Leon Osman blasts ‘Sloppy’ Kalvin Phillips as Leeds draw v Liverpool
Leon Osman slammed Kalvin Phillips for a “sloppy” performance in the heart of the Leeds United midfield on Monday night.
Marcelo Bielsa’s men scored late on via Diego Llorente to grab a 1-1 draw against ESL bad guys Liverpool at Elland Road.
And while it was a superb result for the Whites, Phillips was criticised for his performance by BBC pundit and ex-Everton star Osman.
“Kalvin Phillips has been sloppy,” said Osman, as quoted on BBC Sport’s website. “I know he’s playing against an aggressive, pressing team but you can’t get caught on the ball in those positions that he has been doing, four or five times. You would have to tell him to sharpen up.
“Both teams have been guilty of giving the ball away in poor areas.”
Not his best night
The stats don’t lie and Phillips wasn’t his usual self against Liverpool.
According to Wyscout, the England international completed 81 per cent of his passes, which is down on his season average of 86.2 per cent. He also lost possession with four passes inside Leeds’ own half.
Phillips also won just 10 of the 21 duels he was involved in so it clearly wasn’t his best performance for Leeds.
However, this was against Liverpool.
Ignore the ESL stuff and the fact they haven’t defended their title at all well this season, they’re still the reigning Premier League champions and a side that can beat anyone on their day.
Phillips simply struggled against their style of play and we’re ok with that.
At the end of the day, we know how good Phillips is and we know that for every sloppy game he has, he has nine other brilliant ones where he barely does anything wrong.
We’re not concerned at all by his display versus Liverpool.
In other Leeds United news, this Yorkshire-born pundit has been waxing lyrical about a “fantastic” attacker who’s been linked with the Whites.