How Kalvin Phillips' West Ham loan spell turned into a disaster
At the last European Championship, Kalvin Phillips started all seven matches as England finished runners-up. Three years on and with Euro 2024 on the horizon, the midfielder faces the very real prospect of missing out on the squad altogether.
That represents quite the decline when you consider Phillips is now 28, theoretically in the peak years of his career. Yet on an individual level at least, there has been little for him to cheer since his move to Manchester City in the summer of 2022.
After 18 months of warming the bench at the Etihad Stadium, Phillips secured a loan move to West Ham United in the January window. To many it looked like a rare deal that suited all three parties (in the interests of full disclosure, this writer was among their number).
Yet things have not gone to plan for Phillips or West Ham. The loanee made another costly error at the weekend, when his clumsy foul on Anthony Gordon gave Newcastle United a second-half penalty on their way to a 4-3 win.
To be clear, the blame for West Ham’s collapse from 3-1 up cannot be pinned solely on Phillips. The team as a whole was unable to control the game with a two-goal lead. They ceded the initiative to Newcastle, who took full advantage in impressive fashion.
At the same time, this was not the first time Philips has failed to impress in a claret-and-blue shirt. The error at St James’ Park was representative of his West Ham career to date: Phillips was off the pace and slow to react.
Even David Moyes struggled to defend his player after the game, admitting that his decision to bring Phillips on for Michail Antonio in the 69th minute did not work out.
"The penalty kick [conceded by Phillips] is a huge turning point, but I also thought we made a change because we felt as if they had got on top and missed a couple of chances," he said.
"We tried to give ourselves another midfield player at 3-1 up and we didn't want to wait for it to get to 3-2.
"Probably that decision didn't work on the day, but more importantly I think the boy puts his foot in front of Kalvin and I don't know how he's supposed to see his leg."
Phillips has made just three Premier League starts for West Ham. Three minutes into his first in late January, he made an error that led to a Dominic Solanke goal for Bournemouth. He was withdrawn midway through the second half.
On his next start against Nottingham Forest, he was sent off as the Hammers went down 2-0. On his third appearance from the first whistle, the midfielder was hooked at half-time with West Ham 2-0 down to Burnley at the London Stadium.
Phillips desperately needed to leave Manchester City in the winter window and West Ham looked like an ideal destination. Moyes likes his team to have a British core and there was always going to be plenty of opportunities for game time with West Ham balancing domestic and European commitments. In the second half of 2020/21, Jesse Lingard thrived on loan at the London Stadium from Manchester United.
But Phillips looks like a shadow of the player that starred for Leeds United and for England at Euro 2020. His performances to date for West Ham have earned him a 5.82 WhoScored rating , the lowest figure of any Premier League player to have made more five or more appearances in 2024. Phillips has completed just 79.5% of his passes, a remarkably low rate for a midfielder of his type.
The fans have not been impressed and Phillips was caught raising his middle finger to a group of them after the Newcastle loss.
Given he was left out of Southgate’s squad in the March international break, Phillips faces an uphill battle to win back his place in time for Euro 2024. Since joining West Ham, things have gone from bad to worse for the beleaguered England international.
