List Articles

5 things you need to know about Leeds United’s England international Kalvin Phillips

|
Image for 5 things you need to know about Leeds United’s England international Kalvin Phillips

Kalvin Phillips has been rewarded for his remarkable transformation under Marcelo Bielsa with a first call-up to Gareth Southgate’s England squad for the upcoming fixtures.

A strict conversion to holding midfield has seen Kalvin Phillips become the most important player in Marcelo Bielsa’s tactical system since his arrival in 2018, seeing him touted to make it to the very top of the English footballing ladder if he continues in the same trajectory.

Having committed his long-term future to Leeds amid strong interest from the top flight last summer, Phillips has achieved promotion with his boyhood club last season as he looks to help the Whites cement their status in the Premier League.

Along with promotion, Phillips has been rewarded with his first call-up to the national team after Gareth Southgate named him in the England squad for the upcoming games against Iceland and Denmark.

So, what is there to know about the man Southgate has had his eye on for some time now? Here are five things you need to know about Phillips ahead of his potential international debut…

A combative tackler

Plying his trade as a holding midfielder, one of the main things Phillips has to excel at in order to stand out is being able to break up the play comfortably.

Averaging 2.6 successful tackles per game (via WhoScored.com), he was leading the way in that regard for Leeds in the league last season.

With Leeds looking to dominate possession high up the pitch, using full-backs on the overlap, Phillips is tasked with being the main man to halt counter-attacks, something that he did extremely well, covering ground to stop the break.

He nearly left the club last summer

A devastating play-off defeat on 2018/19 saw Leeds looking at a bleak summer with Marcelo Bielsa and Phillips’ future looking very uncertain for the coming season.

With Leeds’ failure to achieve promotion came the inevitable interest from the Premier League, namely the side who did triumph in the play-offs, Aston Villa.

It was clear from the outset that Dean Smith was keen to make Phillips a Villa player and there was a point where the ‘Yorkshire Pirlo’ nearly had his head turned.

Speaking to The Athletic, Phillips revealed that he was so devastated at not clinching promotion that when the offer came from Villa, he was keen to consider it. With the academy product not 100% sold on the move away, Orta said ‘if you don’t know, then I’m not selling you’, and the rest is history.

Top range of passing

Being able to create the angles for these passes is one thing, but then having the quality to execute a range of them consistently is what sets him apart.

Leeds were regularly faced with the problem of Championship midfields sitting deep and leaving very few gaps to play through, meaning long, defence-splitting passes across the field were needed often.

He averaged 5.3 successful long balls per game with an overall passing accuracy of 81.8% in the league.

Some might argue that the likes of Declan Rice and Eric Dier show greater accuracy in their passes, but that disregards the complexity of passes that Phillips regularly makes, compared to your very simple holding midfield play.

Watch any Leeds game from last season (even against Arsenal), and you’ll see Phillips’ range of passing is superb.

He’s got an eye for goal from range

Leeds are somewhat blessed with the set-piece takers they have in their team, on paper, with Pablo Hernandez and Barry Douglas shining from a dead ball situation throughout their careers.

However, following football’s restart this summer, Phillips pulled a free-kick right out of the top drawer away to Blackburn Rovers, whipping over the wall into the top-left corner from at least 25 yards.

It was his second free-kick goal for the club after a superb strike away to Nottingham Forest back in 2016/17, along with a number of brilliant strikes against the likes of Sheffield United and Norwich City.

He fits the role for England well

Southgate’s holding midfielder has to be capable of a number of things, such as breaking up play, retaining shape allowing the other midfielders to roam, and having the confidence on the ball to dictate play too.

Jordan Henderson excelled at this in the 2018 World Cup and it’s something that has been sorely missed since he moved into a more box-to-box role. Enter Kalvin Phillips.

Dropping deep between the centre-backs to receive the ball as well as moving forward to take the ball on the half-turn, Phillips has shown his movement is strong enough to fill the void currently present in the England lineup, the only question is around the step up in quality.

Share this article

Leeds United season ticket holder since 2013/14, currently situated in the middle of the FA5 noise. From Pablo Hernandez to 5-1 drubbings, I've seen it all at Elland Road.