Its hard to judge when he is surrounded by so many other 'under' performances. He had to constantly drop deep to get slow ball from Yaya, some of the distribution out of defence was poor. Phil is still inexperienced and i thought he took wrong positions off the ball at numerous times last night. He actually got in the way of runs a few times - he will learn though. in front of him Gabby looks incredibly ring rusty. So is it fair to expect him to dominate when a number of cogs in the machine are grinding? Put him in the first team and he invariably plays well and makes excellent contribution. I agree he is no KDB but should we expect him to be - at the moment he is being criticised because he falls short of Kev/Dave which is a little harsh as so would every other midfield player in the premier league.
Probably you or I mate. I think he is a good player and is great alongside either of them. He has had some very good performances such as Barca last season and Basel away this season. He will only get better as long as he stays injury free so I am more than happy with him.Sure he looks better alongside Dave or Kev but who doesn't.
Sorry not for me. I have never seen him have a stand out performance in a game, I can't imagine him doing so. Sure he looks better alongside Dave or Kev but who doesn't. Last night he had a chance to shine and simple didn't turn up I except that some of that was down to covering for Yaya. Just not good enough for us. As others have said he's tidy but imo that isn't enough on its own.
He’s a defensive mid all day for me. Doesn’t suit playing further forward at all.
In defensive mid he finds space and demands the ball, further forward he hides and when he does get it doesn’t seem as composed.
One of the best performances I’ve ever seen by a player was his game for Dortmund against us. In defensive mid. Superb. Played really well on Sunday. In defensive mid. Superb.
Don’t think he’s played well once for us further forward yet.