Kevin Nolan has revealed Kalvin Phillips was left ‘really upset’ following his costly performance in his second game for West Ham United.
Phillips left Manchester City in the January transfer window to join the Hammers on loan for the rest of the season.
It’s been a difficult 18 months for the 28-year-old, in which he played little part in City’s historic treble triumph.
Though Phillips had the chance to depart in the summer, he opted to stay and compete for a spot in Pep Guardiola’s side but that hasn’t gone to plan.
The defensive midfielder remained a periphery figure and couldn’t even get in the starting XI when the man he was signed to be a back-up for – Rodri – was suspended for three Premier League matches.
The Blues boss has clearly found it difficult to trust Phillips – whose just two league starts for the club came when the title was already secured – in his midfield.
Things haven’t started off much better in London, with Phillips struggling in his first two matches.
He looked off the pace in his debut, a 1-1 draw with Bournemouth, and then dropped to the bench for the trip to Manchester United.
Phillips came on for just 18 minutes but still cost a goal. He got caught on the ball by Scott McTominay who then slid in Alejandro Garnacho to top off a 3-0 win.
Kevin Nolan shares how Kalvin Phillips felt after his second match
West Ham coach Nolan has revealed how Phillips was feeling after the game. He told TalkSport: “When you haven’t been playing, when you haven’t had that week in, week out, and you come in and sometimes it takes that little bit of time.
“He is trying to get to know us, us as a unit and what we want because we are going to be totally different to what Manchester City are.
“So he is just finding his feet and I’m sure as soon as he does he is going to be an absolutely tremendous signing for us from now until the end of the season.
“I am really looking forward to it and to be honest, I can’t knock him, he is a great kid, he wants to work hard. You could see he was really upset after the weekend.”
A real test
Though he has more medals on his mantlepiece than he ever must have dreamed, it’s still been a challenging period for Phillips.
It must be a surreal blow to one’s confidence when you’re just not seen as good enough by your boss and sidelined.
Getting that confidence back can be like pushing a boulder up a hill, a physical feat made even harder when you’re rusty from inaction.
It can be easy to forget but Phillips is a very talented player but it’s going to be a huge test for him to get back to his best.
