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Chelsea’s Reece James sends two-word message to Leeds’ Kalvin Phillips after England display

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Image for Chelsea’s Reece James sends two-word message to Leeds’ Kalvin Phillips after England display

Leeds United midfielder Kalvin Phillips appears to have cemented his place in Gareth Southgate’s England squad as he completed every minute of football in the group stage.

The Whites have seven players at Euro 2020, but no one has caught the eye from Elland Road quite like Kalvin Phillips has since the start of the Three Lions’ campaign.

An outstanding performance in the opener against Croatia almost made Phillips undroppable, and Southgate’s latest decision in the Czech Republic win highlighted that.

England put in a strong first-half performance last night to go into half-time with a 1-0 lead thanks to Raheem Sterling, while Phillips’ energy was a key asset once again.

However, half-time saw Southgate opt to shut up shop with a fairly conservative change to bring on Jordan Henderson to tighten up the midfield.

Making way was Declan Rice instead of Phillips, as the Leeds man dropped into his favoured role in the central pivot of the midfield, where he dictated tempo along with his partners in the middle.

It was another composed performance from the Leeds star and one that has caught the eye of his teammates. Phillips posted on Instagram reflecting on three clean sheets and topping the group, where Reece James, Jude Bellingham, Jack Grealish, and Henderson reacted:

It wasn’t vintage throughout the 90 minutes from England but I don’t think that’s what Southgate is hoping for from our squad.

We’ve been good enough to top the group without conceding a goal, and that’s a commedable effort that has to be lauded.

In that achievement, a lot of the praise has to go to how we’ve managed to control games in midfield, including Phillip’s contribution.

He looks like a core part of that England lineup now and I can’t say I’m too surprised that Phillips stayed on as the combative midfielder over Rice.

It did seem as though those two were playing each others’ roles in the first two-and-a-half games, given Rice’s superior ability to progress the ball driving with it at his feet.

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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.