in an Arsenal shirt since he’s been at the club. He was fantastic, pulling the Liege defence all over the place and dragging the Gunners back in to the match. he’s certainly been playing well this season and it’s a disruption he could do without.

The news about Denilson sounds a little more serious and it’s unusual as its taken over two weeks to confirm the injury he sustained against Manchester City. He has been extremely impressive so far this season, capped with wonderful goal in the 6-1 rout of Everton on the first weekend of the Premiership season. His work rate, passing and distribution have kept Arsenal ticking along despite the defeats to both halves of Manchester’s footballing rivalry.

After the progress he made last season, and the consistency he seems to finally have added to his undoubted talent, it’s a real shame. He’s pencilled in to return in time for the clash with Chelsea at the Emirates on Sunday November 29th. To be honest, the run Arsenal have over the next 2 months, they’ll be happier with the quality of the opposition they face in the period he’ll be missing than later in the season.

December and January will be tough on most clubs, but Arsenal have to play Aston Villa, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Everton as well as their favourite away trip to Bolton Wanderers. At least they don’t have to go to Blackburn or play the return of the Gunners new grudge match against Manchester City.

Walcott’s return can’t come soon enough for the young lad BUT he really needs to ease himself back into action. Whilst he may have fallen behind Aaron Lennon and Shaun Wright Phillips in the England pecking order, he needs to focus on returning to a consistent level of performance for Arsenal first. He doesn’t need to worry too much about England, they’ve already qualified for the World Cup.

With his attributes as either a winger, a striker or even playing as right midfield, Walcott has options few other players can match. Fabio Capello is quite aware of the qualities Walcott can bring to the England team, he simply needs to concentrate on getting a good, consistent season for Arsenal. If he manages that, he should easily be in the 23 man squad that goes out to South Africa come June next year.

The Mini-Adventures Of Wright-Phillips And The V Sign Hand Gesture

The Gaffer — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:30:34 +0000

On Wednesday night, Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate became incensed when Man City’s Shaun Wright-Phillips dived to win a foul. After the dimunitive star was substituted, Southgate and Wright-Phillips got into a verbal spat that resulted in SWP giving the two-fingered salute to Southgate.

Now, SWP may face a FA charge of bringing the game into disrepute.

Some of you may be wondering, what’s the big deal about what Subbuteo’s Shaun Wright-Phillips did, right? Let me tell you.

Giving someone the two fingers is definitely a huge cultural difference between the United States and United Kingdom. In the United States, it’s used quite often when someone wants to non-verbally communicate the number two. “Dude, how many times have the Phillies won the World Series?” And the two fingers would go up, especially if the dude had his mouth full and was eating a philly cheesesteak.

In the United Kingdom, it means f**k you and has the same meaning as the preferred American one-finger salute.

Being British and living in the United States, I can’t tell how you how many times Americans have unknowingly raised two fingers in my face, with palm pointed inward, and I’ve had to try to keep my composure. I’ve had professors do it to my face. I’ve had bosses do it, without knowing what they were non-verbally saying to me. Oftentimes, I’ve felt like jumping out and telling them to stop as what they’re doing is offensive. But because they don’t realize what they’re doing, I internalize those feelings and shrug them off.

Until now.

While SWP’s gesture to Southgate was in poor form, it did allow me to teach some Americans a lesson about when not to use the two fingered salute. Interestingly, Winston Churchill used in during early periods of World War II to convey victory, but soon changed it to have the palm pointed outward instead of inward. Nowadays, the V sign with palm pointed outward communicates peace.

The story of how the V sign originated is fascinating. Check out the passage about bowfinger on Wikipedia.

One more story about the V sign. I admit, I’ve used it myself to show my anger at Americans before. Sometimes I’ve done it without thinking. Only afterwards do I suddenly realize that they must have been wondering what an idiot I was, non-verbally communicating the number two again and again. “Two, what?” they must have been wondering. But I’ve also done the two finger salutes to Americans when I want to vent but I knowingly don’t want them to know exactly what I’m communicating. It happens quite often for me during road rage incidents. The last thing I want to do is cause the driver to ram me off the road or pull out a gun, so a lovely two-fingered salute diffuses the situation, makes me feel good and gives me a wry smile.

In the case of Shaun Wright-Phillips giving the V sign gesture to Gareth Southgate, both gentlemen knew what the salute meant, so it’s only right that the FA look into the situation. If the referee reported it as an incident, then SWP may find himself being fined or, worse, banned. It all seems a bit harmless to me, but in some ways the FA needs to step in to send a message that this type of behavior shouldn’t be allowed week-in week-out in the league.

For the rest of us, though, we can spend our weekend giving the V sign to friends or strangers. If you’re American, you just have to hope that the other bloke isn’t reading this blog or isn’t a connoisseur of British hand gestures. You have been warned.

How Chelsea Ruined Shaun Wright-Phillips

The Gaffer — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:03:37 +0000

The way Chelsea Football Club ruined Shaun Wright-Phillips is a travesty.

Go back in time to 2005 and the dimunitive winger was tearing down the right wing at the City Of Manchester Stadium. The player was such a joy to watch as he took on players and went on mazy runs often beating two or three opponents. His form at the time was simply spectacular and I was recommending that he be selected for the 2006 World Cup team and to start instead of David Beckham.

Three years later, Wright-Phillips has returned to Manchester City after mostly sitting on the bench at Chelsea for three years. The player got few starts. After not playing for so long, it was obvious that the confidence he had at City and the speed down the right wings had disappeared.

Reportedly one of the main reasons Chelsea bought Wright-Phillips in the first place was to prevent the winger from joining Liverpool, who would have obviously benefitted immensely from a player of his calibre. Instead, one year later, Liverpool signed Jermaine Pennant, a poor man’s version of Wright-Phillips.

Now that the winger is back at Manchester City, I really hope the player can regain his form and get a consistent amount of appearances under his belt as well as getting back into the England squad. Wright-Phillips has a lot to prove and hopefully, under Mark Hughes’s tutelage, the winger can improve the one part of the game he continually is weak in: putting in that killer cross.