Michail Antonio has given his two cents on Kalvin Phillips’ disastrous start to life at West Ham United on loan.
Recently, Luton Town captain Tom Lockyer claimed the Englishman made the “right decision” by leaving Manchester City temporarily.
However, Graeme Souness has question marks over whether the former Leeds United midfielder has the quality to play in the Premier League after witnessing how poor he has been for West Ham.
Michail Antonio provides honest Kalvin Phillips verdict after disastrous start at West Ham
Craig Burley claimed that the decision to join City in the first place was unwise from the 28-year-old, describing the move as a “disaster”, which he believes has played a role in his poor form at West Ham.
Things must be far from easy for Phillips since heading on loan to the Hammers, not only because of his high-profile errors but also how much of a talking point he has become for the wrong reasons once again.
Michail Antonio, however, has been supportive of Kalvin Phillips on BBC Sounds’ The Footballers’ Football Podcast.
Antonio initially said, “Basically, the situation is I was out for three and a half months and I played 75 minutes and I think I had a stinker. I couldn’t keep the ball, I couldn’t hold up the play, it was difficult for me. I was rusty.”
On Phillips, he said, “The guy’s not played for a year and a half, so you’ve got to expect mistakes, you’ve got to expect a player being rusty, you’ve got to expect him trying to get up to the speed of the Prem [Premier League] because he’s not played for a year and a half.”
“So, these things are bound to happen. It’s a good thing that it’s happening now and it’s not happening at the end of the season because once it’s happening at the end, then there’s certain things you can actually say about him as a player.”
“But right now, he’s getting it now and early because all the rust, he needs to get rid of that so he can bring out the quality that he has.”
The Hammers striker is spot on about Kalvin Phillips
In our view, Michail Antonio is bang on the money in his assessment of Kalvin Phillips’ start to life at West Ham.
Sure, Phillips has been disappointing but at the same time, it must not be easy playing regular football after being largely uninvolved at Manchester City for one and a half years.
Especially in the Premier League, which continues to improve in terms of the players and managers that join the division.
The pace, power and tactical insight in the league is second to none, which has meant that Phillips has to relearn how to play in the English top-flight once again.
So long as Kalvin Phillips’ teammates at West Ham like Michail Antonio continue to support him, it is likely that his performances will gradually improve.
