It's Quiet 18 - Wanna ring the bell?

[super_city_si]

Philips just doesn't look interested. He always seems on the back foot instead of being on the front foot and on his toes. I know he has this laid back demeanour but he just doesn't seem up to speed.
I really want the lad to do well for us and shut people up, like myself, and i'm hoping it's just first season syndrome, a lengthy spell out and lack of game time that is giving it a false spin.

Get the impression he's still a little overawed, maybe a little bit of imposter syndrome? Imagine watching Rodri and thinking "I have to follow that!"

 

[Manchester_City_Blue]

€50m release clause, fuck em pay it and give em no one

Just Tell em we'll forgive the outstanding for Torres they still owe us and take him on a free

 

[Dribble]

Thinking back to the European Championships where Philips broke through, the few clips I saw of him, he was like a Fernandinho/Kanté type of player.

He was busy, industrious, snappy in the tackle & good with his passing & distribution. That was nearly two years ago & since then he's barely kicked a competitive ball.

We urgently need backup for Rodri, but I'm inclined to give Philips another season at least to start with a clean slate & have a full pre-season in the hope he can rediscover the form he showed prior to the injuries he's suffered.

He replaced Rodri a couple of matches ago & it pissed me off when he was tackled in the centre circle & lost the ball, but instead of sprinting back to pressure the player, he jogged back which isn't the player who first came to my attention.

I've no idea if he still hasn't fully recovered from his injuries, if he still needs time to get up to speed, or perhaps it's a combination of the two.

Either way, he deserves a run to prove himself & we desperately need him operating on all cylinders. We can't keep rinsing Rodri game after game.

Matches like Saturday's was the ideal opportunity to play Philips from the start. If he can't be trusted to start at home vs Burnley (with all due respect to Vinny) when apparently fully fit, then this is a major concern.

 

[TonyColemansbagofapples]

Just Tell em we'll forgive the outstanding for Torres they still owe us and take him on a free

Why give money away? We’re not a charity

 

[MadchesterCity]

Swap Bernie for Pedri

 

[Alexia_Ko]

We just don't seem interested in him.

I do get the feeling that if you turn us down, you don't get a second invitation.

I wonder if that is a deliberate policy so that when City go in for a player, the player knows that it is now or never.

Kane?

 

[Sibierskii]

Seems to be a weird obsession with this Lavia kid.

 

[Trickyblues]

Swap Bernie for Pedri

Why would Barca do that?

 

[Haaland94]

Yeah to be fair, they've done us enough favours.

I get the point, but I still think they got Garcia for cheap considering he was a young promising squad player at Man City. When it comes to Ferran, they still haven't paid us fully. We are too soft when dealing with Barca.

Why would Barca do that?

I agree we can forget about Pedri. They wouldn't accept any of our players, maybe Haaland, but Haaland is priceless, so no deal.

 

[Bernard20]

I like Lavia but some Southampton supporting friends of mine say he's getting the treatment a lot of players at struggling clubs get where anything he does good makes it to MOTD or twitter and anything he does bad gets overlooked because he's an 18 year old in the worst side in the league. When his mistakes cost them a goal people just blame the team or the manager.

It's a very, very different propositon to playing back up to Rodri.

The problem is that we might have to buy him back this summer because he's too good for the Championship and other PL clubs are lurking.

I think the best case for us is Southampton stay up and he stays there for at least 1 more season.

This is very true. It’s easy to point to Lavia as a missed opportunity vs Phillips etc (not even taking into account, the fact he wanted to leave). Lavia is playing for a club who look destined for the drop, so his mistakes aren’t highlighted, because it’s par for the course at Southampton. Whereas the opposite is true for Phillips, the spotlight is on him immediately! ..Phillips has disappointed in his (albeit) limited minutes so far, but I’m happy to give him time. He’s adjusting, he’s adapting to a new club and he’s also coming on to rest the best player in his position, in world football; so it’s not an easy task to appease.