March has been a pivotal month for SWP in his second stint at City. Revered by the fans for what he has done for the club, the grumbles don't often reach the stadium (at least audibly) but a growing number must now be questioning what future Shauny has at the club.
With the financial backing available and the ambition to support it, any player who doesn't seem to be a vital part of the squad must be living in fear of the summer. Since Mancini's arrival Shaun has, injuries permitting, seen himself fall behind Johnson, Bellamy and a fit Petrov in the pecking order, and with regular transfer rumours in the papers about City's interest in wide players, SWP would be forgiven for thinking his days are numbered as a force at City. Hence, in my opinion, his contract demands.
The month started in explosive form for him as an England substitute against Egypt, where he came on for his lacklustre competitor, Theo Walcott, and both scored and assisted in a strong second half display - a display which, people said at the time, would as good as guarantee him a spot on the plane to South Africa. Perhaps on the strength of this cameo, both Ian Wright and Shaun came out to talk about wage demands in the same week. A move which, I believe, rather than being greedy, sought to test the club's belief in him at a time when he was beginning to doubt his importance to the City team. Ill-advised, as he has appeared to be in his career, Shaun would always have been better off proving his worth on the pitch.
So what better managing than to send him out for a start in the next game against Sunderland. Mancini persevered with a lacklustre display from him until the 73rd minute, when Adam Johnson replaced him with a match-saving display - which dislodged him for the rest of the month. He managed six minutes against Fulham, struggled to influence the game after coming on after 41mins against Everton, and then was taken off at half-time, despite some promise, against Wigan. Unlucky perhaps, but hardly the type of involvement of a certain starter like Bridge with whom he wants pay parity.
One of the problems may be the Italian philosophy of football - where technique rules over rush and commitment. Shaun is at his breath-taking best when he is flying at players and has little time to think - give him time to think about a pass, or a shot, and he is often found lacking. I do not know the workings of Mancini's mind, but I think it is fair to say an Italian footballing education would be looking for more technical ability from its wide players.
I love Shaun for all he has done for the club, but I fear he doesn't fit into the plans anymore, and furthermore, I don't think he is showing the attitude to be able to fight for it. He has always been a confidence player and the general uncertainty he has in part created around himself is probably affecting his performances, but then it is only down to him to be able to change that.
A number of comments surrounding this subject have revealed Shaun's frustration since the arrival of Mancini - why, when the rumour mongerers started putting it about that Mancini would only last til Mourinho's arrival in the summer, announce to the press that Mourinho is the best manager you have ever worked with? And even with this story his comments seem to run against the popular belief that Cook and Marwood are solely in charge of these sort of matters: "At one stage I was very confident that would happen. It looked like everything would be sorted when Mark Hughes was in charge. He was keen to agree a new deal. But since he left, there has been nothing."
There is no doubt he is frustrated with things at the moment, especially as he faces slipping out of the World Cup squad in the same tantalising fashion that he did last time, but he has to take some responsibility himself. If he believes strongly enough in himself, then the only way to do the talking is on the pitch - and the quicker he realises it, the greater chance he has of saving his City and international career. With only seven games remaining, his time is running out.
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