West Ham United: Dean Ashton slams ‘ridiculous’ Kalvin Phillips v Nottingham Forest
Dean Ashton has slammed Kalvin Phillips for picking up a red card in the 2-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest, compounding the terrible start to his West Ham career.
The former Hammers forward urged fans to ignore the mistakes he has made, as they were not necessarily his fault, and instead called for David Moyes to stand by the player.
This came during a rant about Phillips’ short spell at the London Stadium, in which he has shown he is not up to match fitness, as Ashton shared the midfielder wouldn’t get in the England squad as things stand.
Speaking live on talkSPORT [17 February, 17:27], Ashton ranted: “Take away the couple of mistakes that led to goals, because that can be unfortunate, and take away the red card which was ridiculous today.
“Actually being here live, watching him in the flesh, he’s still a long way off. He’s nowhere near the player he was when he went to City.
“Clearly, confidence is very, very low. He either needs to be stood by, by the manager, and continue to play and grow into the player we know he can be, or he’s going to find it very, very difficult. At this moment, I can’t see how you can take him [to the Euros].”
Kalvin Phillips’ West Ham nightmare continues
It is becoming difficult to excuse the mistakes Phillips has made at the start of his career in East London. A red card piled on top of previous mistakes and a general lack of impact since arriving has summed up how things are going for him at the London Stadium.
It’s difficult to do as Ashton says and simply ignore the errors he has made, given the financial outlay from the club to bring him in and the expectation he arrived with, but perhaps he should be given time.
A red card will do him no favours in terms of getting playing time into his legs, which is likely the biggest issue with his West Ham career to date, as he needs to build his confidence and fitness if he is to be a success in East London.
That call almost sums up the way things have gone for the Manchester City loanee recently, he doesn’t seem able to do anything positive in the claret and blue shirt, and fingers will be crossed that things start going his way soon.
In other West Ham news, Jamie O’Hara has raged at one “stupid” Hammers star.
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