Captain Kurt Zouma has opened up on the deep personal struggles of his West Ham ‘brother’ and backs him to save his career.
David Moyes called on a list of senior West Ham stars to show more leadership following in the wake of the Newcastle debacle.
Among those names, unsurprisingly as West Ham captain, was Kurt Zouma.
And the Frenchman certainly answered the manager’s call in the 1-1 draw against Spurs.
Not only with the equaliser but his all round performance.
Much of the talk after the Newcastle defeat centered around Kalvin Phillips.
Zouma opens up on deep personal struggles of Phillips
His disastrous 20-minute spell as West Ham surrendered a 3-1 lead to lose 4-3 the latest chapter in his sorry Hammers story thus far.
It was compounded by Phillips being caught on camera swearing at a fan who had called him ‘useless’.
The on loan midfielder was back on the bench again for the draw with Spurs.
And after Moyes admitted it was a mistake to bring Phillips on against Newcastle, his West Ham career – and any chance of making the move permanent – looks dead in the water.
But further answering the call of the manager to show more leadership, the skipper has spoken out about Phillips’ situation following the draw with Spurs.
Zouma opens up on the deep personal struggles of his West Ham ‘brother’ and backs him to save his flagging career.
‘He’s a quality player and will show it’
“We know how good he is, we all know the quality that he has,” Zouma told the club’s official website.
“He’s a brother to us. We know he’s going through a period where he’s very unlucky but this is football you know.
“We’re here to help him and everyone has to support him and hopefully get back to his best as quick as possible.
“He’s working hard every day if you see him (in training), he’s always working hard, always keeps the smile on which is something we like. He’s a very good guy. We love him in the dressing room and we have to help him as well.
“He’s a quality player and he will show it no problem.”
Kind words from Kurt but harsh reality facing Phillips
In terms of performance levels, Phillips is paying the price for moving to Man City where he was never going to get regular game time.
After 18 months not playing football Phillips was never going to be able to just pick up where he left off at Leeds when signing for West Ham.
But his lack of effort and desire at Newcastle was also unacceptable.
There will be very few opportunities for him now Edson Alvarez has served his two-game Premier League ban.
And there’s no way Moyes will risk throwing Phillips in for that huge Europa League quarter-final first leg away at Bayer Leverkusen.
So unless injuries or suspension dictates between now and May, it’s hard to see when he will get another chance.