Feels like I’m banging on a bit of a drum here. He was massively bailed out by his partner tonight after doing exactly what I’ve been moaning about. He charged up like a rampaging bull with Fabinho already in attendance and where you’d expect the DM to be and completely faffed the situation allowing Gibbs-White to break through into the massive chasm where Phillips just bolted out of. Sound familiar because I’ve been saying it almost every post match… Luckily for us it was Gibbs-White who had just come on and not Neto or Traore on the end of it.
This is not bashing him, he did good things and made good clearances and generally mopped up but when I see comments like ‘he didn’t put a foot wrong’ and ‘excellent’ then I have to wonder if people are really watching the game.
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Of course he’s bound to commit mistakes. As Carra pointed out after the game, his inexperience at this level will lead to errors being made. He’s 23, remember? The exact same applies to Kabak by the way. But as he said, they were both on the same page and able to bail their partner out in critical moments. Fabinho in front of them helped a lot to steady the ship.
I’d maintain that he was excellent, bar a couple of misplaced long passes which invited pressure, and the few moments you point out in your post.
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I didn’t think he played that well by his recent high standards but it’s another clean sheet, another 90 minutes playing alongside Kabak (who was very good) and more experience at a high level. Wolves had a turbo-charged front line last night to try to exploit our lack of pace but we coped OK. You can’t over-estimate the impact Fabinho is having sitting in front of that back line. It’s the first time for a long time that the CBs have had genuine protection.
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At least he doesn’t fall over as much as Lovren did. 
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Nat Phillips is a limited player. There were some iffy moments last night and I think that was because he tried to defy his limits rather than playing within his limits.
The fact that Klopp is confident enough to start him in two consecutive crucial games underlines his utility even within his limitations.
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Jurgen and the staff has three weeks to keep working on Nat lftikhar… He might be limited, but all we want when he plays… is 95mins of him concentrating to his limit and keep performing to his maximum…
For what it is worth… This guy may actually be playing in a CL final in a couple of months, and I for one can see legend status awaiting for him if it does.!
Same goes for Kabak. The kid looks as hard as nails! :0)
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He seems to have been a lot of people’s man of the match last night, which is bonkers in my opinion. There seems to be a narrative emerging around him, where his lovely story is being allowed to cover his faults, and 5-6/10 performances are being viewed as 7-8/10 because of the Nat Phillipsness of the whole business.
There were quite a few issues last night. The one that was most dodgy was the lofted pass he attempted to Robbo. Absolutely telegraphed it, it hung in the air for ages and it got cut out by wolves who were able to spring a three on three and another situation a better team would have punished.
He needs to stick to the simple stuff he’s good at. Head it away, clear the lines, and win his battles. He had some great moments yesterday. It was when he got carried away with the idea that he is starting Premier League games for the Champions of England that it went pear shaped.
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He is starting games for the champions of England and he’s making a damn good fist of it.
No, he isn’t perfect but nobody is.
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God loves a trier… and so do the LFC fans… Nat is certainly that…
Far Far Far from the finished article… He may have already reached his plateau who knows
We have got him, we need to use him and you can bet your bottom dollar after each game, Jurgen and his staff will be over him like a cheap suit in an effort to improve him for the following game…
Yes he does daft stuff, like attempting to pass the ball like Xabi Alonso in last nights game, the important thing to watch out for, is whether he has the intelligence to learn from it when his limitations are discussed and pointed out by the backroom staff.
He may never play for LFC again after this season… but that is for another time and another discussion…
It is this season we need to focus on and make the best of what we have to choose from.!
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I would say he is being asked to do that as it doesn’t seem to be his natural game.
It was him who hoffed the ball at the kick off and it was a lovely hoof staying in the air long enough for our players to get to the end of it and set up around which led to a throw in to us. Definitely the best kick off combination we have done in a very long time. 
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Does anyone genuinely believe there’s any other player in the league who can sink a pint faster than our Nat?
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Kabak and Phillips seem to do well together and as you said they make mistakes, they are playing without an excellent and experienced defender like van Dijk but remember folk, Fabinho is thanks to them back in midfield where he belongs and is the most valuable to us and besides, it is all we have at the moment can’t see better options so let’s deal with that fact.
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Slab head defo, then goes and kicks off with the locals.
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Will Jurgen risk Phillips and Kabak against Madrid in both legs?
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Why wouldn’t he, Madrid are shite these days.
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What else is there to play for?
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Agree here,Think Nat has done enough good work not to be first out the door.
He may be limited,but he is an old fashioned centre half,hard enough to worry a lot of attackers.
He is not likely to be a nailed on starter just yet,but worth having and certainly has his uses.
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I like what he’s doing. His performances have helped us to start pulling ourselves out of a hole, a big deep hole. We’re not out yet but it feels as if we’ve passed bottom and are now on the up slope. Phillips has played a part in that.
He’ll get better as well which is only a good thing. If he can develop upstairs, i.e the mental / thinking side then that would go a long way to compensating for any other weaknesses he has.
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Yep experinence is essential for a CB, it really doesn’t matter how fast they are if they master the tactical and reading of the game part, some extremely slow CBs have prooved this.
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