Kalvin Phillips

Johnny Mars Bar said:
Having him playing alongside Rodders for a bit will do him the world of good. Will help him learn and take a bit of the pressure off.

He's obvs staying to fight for his place so while my gut still tells me he's quite at our level I'm going to back him 100%. I really want the lad to prove me wrong.
Click to expand...

He looked good for England, but that was with a DM alongside him, 3 central defenders behind him and two defence-minded wingbacks wide of him.

We can't change our system to accommodate him, he needs to adapt, and also play to a higher standard than he ever has done previously.

And that's just to be a backup.
 
The Wanderers Leave The Kid Alone GIF - The Wanderers Leave The Kid Alone Leave Him Alone GIFs
 
donsmoke said:
His passing is 'very good' when he's allowed time on the ball, unfortunately our DMs don't get allowed time on the ball, hence you need to be press resistant
Click to expand...
Agree totally with this. He sometimes looks good playing for England but the standard of most international teams (especially in qualifiers) is about League One in this country. I am sure he has a sound attitude and hopefully will come good but to be honest I am not that confident this will happen.
 
We play with 2 defensive midfielders when we attack in our 325.

The options for those two are Rodri, Stones, Kovacic and Philips.

He is 4th choice, he may not be as good as Rodri, but he will be useful for our squad in the long run.

Edit: It would help him to get minutes if he could play in more than one position.

Kovacic: 6, or higher as an 8.

Stones: CB, RB, CB into mid, or 6.

Rodri: 6 or CB into mid.

If Philips could play as a CB into mid or RB he becomes immensely more useful as a squad player.
 
Last edited:
mattcity5 said:
He looked good for England, but that was with a DM alongside him, 3 central defenders behind him and two defence-minded wingbacks wide of him.

We can't change our system to accommodate him, he needs to adapt, and also play to a higher standard than he ever has done previously.

And that's just to be a backup.
Click to expand...
No, he looked ok for England. Rice covered for his inadequacies. He’s not good enough for England, and won’t get another kick in three lions shirt whilst rice and Bellingham are playing. Also, Rico is already better.
 
Clubs always need squad depth. Sometimes there's not many injuries and when some things click you don't want to change it.

I don't think he's done anything wrong, it just has fallen in his favour. One injury in the squad could change his outlook considerably.
 
Any1aBlue said:
No, he looked ok for England. Rice covered for his inadequacies. He’s not good enough for England, and won’t get another kick in three lions shirt whilst rice and Bellingham are playing. Also, Rico is already better.
Click to expand...

Not arguing with that.

A lot have praised his England performances, but I think he got excessive praise because he was from a club who get less players represent England. It would have been the same if he were a Villa, Everton or Brentford player playing like he did. His performances were good but the praise was exaggerated.
 
oldius said:
How we remember when the Grealish thread was just like this one. Get a grip, it's like you're willing one of our own to fail. What is all that about?
Click to expand...

People saying he's not very good does not mean people are willing him to fail. I've not noticed anyone do that. In fact, almost everyone has said they'd love him to come good.
 
40 pages deep and the season is still a few weeks away.

Look, the lad is never going to usurp Rodri, there's not a 6 in football that would be willing to come here that could. The first half of the season is going to be massive for him, has to take every opportunity he is given as I see Pep having no qualms in using Kovacic as our 6 in Rodri's absence/bringing him on to shore us up if game is close(assuming he's not started) if he's not up to it. Look forward to seeing if the lad can get his game up to the required level.
 
mattcity5 said:
Yeah maybe with some, fair enough, not with all though.
Click to expand...
Oh, that's absolutely true, which is why I said some. I have no problem with constructive criticism, but it is relentless on here at times. This man joined last season and spent a long time out with injury. I'd just ask supporters of his club to give him a break.
 
Phil1 said:
once the BM boo boys have you in their sights there’s no escape…
Click to expand...
I think he needs to sort his priorities out.

He's doing a lot of media work at the moment promoting his documentary (who thought of that idea?)

By all means he's clever enough to already be looking for careers after his time in the game is over.

I would like to see him develop under Pep to be the best he can. But as you say, I think BM and the match day thread have found their new FFS.

Despite complianingbabiut his media work this is a good interview done by someone who's actually interested in him and not some clickbait chasing headlines.

 
TinFoilHat said:
I think he needs to sort his priorities out.

He's doing a lot of media work at the moment promoting his documentary (who thought of that idea?)

By all means he's clever enough to already be looking for careers after his time in the game is over.

I would like to see him develop under Pep to be the best he can. But as you say, I think BM and the match day thread have found their new FFS.

Despite complianingbabiut his media work this is a good interview done by someone who's actually interested in him and not some clickbait chasing headlines.

Click to expand...

I suppose if he’s doing all this media work in his own time then there’s no issue for me. As long as he’s grafting each and every day in training to improve, and there’s no doubts he needs to if he’s serious about remaining here, then I’m willing to give him my support.
It may turn out that he will never quite be able to make the step up and if that’s the case then hopefully he finds a club that suits him and we move on. Being good enough for the majority of PL clubs is one thing, being good enough for us is a totally different kettle of fish.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top