You don't pick a professional sports team on sentiment. Sentiment is for fans.
Repeatedly picking a player who is clearly off form (for whatever reason) does no more than expose them to criticism.
The simple fact is that Phil has looked disinterested in games and has been one of our least effective players this season, but Pep continues to select him ahead of Grealish, Nunes, McAtee etc.
As I've said, the player is still in there but personally, I believe that he needs a change of either club, coach, or both, to get back on track.