Why Shaun Wright-Phillips Has Been QPR's Least Effective Player This Season

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Despite not playing for the past few matches, Shaun Wright-Phillips has statistically been the least effective player for Queens Park Rangers this season.

Ignoring players whom have had less than 10 appearances and ignoring players whom have left the club in January, there are still a few who could be dubbed "least effective" than Wright-Phillips.

Ji-Sung Park for example is one of those. But his improvement in the last few games, his assists tally of three (only second to Adel Taarabt), and his tackle rate of 2.6 which is fourth highest in the squad makes him more effective than the ex-Chelsea man.

Esteban Granero, although being dribbled past 18 times, and committing 32 fouls, his 83 percent pass rate and his total of 44 key passes in a game rule him out also.

Jose Bosingwa could also have been classed as the least effective player, but his 41 total tackles, his 64 clearances and his 30 interceptions, all put him within the top seven for each of those categories of the team. And despite the problems with his attitude and questionable work rate, the stats show he does do his job when it comes to regaining possession.

So why is Shaun Wright-Phillips Queens Park Rangers' least effective player? Read on to find out.

 

All statistics only include Premier League matches, and are taken from FourFourTwo Stats App and WhoScored.com.

Dribbling vs. Dispossesion

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This is probably one of Shaun Wright-Phillips' strongest areas of his game, but it still highlights areas of weakness.

He has made 22 successful dribbles in his league matches, but has also been disposed 12 times. That is a 65 percent success rate overall, and when in possession, he has been turned over 23 times.

This percent although not the worst of his fellow wingers—Jamie Mackie and Junior Hoilett have a much higher dispossession rate—does contribute to his ineffectiveness in possession.

Tackling

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Whereas dribbling could be seen as SWP's strong point, tackling is most definitely isn't.

A prerequisite of the majority of football positions (the goalkeeper and manager excluded), and although wingers may be more prone to avoiding tackles, making them is almost as important.

Tracking back to cover the full-backs, and closing down players in the midfield to re-gain possession requires a large amount of timing and skill. However Wright-Phillips seems to shy away from these situations, making only 26 tackles in total, and being dribbled past eight times.

He is 15th in the squad for tackles made, and for a player who was a regular in the starting XI for much of the season, that is poor.

Goals to Shots Ratio

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For one shining moment, Shaun Wright-Phillips was QPR's star when he scored the goal which gave them victory over arch-rivals Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

However that single goal was his only one in the league this season, and his shot tally reads 29. Those 29 shots makes him less effective in two ways.

One, is that a 1:29 is not a great conversion rate for an attacking winger. And two, is that for an attacking winger, just 29 shots in 20 games would not be considered high enough.

Adel Taarabt, Andros Townsend, Loic Remy and Junior Hoilett all have more shots per game than Wright-Phillips. And all of these are considered wingers, even if Remy is sometimes played in the lone striker role.

Pass Success

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And finally, probably the least effective part of his game, is his passing.

Wright-Phillips has made a total of 307 passes, with only 236 being successful. That is an overall 76.9 percent, with only a total of nine key passes. Just six of his 20 long balls have been accurately made, and he has failed to register a single successful through ball.

These are not the sort of statistics a manager would be looking for from a midfielder who is supposed to create chances.

His lack of passing ability alone would suggest he is QPR's least effective player. But if you include the other key aspects to his game which he is failing in, he hands down beats the likes of Bosingwa, Granero and Park, no matter what your own personal opinions are on those players.

And this could be why these three have regained their starting places, whereas Wright-Phillips has been left to sweat it out on the bench.