Ian Wright questions David Moyes call in Manchester United vs West Ham United
Ian Wright has questioned why West Ham boss David Moyes named Kalvin Phillips among the substitutes for the clash with Manchester United.
Phillips was brought on for the final 18 minutes at Old Trafford as West Ham fell to a 3-0 loss in Sunday’s (4 February) Premier League clash.
The England international made his full debut in the 1-1 draw against Bournemouth three days earlier, but he made a mistake early on.
Speaking on Wrighty’s House podcast [5 February, 25m 24s], Wright said: “I felt for Kalvin Phillips because he didn’t start the game.
“He’s been on the bench for his whole Man City career, makes a mistake on his debut, then they don’t start him against his old team’s biggest rivals.
“You want to start that game and ease into it, rather than come on and feel like ‘right, I can’t do anything wrong’.
“I thought West Ham were going to give more. They didn’t have enough. Nowhere near enough.”
Kalvin Phillips’ early London Stadium struggles
The obvious answer as to why Phillips did not start successive games in the space of a few days is down to fitness reasons.
Phillips started just his third Premier League game since the start of 2022-23 in that draw against Bournemouth.
The Manchester City loanee fluffed his lines in that one and also made an error in the loss to Man United.
It has been an unfortunate start to life as a West Ham player for Phillips, and it is not like he has too much time to find his feet.
United have paid a fair amount for the luxury of having him on loan for four months and the number of games remaining are ticking down.
Moyes would no doubt love to ease the Englishman into action, but he will feel under a little pressure to chuck him back into the XI against Arsenal.
Phillips showed his quality at this level while at Leeds United, so there is no reason he cannot do the same here after blowing off the cobwebs.
In other West Ham news, Andy Gray could not believe something he saw in the loss to Man United as an image was shared.
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