West Ham United: Kalvin Phillips ‘unmitigated disaster’ as Man City loan star torn to shreds
The Sun’s Chief sports writer Dave Kidd has shared his opinion about West Ham loanee Kalvin Phillips and his career so far from Leeds United to England.
There is no doubt that the midfielder has struggled since a move to the London Stadium but it all came to the boil recently.
He was seen swearing at Hammers fans as he got onto the team coach following the away defeat to Newcastle on March 30.
This has sparked controversy among supporters and beyond with Kidd going into depth regarding the whole situation.
In a column with The Sun, he wasn’t afraid to express his feelings about Phillips speaking in the past and the present.
On his career pre-West Ham, he said: “He’s had an extraordinary career, Kalvin Phillips. A Treble-winner and one of only 12 living Englishmen to have started the final of a major international tournament. A home-town hero at Leeds, where he was the kingpin of Marcelo Bielsa’s buccaneering Championship-winning side and feted as the ‘Yorkshire Pirlo’.
“England’s Player of the Year in 2021, when the Three Lions reached a final for the first time in more than half a century. If Phillips had stayed put as a Manchester City bench-warmer, he would be going to Germany this summer and quite possibly as a starter.”
There is no doubt that the Englishman was on a great trajectory and with a European Championships coming up he was hopeful of a squad spot. This isn’t looking likely.
Continuing on, Kidd added: “But right now Phillips has become unwatchable. Toe-curling, cringeworthy, hide-behind-the-sofa-the-Daleks-are-coming levels of unwatchable.
“His loan switch to West Ham, which originally looked sensible for club and player, is an unmitigated disaster. And it feels as if Phillips is at the centre of a football-wide conspiracy which has deemed that anything which could go wrong, will go wrong.”
Can Kalvin Phillips turn it around at West Ham?
It is safe to say that he hasn’t had a good time since making the switch from Manchester to East London in January.
This all started with an error that led to a goal on his debut against Bournemouth and it has followed a downward trend since.
He was then sent off after two yellow cards away from home against Nottingham Forest in a 2-0 defeat for The Hammers.
Throw in 45 minutes in a 6-0 defeat to Arsenal and a controversial penalty award against Newcastle, he has been poor so far.
There is no doubt that he possesses great quality. Under Bielsa with Leeds in the Championship and Premier League, he was a standout.
Although he hasn’t had the best 12 months, he still ranks highly in certain stats. 72.44 passes attempted per 90 with an 88.2% accuracy [Fbref] plus some positive defensive stats.
He is surrounded by midfield quality with Edson Alvarez, Tomas Soucek and Lucas Paqueta, this can only be of benefit.
Phillips may need more time to settle but given that he is on loan, he is unlikely to be given the chance to prove himself.
In other West Ham news, Alan Brazil fumed at a “strange” decision made v Tottenham.
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