West Ham United: Danny Murphy fumes at David Moyes in new Kalvin Phillips rant
Danny Murphy has fumed at David Moyes for his treatment of Kalvin Phillips since he arrived at West Ham in January, questioning why the midfielder was signed in the first place.
It was a difficult start to Phillips’ career at the London Stadium as his first couple of games were marred by key errors, but Murphy has slammed Moyes’ decision not to stick with him.
The Manchester City loanee was dropped from the starting line-up against Manchester United and Arsenal, which the former Liverpool midfielder claims will have killed his confidence and added more pressure.
Speaking live on talkSPORT [12:53], Murphy ranted: “Of course, there’s the physical aspect of Kalvin, I don’t know that so I’ll have to trust David Moyes on that one, but I wouldn’t have left him out of the next game. You’re killing him.
“Unless he’s physically not able to play, which I don’t think would be true, I wouldn’t be leaving him out. I’ve just bought him, I know he needs to play the next three or four games to get his fitness up, but no, he left him out. More pressure.
“Brings him on, another mistake. All of a sudden his confidence and his fitness… He’s not building fitness because he’s not playing and you’ve killed his confidence. Why bring him in if you’re not going to play him? Have some trust in the player, the manager has got to help a player like that.”
David Moyes pressure continues to grow at West Ham
Phillips was brought to West Ham to add some quality and experience to the first team, with his winning experience at Manchester City supposed to lend the Hammers that extra boost ahead of a strong end to the season.
However, his excitement over his arrival was quickly squashed by the mistakes made early on. As Murphy says, it was up to the manager to stick by his player, trust him, and help him regain the form and fitness he once showed.
The midfielder has been widely criticised for being overweight while at Manchester City, but he recently confessed that after Pep Guardiola’s public comments about him, he experienced the toughest time of his career over the last few months. Moyes, so far, has done nothing to help.
This all comes at a time when Moyes is under plenty of pressure surrounding his job security, with the board having delayed the offer of a new contract following a staggering dip in form in recent weeks as well as fan backlash.
In other West Ham news, a journalist has suggested there could now be “big” backlash from fans.
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