Kalvin Phillips

dancity19 said:
Still reckon Pep needed to tell us he didn’t rate Phillips for it to be true?
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It’s not that he can’t play. Its that the manner in which he has been effective in the past is very different to the manner in which he is being asked to play here!

If he was tasked with the role Tico Lewis has been tasked with recently, we might have seen a completely different player, but his lack of playing time is only exacerbating his lack of match fitness in a full strength team.

If asked to cover for Kovacic or Bernardo/Foden, we might see that he can play. However, if it’s Rodri Part Deux or nothing, then he is always going to suffer from the task and the comparison.

Given the purchase of Nunes & Kovacic, and the emergence of Lewis, plus the use of Stones and Bernardo in the DM role, it’s hard to see where, or how, Pep fits him into the team.
 
GaudinoMotors said:
The player who didn't get picked, the player who has been ok in previous, recent cameo appearances, the player who is one of the first choices for England, getting all the grief again.

Should have played yesterday.
Could have been his big turning point moment. The way Pep was approaching it - all was lost anyway.
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The performance before this one was a fairly brief cameo against Wolves where he managed to make a lethargic & poor team performance look even worse.
Up until the last few weeks I have tried to avoid going too hard on any criticism of him because he's hardly had a chance, but when he has played this season it's clear he's nowhere near good enough. He's also wasted at least half a season of his career by not moving on in the summer. Hopefully he gets himself decent move in January and either one of our new guys is settled by then or we take another look at the market
 
Invisible Man's Bandage said:
Good post.

He may end up like Micah Richards at Villa. He was finally paid off after not playing a game for over two years and in that period he earned 3.3 mill. Phillips has nearly five years left on his contract....gulp
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Micah's knee was pretty much done at that point though. Phillips is match fit, apparently.
 
Dazzle84 said:
Micah's knee was pretty much done at that point though. Phillips is match fit, apparently.
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Obviously he'd had serious knee issues but it wasn't clear that he couldn't play at all. It was all very strange how it went for him at Villa as he seemed to be a mascot figure like Phillips has become.
 
Invisible Man's Bandage said:
Obviously he'd had serious knee issues but it wasn't clear that he couldn't play at all. It was all very strange how it went for him at Villa as he seemed to be a mascot figure like Phillips has become.
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He couldn't train because of the knee so that meant Bruce wouldn't play him. I think there was also a transfer clause in there where they'd have had to pay additional fees if he started any more games
 
Guardiola said it openly a few weeks ago - he was madly in love with Phillips in Bielsa’s system at Leeds but now that he works with him everyday has realised he was simply flattered by the system and not good enough to adapt.

It’s not exactly a secret that the club wanted him gone this summer, but when Guardiola openly tells the press that you were a system player, it’s telegraphed to all and sundry - let’s be honest most likely as a particularly unsubtle attempt to embarrass him into seeing sense and moving on.
 
decmancity said:
Not a chance anyone steps foot through the door at CFA without Pep's say so.

Maybe Pep just had too many glasses of wine with Bielsa one night and fell in love with him the say way Marcelo did at Leeds.

Its not worked out. We move on. Its not the first and not the last bad transfer for Pep.
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It's still surprising that people think Txiki will Sign anyone without Pep's okay

People need to realise Txiki and Pep work as a team. Txiki and scouts bring players and Pep okays it. We are not Chelsea. Phillips was Pep signing.
 
dhruvblue said:
It's still surprising that people think Txiki will Sign anyone without Pep's okay

People need to realise Txiki and Pep work as a team. Txiki and scouts bring players and Pep okays it. We are not Chelsea. Phillips was Pep signing.
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Think the board ultimately decides who to sign.

Don't you remember Pep wanting Maguire? Yes we dodged a bullet but there was a clear demand from Pep to get Maguire.

My point being.. there's plenty of blame to go around and no one is innocent or deserving of 100% blame alone.
 
How does he get called for England's national team if he doesn't play? He must have a good agent, he obviously does if he ended up in City in the first place.
 
Galvanoth said:
How does he get called for England's national team if he doesn't play? He must have a good agent, he obviously does if he ended up in City in the first place.
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Southgate does pick other players who are not regular first teamers, including a very obvious one.
Will be interesting how long he keeps selecting Henderson, now that he plays in Saudi Arabia ?
Hopefully Southgate gives certain City players, especially Walker & Foden, a rest versus Australia.
But, think Grealish & Stones could both do with a run out...
 
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