Micah Richards believes Kalvin Phillips is currently playing ‘within himself’, but has backed the Manchester City midfielder to get back to his best at some stage.
Phillips left City in January to join West Ham United on loan for the rest of the season.
It has been a really poor start for him at the London Stadium, having made mistakes in several games, including at the weekend when he gave away a penalty against Newcastle United.
He came on as a substitute against Newcastle with West Ham 3-1. David Moyes’ side lost the game 4-3, and Phillips came in for criticism from fans after the game.
So far, the move has been a disaster for the former Leeds United man. It recently emerged on WhoScored that Phillips was the lowest-rated player in the Premier League.
But Micah Richards has offered his support, and believes the player will eventually come through this tough moment…
Micah Richards claims Kalvin Phillips is ‘still a quality player’ and backs Manchester City player to come good
Phillips reached a new low on Saturday, as he was filmed making a gesture towards a West Ham fan who was shouting at him as he got on the team coach.
It wasn’t a good look for the player, and showed that he is carrying a lot right now.
Phillips looks a world away from being the player that was so influential for Leeds, and he just cannot seem to get going for the Hammers.
Micah Richards believes the player has been affected by his lack of minutes for City and his management by Pep Guardiola. The former Etihad full-back doesn’t think the player will regret his move to the club though.
He said on the Monday Night Club: “I don’t think he regrets it, no, because you want to challenge yourself. I think when he first went there we spoke about it, how was it going to work? Was Man City going to play a double pivot because we know how important Rodri is, but now we have seen Kovacic playing that role with Rodri.
“Looking back at it now, of course, because it looks like he has no confidence whatsoever. We have talked about when Pep said he came back a bit overweight, he wasn’t saying he can’t play football, he was just saying when you go to training you get weighed in the morning and he was over his acceptable weight to play football.
“It didn’t work for him and he’s gone to play at West Ham. You can just see he is playing within himself. He’s not playing with freedom. You know when you are a player and you are overthinking and making mistakes and dwelling on the ball a little bit, when he was at Leeds he would get on the ball wherever he would be on the pitch and play a lovely 40-yard ball.
“It’s almost like now he is thinking too much about what he is doing. He is still a quality player, I would back him at some stage to get back to his best.”
Phillips needs to break through psychological barrier
At this point, it is about the psychology of the situation for Phillips.
He’s had several setbacks at West Ham since joining on loan. And he has got to try and break through the barrier and set himself free.
At the moment, it is as though the £150,000-a-week man is dwelling on previous mistakes. This is potentially leading to more mistakes.
It must be very difficult for him, because the spotlight is incredibly harsh. Every little thing he does is scrutinised. It cannot be easy to turn things around while the situation is like this.
But he is going to have to. Otherwise, he sadly will not get a seat on that plane this summer for England’s Euro 2024 squad.