4 | Kalvin Phillips - 2022/23 Performances

[samuelyeboah]

Can't be having Declan Rice holding his hand all the time.

Also, needs to learn proportional navigation - stop passing the fucking ball where the intended recipient isn't going to be.

How many fucking times does he play the ball short or so slow that the intended target has to check, and run the other way?

Remember that being especially frustrating in the southampton carabao defeat. His lack of awareness of who, when and where should receive the ball was astonishing.

 

[Keeper!]

Grealish, Rodri, Ake etc and how they struggled in their first season but they all still had standout qualities that shone through when they were struggling for form.

Grealish was low on confidence and still is a pretty crap finisher but he was one of our best chance creators and retained possession well.

Rodri was struggling to adapt to being a lone holding midfielder and learning which spaces to fill to protect from counters but he still had great ability in the air, used his body well to shield the ball and could spray passes out to the right wing.

Ake looked like he felt like he didn't belong and was too timid in possession but he's always been a great one on one defender and has an incredible leap.

What natural abilities does Phillips have that you can see consistently running through his game, even in his worst form?

I hope I'm wrong but I just don't see enough underlying talent to make him worth investing the time into.

Phillips can pick a pass but other than that he looks completely out of place in this squad, not sure he is bright enough for this side.

 

[Pubteam Lomas]

Think the most damning verdict comes from Pep.
You'd think Phillips would be ideal to help us close games out and play alongside Rodri.
But any subs tend to see Bernardo move into a deeper role.

Also I'd have thought he'd be a prime candidate to play the defender/midfield hybrid role that Stones is doing but he genuinely doesn't seem to have the game intelligence to do it.

I heard him on Monday Night Club on 5Live with Chapman, before the World Cup.
He came across as really good lad, but he did say he thought he "could play' until he turned up for City training.
"I think just technically as a player, before I came to Manchester City I thought I was good. Then I came into training and I was 1,000 miles behind every player that was there."

 

[Churchlawtonblue]

Still far too slow getting round the pitch for me, add in his poor passing ability and I have serious doubts he will make it in a Pep team. But as others pointed out it often takes players a while to adapt to a Pep style.

 

[Withnail]

Somewhat tentative today but not the greatest situation to be playing in today.

Certainly having a difficult start with us.

He didn't look comfortable at all, I would still give him until next season before deciding to get rid. He needs a full pre season injury free and hopefully then you may see the KP that was playing for Leeds and the reason why Pep wanted him.

 

[John Wayne]

The problem as I see it is that he looks so far off it that you can't realistically see him making up the ground. Grealish and Rodri are obvious comparisons and, whilst both have proven me wrong, neither looked as far off it as Phillips does presently. If I had to sum him up, it'd be a lack of speed in every regard. He is slow to sense danger and has the turning circle of a milk float.

He's 28 in September (older than Rodri) and will not get a run of games due to Rodri's importance and excellence. This makes me think we need to sell in the summer. Perhaps the backup to Rodri needs to be able to also play in another position as well, so as to be able to get enough game time.

We took our foot off the gas at 3-0 but were still in complete control. As soon as Rodri went off, it all went to pot as is usually the case. Consolation goals always seem to go in when we give Rodri a breather. We lose control and the intensity always drops to testimonial pace. For this reason, I don't think we can play Phillips at Wembley from the start.

Clearly he was positionally at fault for the goal both in blocking Ederson and playing everyone onside, but I think that the Maddison one-on-one following Dias' poor pass is just as telling. Dias has to shoulder some of the responsibility, but you can see he's looking for the out-ball that Rodri would give him. Due to the fact that Phillips was missing in action, Dias did not have the option to play forward even though he delayed the pass as long as he could in the hope it would materialise. It didn't materialise, so Maddison was able to read and intercept the only viable option, which was a pass to Laporte.

Pep must be very concerned at what he is seeing at this point.

 

[JamesMCFC]

Normally I would give a player time here but I just can't see what he offers.

He honestly looked like he won a competition to play with the first team for 30 mins

 

[Blue Smarties]

Cut our losses this summer. This isn’t a Grealish or Rodri situation who showed signs of their talent.

 

[cupsforcockups]

Not trying to defend him as I don’t think he is good enough for us but it can’t be easy when 4-5 of our better players have been subbed off and the quality is not as good.Alvarez only looks have the player he is when he plays with what can be called our b team

 

[tommybooth]

Not good enough from the start. Only Bravo has been a worse signing. If we could flog him to anyone. Bite their hand off.