4 | Kalvin Phillips - 2022/23 Performances

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OrigamiNinja said:
I thought he was decent enough tonight. Only thing that worried me was when the game got fast-paced for a few mins in the 2nd half, he looked a prime candidate for collapsing out on the pitch. Hopefully it’s just lack of match-fitness. Much improved. More needed.
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Maybe it’s because he’s in the position I played and so I am hyper focused on and critical of anyone playing there, but I actually thought he was pretty poor.

He was bullied off the ball a few times in midfield (at least one instance leading to a chance on goal), launched (and lost) two very tame challenges just outside of our box leading to chances for Bristol, played at least four passes directly to Bristol players under no pressure, lost most of his aerial duels, and at times looked to be hiding from the ball whilst we were in possession (in contrast to Lewis, who was constantly running in to space to demand the ball, often the space Phillips should have been in). I think we largely struggled because he was just not able to fill the role Rodri does in our system (I don’t mean to the same standard, as that would be unreasonable to expect, but that he was just not offering the same attributes). At times, it actually looked like our players were trying to avoid passing to him. His body language at times looked frustrated, as well. Those last two observations could be disputed, I’ll admit, but a few mates in my City WhatsApp chat also agreed, so I imagine I am not the only one that saw it.

Now, all of that said, I’d like to think that is mostly down to being rusty and, as you say, nowhere near match fit. And perhaps his teammates sensed his confidence is low and didn’t want to pile pressure on him.

Phillips is a different player to Rodri—who I would argue is one of the best DMs in the world—most players need at least a year to adjust to Pep’s tactics, and has been hit by injury (though, the shoulder problems were well-known before we signed him, which remains a head scratcher for me personally), so I am going to reserve judgement.

But I am definitely surprised that others thought he played well tonight. I would say he was ok at best if we’re grading on a curve (based on him just coming back from a long lay off).

Hopefully this 90 minutes gives him something to build on and we see more from him through these difficult next few months.

I am definitely going to support him, either way.
 
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I thought at times going forward he was good. Unlucky not to score in first min. However, there were other times when he wasn’t so good. Some examples of weak challenges as they highlighted at half time and loose passing, the biggest issue for me was his lack of being available for the defence to pass to when under pressure.

To be fair to him though he must be under an incredible amount of pressure to perform now though so everything he does will be going through his mind.

I’m not convinced he is going to make it with us but time will tell.
 
He needs game time, played exactly like you would expect a player who has had played the equivalent on 3 full games all season including pre season.
 
We won the game and rested Rodri so job done but still so much more needed from Kalvin. This is a mid table Championship side, albeit in good form. But he didn't run the game or dominate by any stretch. A good game to get under his belt and hopefully take some confidence and fitness going forwards.
 
SebastianBlue said:
Maybe it’s because he’s in the position I played and so I am hyper focused on and critical of anyone playing there, but I actually thought he was pretty poor.

He was bullied off the ball a few times in midfield (at least one instance leading to a chance on goal), launched (and lost) two very tame challenges just outside of our box leading to chances for Bristol, played at least four passes directly to Bristol players under no pressure, lost most of his aerial duels, and at times looked to be hiding from the ball whilst we were in possession (in contrast to Lewis, who was constantly running in to space to demand the ball, often the space Phillips should have been in). I think we largely struggled because he was just not able to fill the role Rodri does in our system (I don’t mean to the same standard, as that would be unreasonable to expect, but that he was just not offering the same attributes). At times, it actually looked like our players were trying to avoid passing to him. His body language at times looked frustrated, as well. Those last two observations could be disputed, I’ll admit, but a few mates in my City WhatsApp chat also agreed, so I imagine I am not the only one that saw it.

Now, all of that said, I’d like to think that is mostly down to being rusty and, as you say, nowhere near match fit. And perhaps his teammates sensed his confidence is low and didn’t want to pile pressure on him.

Phillips is a different player to Rodri—who I would argue is one of the best DMs in the world—most players need at least a year to adjust to Pep’s tactics, and has been hit by injury (though, the shoulder problems were well-known before we signed him, which remains a head scratcher for me personally), so I am going to reserve judgement.

But I am definitely surprised that others thought he played well tonight. I would say he was ok at best if we’re grading on a curve (based on him just coming back from a long lay off).
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Yeah he was pretty poor, standards for him are too low.
Misplaced passes, slipping, got dribbled past easily
Hoping he improves his game tho
Exceptional player when I watch him in the England shirt
 
Got through 90 with no costly errors what more can you ask on his first start really
 
David_MCFCx said:
Yeah he was pretty poor, standards for him are too low.
Misplaced passes, slipping, got dribbled past easily
Hoping he improves his game tho
Exceptional player when I watch him in the England shirt
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He has shown he can be very good on his day and I think he gives us something different against teams where Rodri’s attributes aren’t necessarily needed (or optimal).

Like I said, I’d like to think most of this is rustiness, having barely played at all.
 
Decent enough - lost possession a few times early on but got better on the ball. Hope the lack of zip & tenacity is due to rustiness/match fitness/confidence - we've not had the Leeds/England version of Phillips yet.

Main concern for me is that he wasn't offering himself enough for the CBs - there were pockets of space & movements that Rodri would have made to receive a pass, that Phillips didn't.

I wonder how he's going to get more minutes this season - double pivot could help integrate him more.
 
SebastianBlue said:
Maybe it’s because he’s in the position I played and so I am hyper focused on and critical of anyone playing there, but I actually thought he was pretty poor.

He was bullied off the ball a few times in midfield (at least one instance leading to a chance on goal), launched (and lost) two very tame challenges just outside of our box leading to chances for Bristol, played at least four passes directly to Bristol players under no pressure, lost most of his aerial duels, and at times looked to be hiding from the ball whilst we were in possession (in contrast to Lewis, who was constantly running in to space to demand the ball, often the space Phillips should have been in). I think we largely struggled because he was just not able to fill the role Rodri does in our system (I don’t mean to the same standard, as that would be unreasonable to expect, but that he was just not offering the same attributes). At times, it actually looked like our players were trying to avoid passing to him. His body language at times looked frustrated, as well. Those last two observations could be disputed, I’ll admit, but a few mates in my City WhatsApp chat also agreed, so I imagine I am not the only one that saw it.

Now, all of that said, I’d like to think that is mostly down to being rusty and, as you say, nowhere near match fit. And perhaps his teammates sensed his confidence is low and didn’t want to pile pressure on him.

Phillips is a different player to Rodri—who I would argue is one of the best DMs in the world—most players need at least a year to adjust to Pep’s tactics, and has been hit by injury (though, the shoulder problems were well-known before we signed him, which remains a head scratcher for me personally), so I am going to reserve judgement.

But I am definitely surprised that others thought he played well tonight. I would say he was ok at best if we’re grading on a curve (based on him just coming back from a long lay off).

Hopefully this 90 minutes gives him something to build on and we see more from him through these difficult next few months.

I am definitely going to support him, either way.
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I don’t really disagree with anything you said but I am trying to look for some positives. I never wanted him here and I am far from convinced that he is anything like our level, but he is here and he deserves his chance. He shouldn’t be judged on 5 mins here and 10 mins there. Tonight was an improvement, granted on a very low bar but an improvement all the same.
 
OrigamiNinja said:
I don’t really disagree with anything you said but I am trying to look for some positives. I never wanted him here and I am far from convinced that he is anything like our level, but he is here and he deserves his chance. He shouldn’t be judged on 5 mins here and 10 mins there. Tonight was an improvement, granted on a very low bar but an improvement all the same.
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Agree he shouldn’t be judged as a player or fit for City on his recent outings, I was just assessing his performance in this match.
 
Good 90 mins under his belt which will have done KP the world of good. I thought he had a decent game tonight, unlucky not to score and his distribution was good. Still looks a bit rusty which is understandablle with the lack of games and sometimes gets knocked off the ball too easily but a better performance.
 
Didn't rip up any trees tonight. Reasonable performance against the sort of team that he made his name playing against for Leeds.

Did his job, got 90 minutes under his belt, and came off the pitch uninjured. He'll be happy with that.

He still doesn't convince me tbh, but let's see how he is after a few games against better opposition.
 
He was serviceable which I think is a step forward. No major mistakes and I thought his passing was overall pretty good. Room for improvement but he's barely played for 8 months now so I'm reserving judgement and giving him my full backing.
 
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