Kalvin Phillips

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Skills said:
I watched them, in the same team all of last summer. Declan Rice spent all of it hiding somewhere at LB between Shaw and Maguire, while Phillips was the closest thing England had to a CM.
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Yeah for England Declan seems too safe with his passes when he finally gets the ball.
 
flappyjay said:
Yeah for England Declan seems too safe with his passes when he finally gets the ball.
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Rice will get repurposed as a CB if he ever moves to a top club. I think he'd be too much of a hindrance on the ball for a dominant team.
 
A solid signing for City.

As we sit here watching our owners siphon dividends, doing nothing as of yet to strengthen the squad and wondering what happened to our great club, City are stretching the gap between them and us, who at this point are of no concern to City whatsoever.
 
SeanyC said:
Will he get game time quite regularly though? I think he might and under Pep he will do well. Big move in a WC year. I guess the hate for city by Leeds fans is not the same as it is for United or he was planning this move all along.
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I don't think he'll get enough time in year 1 unless Rodri gets hurt.

Arsenal was probably the right move here, but they were never interested.
 
choiboyx012 said:
Damn, Haaland and Phillips gone to City now. Those were the players we need.
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Harland yes. Not sure about Phillips - just feels we could do a lot better. He's great at passing and working hard but his defensive positioning is really suspect. And he tends to disappear in games. That's ok when you have a Rodri beside you to mop things up or one of City's other playmakers ahead of you to control things but we don't.
 
As predicted, Phillips is a replacement for Fernandinho even if Pep has to tweak things slightly. Does make me wonder how much game time Grealish is going to get
 
choiboyx012 said:
Damn, Haaland and Phillips gone to City now. Those were the players we need.
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don't forget that they've also got Julian Alvarez to come in. Not sure how anyone (even the Scousers) stop them winning the title again
 
ThierryHenry14 said:
Another good read
https://www.squawka.com/en/kalvin-phillips-is-the-perfect-pep-guardiola-signing/
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At Manchester City, with the way City keep their wingers wide and push their “free 8’s” up high, Rodri is often joined in midfield by one or both full-backs, turning City’s shape in possession into something like 2-3-2-3 (or the old W-W).

This is fine, but can leave them susceptible to counter-attacks as it keeps their best recovery defender, Kyle Walker, in advance of the last line of defence. However someone like Phillips could slot in next to Rodri in midfield, meaning only one midfielder drives forward.

In turn with this, the back line shift would be asymmetrical, with the right-back and two centre-backs forming a three while the left-back (City are allegedly after Marc Cucurella) becomes the width City crave on the left.

This in turn lets the left-winger cut infield, making City’s shape in possession more like a 3-2-2-3 or, to it another way, a Cruyffist 3-3-1-3 (aka 3-4-3 diamond). This structure would essentially allow City to dominate the middle of the pitch while still stretching it wide and protecting themselves against transition and then, if need be, return to a 4-3-3 for defensive phases of the game.

Essential to this is midfielders who can handle themselves defensively, which is why Phillips is so perfect. His ball-playing and ability to break lines was honed under Marcelo Bielsa, who also loved the Englishman’s ferocious tackling ability in duels. He is a passer like all of City’s other midfield options but is also a much better defender as well (especially important if Bernardo Silva really does want out as the Portuguese is the only non-Rodri midfielder who comes close to being as solid a defender as Phillips).
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That’s a lot of words to say he needs an extra defensive midfielder to compensate for the fullback pushing forward. You move one player up the pitch so you need another player to cover that space. Which is basically just the history of every minor tactical development ever, yet it’s being described as if it’s a tactical innovation worthy of analysis.

In 2008 we pushed Evra up to dominate the left wing, dropped Giggs in to support the midfield, and had someone like Wes Brown drop into the back three. For essentially the same reasons. And Sir Alex wasn’t much of a tactician.

It was the same thing Brazil did back in the 60s with Zagallo dropping inside, Nilton Santos pushing up, Djalma Santos staying back as a pseudo back three. Which wasn’t that different from what they were doing in the 50s, where there was a fixed back three, two midfielders to protect them, and the attackers just occupying the width of the pitch. It’s all just tiny iterations on the same theme, moving players around to achieve the same simple goal.
“In all team sports, the secret is to overload one side of the pitch so that the opponent must tilt its own defense to cope. You overload on one side and draw them in so that they leave the other side weak”
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There’s so much pseudo-intellectualism in football these days. It’s funny that the people these fans idolise have so much disdain for that culture. They don’t wax lyrical about their tactical innovations because they know it doesn’t require that much thinking.
 
Brwned said:
That’s a lot of words to say he needs an extra defensive midfielder to compensate for the fullback pushing forward. You move one player up the pitch so you need another player to cover that space. Which is basically just the history of every minor tactical development ever, yet it’s being described as if it’s a tactical innovation worthy of analysis.

In 2008 we pushed Evra up to dominate the left wing, dropped Giggs in to support the midfield, and had someone like Wes Brown drop into the back three. For essentially the same reasons. And Sir Alex wasn’t much of a tactician.

It was the same thing Brazil did back in the 60s with Zagallo dropping inside, Nilton Santos pushing up, Djalma Santos staying back as a pseudo back three. Which wasn’t that different from what they were doing in the 50s, where there was a fixed back three, two midfielders to protect them, and the attackers just occupying the width of the pitch. It’s all just tiny iterations on the same theme, moving players around to achieve the same simple goal.


There’s so much pseudo-intellectualism in football these days. It’s funny that the people these fans idolise have so much disdain for that culture. They don’t wax lyrical about their tactical innovations because they know it doesn’t require that much thinking.
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Great post mate! Well said!
 
Will be a rotate player with Rodri.

City and is a club and family that have a lot money.

100 mill £ for a player to sit on bench a lot.

City have rich uncles.
 
Looking to leave in Jan. Funny thing is he's probably a player that could do well at United at the moment.
 
tentan said:
Looking to leave in Jan. Funny thing is he's probably a player that could do well at United at the moment.
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Disagree. Almost always looks bang average. Just because a player fit the profile, doesn't mean he have the quality to do well. See Dalot.

What we need right now is quality. Else just throw Mainoo, Gore into the team the LVG way
 
I think the biggest mark against him right now is that he hasn't seemed to handle the pressure of stepping up to a bigger club very well and seems low in confidence and unsure of himself.

The last thing United needs right now is another player that may need the hand over the shoulder treatment to build him back up. It's kind of weird that he's been desperate for playing time and presumably stayed at City to try and prove himself yet every time he is on the pitch he seems very casual and lackadaisical with no urgency.
 
Anyway we just got Amrabat who's currently a better high work-rate DM. And if we wanted a high work-rate #8, Hannibal seems at least as good an option as a City cast-off
 
tentan said:
Looking to leave in Jan. Funny thing is he's probably a player that could do well at United at the moment.
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Based on what?

Doesn't offer anything we don't already have covered in terms of quality or skillset.
 
Aside from a nice crossfield ping and playing under the saviour of world football Loco Bielsa – I don’t remember what this guy even did, anyway.
 
Why would he leave? Pointless taking a pay cut when your England place isn't under threat.
 
tentan said:
Looking to leave in Jan. Funny thing is he's probably a player that could do well at United at the moment.
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Silly prat didn’t want to come to United where he would have been a key player in midfield for his love of the Yorkshire scum, but then signed in Manchester anyway and hasn’t played since. He made his choice, that’s what he gets, ship has sailed.
 
Always worth remembering that there's an Amazon documentary about him getting that move to City.

That'll never not be funny
 
There's nothing special about this fella. Even at his supposed best level for England he looked extremely ordinary. He'll probably find his level again once he moves back to another midtable club next year, assuming he can stay fit!
 
tentan said:
Looking to leave in Jan. Funny thing is he's probably a player that could do well at United at the moment.
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Silly prat didn’t want to come to United where he would have been a key player in midfield for his love of the Yorkshire scum, but then signed in Manchester anyway and hasn’t played since. He made his choice, that’s what he gets, ship has sailed.
 
DWelbz19 said:
Aside from a nice crossfield ping and playing under the saviour of world football Loco Bielsa – I don’t remember what this guy even did, anyway.
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He was always a good if not amazing DM, solid work rate/stamina/strength/speed and good without being special on the ball. Kind of player who could probably play for most top sides as a squad player but saw the £££ instead of making a career move, I'm sure when his stock was high he could have got into an EL probably even CL team and been a starter and we'd think of him as a very good player now.
 
I think we have enough indolent dross in this team. Don't you?
 
Even when he was at Leeds, I didn't think he was impressive. I thought Forshaw was waaaaay better because he was at least press resistant despite all his flaws.
 
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