Former England international Shaun Wright-Phillips has revealed why he failed to settle in at Chelsea, in an exclusive interview with Football FanCast.
What did he say?
After impressing with displays for Manchester City, Wright-Phillips joined Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea side in the summer of 2005.
However, things did not quite workout for the speedy winger, managing just 10 goals in 125 appearances for the club.
After three seasons in West London the England man returned to his former club, and looking back on the experience he said he had the wrong approach at Stamford Bridge.
“I think there were a lot of factors at play,” he told Football FanCast.
“Obviously, the older I get the more I’m seeing and the more I’m realising but in my first spell at City, the ball came to me very quickly and I was always that person who was going to make something out of nothing or get people off their seats.
“I was quite fearless. I didn’t think about it in my head. I was just like, ‘I’m going to beat you, I’m going to cross the ball and hopefully create a chance.’ That was my mindset and I think the difference was, when I went to Chelsea, I had to get used to the fact that it wasn’t just me that could do those things.
“I had to learn to be a bit more patient and then I noticed that times when I was getting the ball, I was trying to do everything too quickly instead of playing my way into the game. At Chelsea I had to take my time.
“I look back now I can say that is was the wrong approach. I just needed to just play the way I play.”
Difficult move
Unfortunately for Wright-Phillips his second spell in Manchester was not as successful as his first, with the new owners investing heavily in the squad.
In truth, it was a similar situation that he found himself in at Chelsea, who had plenty of talent out wide such as Damien Duff and Arjen Robben.
As he admitted, his approach at Chelsea was not quite right and with significant competition for places, he suffered as a result.
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