In those games, Phillips finally played, made forward passes, not the safe stuff he did from the subs bench, joined in with the last third, had shots (hit the bar once) and got his confidence up.
For me, that's progression.
Phillips isn't here to replace Rodri. When Rodri goes off the formation changes cos, no matter who we have, there is no replacement for Rodri. We are back in our Yaya/ Fernandinho/ Silva phase for irreplaceable players and Rodri is next.
Some of our fans need to stop comparing players.