Can't believe some of the criticism of Phillips on here.
Let's look at Rodri. He's a cruiser who closes space down, closes opposition players down, tackles, take the ball from defence and attack and sets up a new play. he plays a long ball occasionally , usually to Mahrez and can chip in with the odd goal. he does not sprint round the field like a madman, he only sprints when he has to, but he is world class at what he does.
Phillips came on yesterday and some posters seem to think he should have dashed around like a blue arsed fly to show he was keen. Instead, he cruised around midfield, just as Rodri does, moving the ball around and generally trying to do the same job as Rodri, but admittedly not as well, due to lack of game time and the fact that Rodri is so good that most other DM's would pale in comparison.
We also do not know what instructions Pep gave him before he came on. if I was Pep, I would have said something like; 'keep it simples and try and get into the rhythm of the game''. Don't think Pep wanted someone tearing round the field in that position.
The other suggestion is that we sell Phillips and buy another top class DM to back up Rodri. Simple question, which top class DM would want to come and sit on the bench for most games, because Rodri will play most games?
