4 | Kalvin Phillips - 2022/23 Performances

[simon23]

It's a big risk, he has a very poor injury record and again with the late finish of this season, pre season I would imagine will be very short, so I am not sure he can improve his fitness much in that period.

I personally think he will be moved on and he will have plenty of clubs after him.

Its not just about fitness though...its about gaining rhythm and getting use to playing in the team....there is only one way that is going to happen..

 

[Blue Llama]

My observation is that Phillips is constricted by the pressure that comes with being the new boy. Like so many before him he is playing to not make mistakes with the ball and lose it. He would rather use short passes backwards and sideways into safe areas. He is surrounded by superstars and being compared directly with one of them. The guy is so nervous I wonder how he manages to do anything never mind play his natural game.

 

[Gabriel]

It's a big risk, he has a very poor injury record and again with the late finish of this season, pre season I would imagine will be very short, so I am not sure he can improve his fitness much in that period.

I personally think he will be moved on and he will have plenty of clubs after him.

In that scenario, whomever we signed as a replacement would require next season to bed in as well, so we might as well see if Phillips can improve.

 

[Keeper!]

Its not just about fitness though...its about gaining rhythm and getting use to playing in the team....there is only one way that is going to happen..

The Sheffield SF will tell you if has a future, a game he has to start, if not he is finished with us.

 

[Bluewonder]

The weird thing with Phillips is that for Leeds and England, he's always looked a pretty good player at Premier League level.

Not exceptional, not even great, but more than good enough to justify a £40m purchase to rotate with Rodri in the 'easier' games.

Yet with us, he's been absolutely abysmal, a total waste of a shirt.

It's bizarre, but it gives me hope that he might become a good squad member next year. Equally, if we bin him off, I think everyone would understand.

 

[Plain Speaking]

That’s the rest yesterday but I’ll add Lewis, Ortega, and Perrone to the mix. I’m not criticising them as individuals, just recognising that this year we are operating with a really tight nucleus of players in whom Guardiola has complete trust and arguably two fewer players than we were operating with at the same stage last season. I agree that Phillips will likely still be with us next season.

Personally I think Ortega has been outstanding in several games for us, he's made one mistake where he was caught out by a long shot, but he's had a couple of man of the match performances where his shot stopping has kept us in a game. I can't remember Ederson ever getting a man of the match performance? Unlike Philips, I don't get concerned when Ortega is played. I would be sad to lose Ortega.

 

[Plain Speaking]

The weird thing with Phillips is that for Leeds and England, he's always looked a pretty good player at Premier League level.

Not exceptional, not even great, but more than good enough to justify a £40m purchase to rotate with Rodri in the 'easier' games.

Yet with us, he's been absolutely abysmal, a total waste of a shirt.

It's bizarre, but it gives me hope that he might become a good squad member next year. Equally, if we bin him off, I think everyone would understand.

I agree he's looked committed and confident at Leeds, I think he could thrive at say West ham?but some of his England performances have been below par, I like his character but I really don't think he's good enough for the best team in the world.

 

[simon23]

The Sheffield SF will tell you if has a future, a game he has to start, if not he is finished with us.

The other thing s about that its also the team he starts with.....if he starts along with the likes of KDB, Haaland, Foden, Bernardo, Grealish Ake etc etc then ok - you can start to make a judgement....but if he starts in a team that contains other players who dont have the rhythm like Gomez, Palmer etc then its again hardly a fair test of whether he can play or not for us.....

It would be interesting (but not right now) to see him in a full strength city side where he is the only change (with rodri dropping out of course) - this would be a better/fairer test of his capability.

Dias started to make mistakes yesterday when all the changes happened so that drop off in performance yesterday wasnt down to one player - it was down to a disjointed team

 

[Keeper!]

The other thing s about that its also the team he starts with.....if he starts along with the likes of KDB, Haaland, Foden, Bernardo, Grealish Ake etc etc then ok - you can start to make a judgement....but if he starts in a team that contains other players who dont have the rhythm like Gomez, Palmer etc then its again hardly a fair test of whether he can play or not for us.....

It would be interesting (but not right now) to see him in a full strength city side where he is the only change (with rodri dropping out of course) - this would be a better/fairer test of his capability.

Dias started to make mistakes yesterday when all the changes happened so that drop off in performance yesterday wasnt down to one player - it was down to a disjointed team

100% agree with that.

 

[Gabriel]

Personally I think Ortega has been outstanding in several games for us, he's made one mistake where he was caught out by a long shot, but he's had a couple of man of the match performances where his shot stopping has kept us in a game. I can't remember Ederson ever getting a man of the match performance? Unlike Philips, I don't get concerned when Ortega is played. I would be sad to lose Ortega.

Think he’s fine as well. I’m just pointing out that as we go down the final stretch we are operating with an incredibly small number of players and that Guardiola will rely on them more than ever. I’m pretty sure that the ‘bit part’ players realise that as well and that that realisation will inevitably have an impact on their confidence, irrespective of all the ‘it’s a squad game’ protestations.