In this season of cr@pness for our team, that is:
6 home league losses on the bounce;
Losing to Everton at home;
Awful VAR against us;
Unprecedented loss of all CBs;
Injuries and more injuries and more injuries;
Struggling just to get top 4;
Cr@p finishing from the forwards;
For me there is one shining light that has broken into the team through necessity. Step forward N Philips and have ...to me you outperformed others in the team and been imo exceptional in a lot of games.
Thought Vs Madrid at Anfield he was excellent and his forward passing was incisive too, yes we all know he hasn't got the pace but I think I he is a more than adequate backup to VVD et al.
Never shirks a challenge and dominate in the air...we are not out of Europe because of players like nat, it's more the team's ability to finish chances.
Well done Nat.
Nat Phillips.
posted on 16/4/21
No when ketia was signed he was a hot property sought by many.
He is not a guy to run about widely but has his own style and fitted klopps game. you only need pay attention to see his brief appearances to see how good he is at interceptions.
however its also clear he has the heart of a mouse and the workrate of a sloth and the mental strength of daniel sturridge.
Around the same time klopp had a 99% success rate with players bar karius.
Right now as we look at the squad we have used up some players and others have not worked out for various reasons but we are grateful that we have won a couple real trophies in doing so.
Keita for me is a dribber not a passer, its fne to talk of the ball going forward quick the keita should have suited the press perfectly as the 4th guy. at times he made lots of interceptions but most of the time he is just injured.
posted on 16/4/21
Nat Phillips has done ok, he's made mistakes but they've largely been forgiven because most of us know he's playing at a level above himself.
The two positives I'm taking from this season are:
1) Jota is much better than I expected and looks like a great fit for our system and style of play.
2) Curtis Jones looks very capable of becoming a big player for us - goodness knows why his game time have been limited in the last 6-8 weeks. Perhaps just too many games & Klopp feared burnout.
posted on 16/4/21
comment by RJC (U17308)
posted 13 hours, 56 minutes ago
24 years old and played 31 league games is a joke, could easily be a 1/3 of his career gone. If he were good enough he'd be at the 120-150 mark.
Good wage though.
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Odd way to judge a player. Most people would look at performances and attributes rather than whether someone had managed to breakthrough at a big club by the age of 24.
Player take different routes to the maximise their potential. At 24 Vardy hadn't played many more games than that at conference level. One of our best CB of recent years was playing for Willem II at that age but Hyypia had a very decent career.
Phillips could well play another decade at a decent level.
posted on 16/4/21
comment by RJC (U17308)
posted 9 hours, 59 minutes ago
24 years old and played 31 league games is a joke, could easily be a 1/3 of his career gone. If he were good enough he'd be at the 120-150 mark.
Good wage though.
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If people judged this way Conor coady would not be an england player.
Phillips has proven his resilience and heart. That's more important than how many you play.
posted on 16/4/21
Yeah it’s funny there are so many questions asked of Phillips. I’m more worried about why our established players like Bobby, Mane and Wij have been so poor. Kabak and Phillips are taking the flack for our poor showings up front in seems.
posted on 16/4/21
comment by Aggers Right Elbow (U3402)
posted 3 hours, 9 minutes ago
Yeah it’s funny there are so many questions asked of Phillips. I’m more worried about why our established players like Bobby, Mane and Wij have been so poor. Kabak and Phillips are taking the flack for our poor showings up front in seems.
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Basically yeah. If we could have done a 2014 score more than them game it would have not been so bad.
Because we were losing by the odd goal against the types of teams we let beat us. If our so called best forwards in the world had put one fifth the chances that fell its wouldn't be so bad.
We demonstrated this again v real. Salah has done well this season and sacrificed himself quite a bit to get others in the middle but he too missed an absolute sitter.
The big wages big expectation player shave let the side down not the cheap journeyman who has tried his best.
Btw our thiago at 180k per week is the worst offender.
posted on 17/4/21
I give thiago a break. He's bew to the team and league and joined when the whole team has been decimated with injuries.
posted on 18/4/21
comment by Got_Better (U6241)
posted 23 hours, 2 minutes ago
I give thiago a break. He's bew to the team and league and joined when the whole team has been decimated with injuries.
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nah. Can't at 180k per week.
yes he was injured but his efforts for the past games have been so disappointing. It is not in ability to run about it is what he is doing on the ball.
all he is doing is shuffling it on. He really has made zero impact creatively.
we won 4 of the last 5 and he played his part.
the one loss v fulham (fairly disastrous) he didn't play but keita did.
If we want to match up to leeds we have to play the likes of milner to play hard for 60mins then let thiago come on.
posted on 18/4/21
comment by moreinjuredthanowen (U9641)
posted 51 minutes ago
comment by Got_Better (U6241)
posted 23 hours, 2 minutes ago
I give thiago a break. He's bew to the team and league and joined when the whole team has been decimated with injuries.
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nah. Can't at 180k per week.
yes he was injured but his efforts for the past games have been so disappointing. It is not in ability to run about it is what he is doing on the ball.
all he is doing is shuffling it on. He really has made zero impact creatively.
we won 4 of the last 5 and he played his part.
the one loss v fulham (fairly disastrous) he didn't play but keita did.
If we want to match up to leeds we have to play the likes of milner to play hard for 60mins then let thiago come on.
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I disagree mate. I think he has been improving as time has went on. There are times when he plays the ball forward quickly and others arent on the same wavelength. The madrid game he played a beautiful ball forward to robbo who didnt quite have the ability to take it down on his chest which thiago quite rightly had a moan about.
I will admit he has not hit the heights id have hoped for but I will keep repeating the same thing. He is yet to play with the midfield he was by all accounts signed to be a part of, him, fab and hendo. I will reserve full judgement until we see that for a good run of games.
posted on 18/4/21
comment by Mellor, Lovely Cushioned Header, FOR GERRARD, OOOOOOHHHHHH YAAAAAAA BEEEAAAUUUTTTYYYYY!!!!!!!!! (U1859)
posted 23 minutes ago
comment by moreinjuredthanowen (U9641)
posted 51 minutes ago
comment by Got_Better (U6241)
posted 23 hours, 2 minutes ago
I give thiago a break. He's bew to the team and league and joined when the whole team has been decimated with injuries.
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nah. Can't at 180k per week.
yes he was injured but his efforts for the past games have been so disappointing. It is not in ability to run about it is what he is doing on the ball.
all he is doing is shuffling it on. He really has made zero impact creatively.
we won 4 of the last 5 and he played his part.
the one loss v fulham (fairly disastrous) he didn't play but keita did.
If we want to match up to leeds we have to play the likes of milner to play hard for 60mins then let thiago come on.
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I disagree mate. I think he has been improving as time has went on. There are times when he plays the ball forward quickly and others arent on the same wavelength. The madrid game he played a beautiful ball forward to robbo who didnt quite have the ability to take it down on his chest which thiago quite rightly had a moan about.
I will admit he has not hit the heights id have hoped for but I will keep repeating the same thing. He is yet to play with the midfield he was by all accounts signed to be a part of, him, fab and hendo. I will reserve full judgement until we see that for a good run of games.
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I cannot agree as I fell firmly that hes abdicated his responsibility to create. He has done ok getting fitter and trying to get about. At the start he was diving into tackles from miles off but he has started being able to get there on his feet.
I have seen so little over so many games of the talent on the ball. I dont care who hes supposed to play with once he is on the ball he is a 180k man in his prime with all the skills who is just passing the ball on aimlessly.
We need to see this ability to drive us on. It would be nice if trent could have some confidence the guy would cover him going further forward as well.