What went wrong for Kalvin Phillips at Man City?

Kalvin Phillips looks set to leave Manchester City and join West Ham United on loan...but what went wrong for the England international and former Leeds United midfielder?
www.esteemedkompany.com
• Become an EK member to get bonus content & join fan views! 🔥
➡️ bit.ly/EKmember
• Support on Patreon ➡️ / esteemedkompany
• EK Merch 👕 ➡️ teespring.com/stores/esteemed-kompany-2
My social channels:
• 𝙏𝙞𝙠𝙏𝙤𝙠 - 🎵 ➡️ www.tiktok.com/@steven_mcinerney
• 𝙏𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙘𝙝 - 🎮 ➡️ www.twitch.tv/esteemedkompany
• 𝙁𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠 - ✅ ➡️ esteemedkompany
• 𝙏𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 - 🔁 ➡️ @stevenmcinerney / @esteemedkompany
• 𝙄𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙢 - 📸 ➡️ @stevenmcinerney / @esteemedkompany
Subscribe for Man City news! ➡️ bit.ly/Esteemed...
Esteemed Kompany - the home of all Manchester City news, match reactions, analysis, fan talk, previews, transfer reviews and reactions, plus academy talk and youth focus. Honest, logical opinions from a fan who's been supporting the club all of my life, when Man City were down at the bottom, and now we're right at the top. For daily news and videos, subscribe now! 😅

[@aspie6520]

To play that position for City, you need to know what you’re gonna do with the ball before you even get it. Rodri knows, so do Stones and Rico. Kalvin clearly couldn’t even do it in training so it makes sense to move on. There’s a fine player in there, just not at City. I hope it goes well for him at West Ham.

[@SUB2-TypicalCity-MancunianWay]

He has less options to go back, but the xtra man forward helps him progress forward. He's amazing tbh.

[@abiram6269]

I think what really is damaging about the Phillips transfer is the fact that Romeo Lavia ended up leaving as a result of the transfer.

[@eyesopen66]

Great observation and comment

[@neilhanstock]

Personally, I feel bad for Kalvin. In fact I would compare his first season with Aguero's last, in that bad luck killed it. He was too ill to be at his unveiling, he got a nasty injury in a meaningless early season friendly against Barcelona, and was always playing catch up after that. Add all of that to the fact I don't ever remember see him play with the ten best other players City could put out, but more in mish mash cup teams, and sub appearances when games were already won. I too, wish him well for the future.

[@tast7017]

We sold Romeo Lavia to buy Kalvin Phillips. That made no sense to me then and still doesn't

[@eyesopen66]

A few have made that point, it's a good observation. TBH I didn't remember that, that was the case. And yes, you are right!

[@petescheller6704]

Having watched Bournemouth a lot, I always said Ake was miles better than Slabhead. People used to laugh at that… but not anymore!

[@Bewar3them00n]

First he got injured, then he wasn’t Rodri, he also didn’t cover himself in glory when he played. I reckon the shoulder injury scuppered his form which brought him to City, and he must’ve not showed that form to Pep in training.

[@schuss4468]

Problem isn’t the talent signed the problem under Pep is always Play time. Pep doesn’t rotate some positions which is crucial to the system & he doesn’t use subs. Don’t forget Rodri and Gundogan struggled as well when Fernandinho was here. It’s all down to Play time

[@haydenl5202]

Kalvin's play style works directly against our system on offense. Where we have defenders working into midfield and midfielders working into attacking midfield spaces. Everyone seems to jump up a spot. For Kalvin it's simply not the case. He works as almost another defender at times and hangs back on the attack, there in case the ball needs to get worked around but never really getting up and into the play. A great addition to bolster a team's defense but just doesn't work with our all out style of play.

[@haydenl5202]

I also agree with you Steve that performing at another club and performing at City come with two completely different degrees of pedigree. Look at how many players got nominated for this past Balon d'Or or Fifa POTY. You need to be contending for best player in the world to get minutes on this team, and unfortunately Kalvin Phillips is not one of those players at the moment

[@mikegalway4733]

Sad that he never made it with us, he seems a great lad. Having said that, Pep clearly didn't think he was good enough to be brutally honest. The onus is clearly on the player to meet the grade required. Sincerely hope he does well with a great club at the Hammers.

[@ayodamopeakanni6819]

Kalvin Phillips is a good player, but he's not wired to function in a detailed, entwined and domino effective team like that of Guardiola's Man City. I understand the fact that he didn't get the requisite playing time suffice enough to assess his innate capacity and forte, but the obvious factor remains that Philips is one of those losses you count as a shrewd business person. It doesn't just work. I remember how flaccid he looked against Leicester at Etihad last season. He seems 7-8 seconds slower mentally to react to situations, and that tends to make him take questionable decisions during the matches. Guardiola had a clear game plan for Philips initially. He was supposed to become the closest thing to Fernadinho by providing that shield with stoic presence and indefatigable coverage for the defense. In fact, Pep seems wanted to play double pivot this particular season which could have enabled Philips to thrive, unfortunately, Philips never seem to just cut it. It wasn't a shrewd buy, it was a trial that made sense, hence, departure sounds like a win-win. I'm sure he would be fine at West Ham, though he would have to bucke down and be ready to run more than he did at City.

[@phillipbecher3793]

Really appreciate the video and being introspective to transfers and our players

[@ryanschultz4119]

I wanted it to work out for Kalvin very much at Manchester City! Great guy, good player, and genuinely good teammate. But at the same time I have the utmost faith in Pep. If he doesn't trust Phillips to be on the pitch, then I don't think he can remain at City. This was the only move for Man City to make. Kalvin's value is at an all-time low. So get him on loan, and hopefully he does well at West Ham(not against City). Then City can recoup much more for Phillips on a permanent move this summer. I wish Kalvin the best!

[@godalbinothe]

Lol the Borges hype was hilarious. City fans were saying he needed Palmer’s minutes 😂

[@godalbinothe]

& now look at them both 🤷‍♂️

[@eyesopen66]

And look where Man City are, and what they have done recently? 😅

[@roytonboy7245]

Spot on, Steve. I recall reading about Malcolm Allison asking a player to make a particular run whenever City had the ball in a certain area of the pitch. For some reason the player either wouldn't or couldn't make that run as required. He didn't get much game time and was soon transferred. It wasn't that he couldn't play - he just didn't fit how the coach wanted the team to perform. If we consider how Allison was able to transform second division players such as Pardoe, Oakes, Doyle and Young into league champions and multiple cup winners, it's clear that Malcolm was a brilliant coach but not every player could adapt to his requirements. The same is occasionally going to happen with Pep. I believe this is why so many of our promising looking academy players end out going on loan, never to return. A good number of them do well elsewhere but it is obviously felt that they can't meet the requirements that City need.

[@joepiekl]

I wonder if he was one of those players who gets their big move and thinks they've made it, rather than realising that they now have to work ten times harder. He seems like an honest lad, so I'm not sure he'd be that type. But for me, he just never looked good enough in that central area to be an outball for everyone. Rodri is always available for the pass, whereas I find Phillips seems to struggle to find space. And when he does get it, he's nowhere near as press resistant, meaning that all the other team have to do is put a player on him and he's completely ineffective. I feel like for England (maybe Leeds too) his strengths were more as an all action midfielder rather than a deep-lying defensive midfielder. But we've already got much better technical players doing that job.

[@kiddytube3915]

What went wrong? Non performance.. city implement a quick to fire policy on everyone. Yes, you come here to the best club in the world but you’re also expected to perform. Phillips simply couldn’t . Another player I worry for is Matheus Nunes. I think he is next on the firing line if he doesn’t get his shape together quickly. He has another year or so left but he better start performing soon.

[@brinkhill]

I much like this video format!

[@Pedro2706]

Always thought he would be better off with the Irons so hopefully his loan/transfer deal comes off -he'll be a starter every week.Ultimately just not good enough -very evident when we signed Kovacic and he slotted in pretty quicjly and just seemed to "get it".Good luck-he's got a bucket load of medals!!

[@rickhotchkin3047]

Ultimately, Rodri is why. If he’s healthy, he’s playing.

[@eyesopen66]

Its really not complicated IMO. KP is a good EPL player and will be 1st choice in a decent team in the top 8 of the EPL. However he's just not good enough, quick enough for Manchester City and for Peps team's? Simple. And we all wish him well in the future.

[@chibifirestorm]

He's not close to good enough technically or tactically to play in such a key position in our team.

[@caseyimiller]

I think we play better with Rodri as the only pivot with the other two central midfielders being more advanced but that’s just what I feel

[@youngboss70]

Then why sign him smh

[@shaunfogarty6038]

He was a board signing in my opinion never really fit the style of play that we play he probably will do quite well for West Ham because simply he will fit their style of play better

[@jasoncenac8948]

He never got a run of games. And honestly no one in the world is getting In Over Rodri so that makes sense.

[@Spike0000]

He weren't good enough when they were merely "Talking" about buying Phillips...And that's no slant on the lad, it's just that Tiki f*cked with this one...He simply doesn't fit the City-Dynamic....

[@11Pyze]

He’s slow and lazy. Nuff said

[@bluemoon1716]

He was injured too much and out of shape. When he was finally ready for match time city were already deep in cup competitions. And you dont start a player like that in a quarter or semi final

[@Hyster1aMcR]

Thung is Rodri is the best in thr world in his position at the moment and has been since before we signed phillips and there was no way he was going to let up in training and give phillips the chance to snatch his spot phillips seems to be a mid table player it seems hes comfy with a leeds and happy to weve bought a dud it happens move him on wish him well and loom to the next addition.

[@daveusubiaga4102]

Danilo, Torres, Fernando, Mangala just a few 'failures'. We just recognize our talent and act accordingly. On City's side they took on Phillips on Bielsa's recommendation. I'm pulling for Sergio

[@alecjohnson5269]

PHILIPS GONE I THINK PEP WILL USE STONES AS CDM HOPE RODRI DONT GET SUSPENDED OR INJURED PHILIPS WAS NEVER PLAYING SO HES NOT MISSED

[@westhamfaithful]

Was it a homegrown quota transfer?

[@joepiekl]

We had Lavia who was homegrown and club trained.

[@Brame362]

He isn’t that good, case closed 😅

[@KenTudor-sc1pt]

It’s ZED not ZEE my mate. Unless your U S audience is greater than I thought 😜

[@EsteemedKompany]

Too much kids educational TV is American. On in the background a lot 😅

[@garygee1468]

Nothing he didnt get a chance with the current squad

[@eugenemullan4957]

He was not good enough

[@SUB2-TypicalCity-MancunianWay]

LIKES CITIZENS 💙💙💙