MOT View: Power of Leeds sees Kalvin Phillips voted among top eight DMs in world
It seemed like there was no poll that Leeds United fans couldn’t dominate online.
The FA broadcasted the Man United v Leeds classic from 2010 after their poll was smashed up by Leeds supporters – you can watch that game in full now.
On Wednesday, Leeds fans tried to get Kalvin Phillips in the World’s Best XI. And, while the big one eventually eluded us, Leeds fans still punched way above their weight.
SPORF asked football fans to vote for their Best in the World XI, with Kalvin up against Marco Verratti, Wilfred Ndidi and Scott McTominay for a spot in the final eight defensive midfielders.
Midway through Phillips was trailing and the Leeds fans put the word out on Twitter.
By the end it was tied, with Phillips and Verratti getting 32% of the vote each.
It went into an extra-time sudden death shootout and by this time the official Leeds United twitter account had got involved.
That was game over. The power of the Leeds fanbase took Phillips to a close-run victory with 53.4% of over 12,000 votes.
So that’s Leeds fans against the world, with the Leeds fans winning out.
It left other fans crying with one saying, “Is all of this a joke now?”
The answer to that is, obviously, no.
It meant Phillips lined up in the quarter-finals alongside N’Golo Kante, Fernandinho, Fabinho, Casemiro, Joshua Kimmich, Sergio Busquets and Thomas Partey.
Phillips went up against Liverpool’s Fabinho and despite a valiant effort from the troops, went out in a close-run contest with 49% of the 13,679 votes.
As SPORF said it was a “valiant effort” but one that put Phillips up among the world’s elite where he obviously belongs.
In other Leeds United news, ‘Own interests’: Shaun Harvey Leeds verdict on talkSPORT comes as no surprise