He wasn’t even in the CL squad at the start of the season, he was that low down in the pecking order, not surprised is contract is due to come up, signing of Davies would suggest that’s the case, remember Davies probably in all honesty has far better experience than Phillips heading into this season.
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He was always 6/7th choice Circumstances obviously got him games. Hasn’t put a foot wrong, and has excelled in keeping it simple and doing that well.
Limited player, but needed in such situations. Great at defending in the air. Will most likely leave in the summer, and wouldn’t be surprised if a Prem team came in for him. Will do really well in a team that does the low block defending deeper. If no Prem team, then can make for a championship team with promotion aspirations.
No nonsense defender, and has that quirk of taking a few steps with the ball, passing it, and then immediately jogging backwards into position.
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He was good again yesterday, and certainly can’t be blamed for our defeat. In the top three performers for me, alongside Kelleher and Hendo.
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What is your assessment of Phillips @ILLOK ?
Seems solid to me a decent championship option. Lacks some technical skills ball at feet however he’s strong and can handle himself in defensive duties. Reads the game to a decent level which puts him before Williams in any pecking order.
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Good in the air, good concentration. Slow, limited with the ball, easy to beat if isolated 1v1. Currently vastly overrated by a decent chunk of our fans, there’s a reason Klopp is reluctant to play him and quite obviously not good enough for us long term.
He’s looked better than he is due to Klopp protecting him against the better forwards in the league. Played regularly against the likes of Vardy, Rashford, Sterling, Son (when not already winning and sitting deep) etc he’d get torn to pieces.
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I believe he was about to join Middlesboro before the season started for 1.2 m but they pulled out at last minute surely he’s worth more than that now.
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He will be a free-agent in June 
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Has he let us down yet? I can’t remember a game where he has and he’s been man of the match in at least three games I can think of. I’m not saying he’s a better option than Kabak long term because I just haven’t seen enough of Kabak to make a judgement but if we are going to get back to playing anything like our normal game we are going to have to get CBs playing at CB and release Henderson and Fabinho into midfield.
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Now there’s a reason to not play him, then again it hasn’t affected Gini.
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Not one single game so far. And yet, he seems to be frozen out since the arrival of the new boys.
For the time being, he’s a far better option than either Kabak imo (thrown in far too early as witnessed during the Leicester game, offered nothing more than what Phillips could have offered, lacked defensive solidity) or Davies, who has nil experience at this level.
I really don’t know what the lad has to do to be considered a regular, especially in the midst of such a crisis. It defied any logic to not include him at Leicester again, especially after the fiasco against Cheaty. It made literally no sense.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg46qHT1TBg&ab_channel=LiverpoolFC
The second clip in the above gives an indication as to why Klopp is reluctant to use him. If Callum Wilson can run off him so effortlessly it’s easy to see why Klopp didn’t want him playing against Vardy and Barnes.
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Yep, he’s perfectly solid providing the opposition don’t have quick players. Bit of a handicap in the PL that but for the right opponent, good enough. He’ll make a decent enough career playing in the Championship.
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Leeds, Saints, BH&A, Palace, Burnley, Newcastle, Fulham, WBA and Sheffield. Are their CBs really all better than Nat Phillips?
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You’ve just named three teams that are going to be playing in the Championship next season.
And yes, most of those teams have CBs that are better suited to the PL than Phillips and I say this as someone who is a big fan of his.
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Did pretty well against Antonio though. I’m not saying he’s great. Clearly he is limited but he knows his limitations, plays within them and really hasn’t done much wrong so far.
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Is it because we were poor against these teams? If so, it just doesn’t make any sense. They nullified our attack due to a combination of
- Packing the box
- Shady officiating
- Poor form/exhaustion of our attackers
I don’t understand where the comparison between their CB and Nat is coming form.
Klopp, when afforded, picks his team based on, among other things, the opponent. He picks the players best suited for the opponents we are facing. I think his selection of Nat has been prudent too.
Nat is very good if he can play with his back to our goal. He isn’t much good if he has to chase a player. Because we continued to play with highline, TAA having an iffy form and even the midfielders were sluggish; it influenced Nat’s selection.
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Shouldn’t you be asking if their attackers are better than ours? Scary thought!
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West Ham were pretty rank on the day though, they could barely string 2 passes together.
I thought Aaron Connolly made Phillips look like a carthorse too. Phillips struggled until he was subbed off for Lallana. He also looked all at sea in the first 45 against Everton last year in the FA cup.
I think it’s telling that Klopp has only picked him against West Ham, Brighton and Newcastle despite all the injury problems we’ve had.
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He’s obviously off in the summer, and that’s fine. Never really good enough for us, and gets a few games for Liverpool to look back on.
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And another player who at least spent some time in Liverpool youth teams will be in the Championship at worst, perhaps even in PL at some point. I wish club could get a fee for him but I doubt anyone will begrudge him that.
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