- Kalvin Phillips has been mocked after a video of his performance went viral
- Phillips, back from his loan spell at West Ham, featured for Man City in a friendly
Kalvin Phillips has been mocked by fans after a clip of him playing in Manchester City’s friendly against AC Milan went viral.
Phillips is back at City after returning from his hugely frustrating loan spell at West Ham.
The midfielder featured in the second half as City were beaten 3-2 by Milan in New York and the clip showed a hesitant Phillips dwelling on the ball as he looked unsure of which pass to play.
A Hammers fan joked that Phillips ‘seems like he’s reinvented himself after his West Ham loan’.
In addition, another West Ham fan mocked Phillips as they wrote: ‘In fairness he never ever had that much control of the ball in a West Ham shirt. Would have either been robbed of ball or misplaced a pass.’
Kalvin Phillips has been mocked after a video of him dwelling on the ball went viral
Phillips, back from his loan spell at West Ham, featured for Man City in a defeat to AC Milan
The midfielder, whose City future is uncertain, has endured a frustrating time at the club
One user added: ‘Did he ever pass it? That’s what i want to know.’, with another commenting: ‘Side to side like table football’.
There were also references to Gareth Southgate’s comments that England were missing a player like Phillips at the Euros this summer.
One user wrote: ‘How did Southgate leave this out of the Euros squad?’, with another stating: ‘Gareth was right, we really missed him at the euros’.
City were beaten by Milan despite taking the lead through Erling Haaland.
A brace from Lorenzo Colombo put Milan in front before James McAtee equalised for City in the second half. Marco Nasti scored what proved to be the winner for Milan in the 78th minute.
Phillips established a good reputation for himself at Leeds and was also a key part of the England side that reached the final of Euro 2020.
However, matters took a turn for the worse for Phillips after he joined City for an initial fee of £42million in 2022.
Phillips has made just two Premier League starts for City and was criticised by Pep Guardiola for being ‘overweight’ when he returned from the 2022 World Cup, with the City boss later apologising for his comments.
In January this year Phillips headed to West Ham on loan, but the move certainly didn’t go to plan as he made an error on his debut against Bournemouth and was sent off against Nottingham Forest.
After a defeat away to Newcastle in which he had come on as a substitute and conceded a penalty, Phillips was criticised by West Ham fans outside the ground, with some describing him as ‘useless’. Phillips responded by showing his middle finger to fans.
Phillips’ loan spell at West Ham didn’t go to plan and led to criticism from fans
Phillips had also lost his place in the England setup but after the Three Lions drew with Denmark in the group stages Southgate stated that his side were missing a player of his ilk.
Southgate said: ‘He (Trent Alexander-Arnold) has had some moments where he has delivered what we thought he would.
‘We know it is an experiment and we don’t have a natural replacement for Kalvin Phillips, but we’re trying some different things and at the moment we’re not flowing as we’d like, that’s for sure.’
Phillips, who faces an uncertain future at City, has now been linked with a loan move to Everton.
