Nathaniel Phillips

[m0e]

15 minutes ago, manwiththestick said:

If we had bought him for 20 million in the window nobody would have batted an eyelid. 

Fair point 

[TheHowieLama]

21 minutes ago, manwiththestick said:

If we had bought him for 20 million in the window nobody would have batted an eyelid. 

Come on fella - the guy played a few thousand minutes of footy over the last few years - none of it in a top league.

There would have been a meltdown if we paid 20 mil for him. Rightly so.

 

Now, if off the back of it we can sell him for 20 mil.

 

That's moneyballin'.

[m0e]

5 minutes ago, TheHowieLama said:

Come on fella - the guy played a few thousand minutes of footy over the last few years - none of it in a top league.

There would have been a meltdown if we paid 20 mil for him. Rightly so.

 

Now, if off the back of it we can sell him for 20 mil.

 

That's moneyballin'.

We nearly bought Kabak for 18, so it's not far off.

[m0e]

He'll be here next season.

 

He's English, 24, and we absolutely fucking love him!

[manwiththestick]

8 minutes ago, TheHowieLama said:

Come on fella - the guy played a few thousand minutes of footy over the last few years - none of it in a top league.

There would have been a meltdown if we paid 20 mil for him. Rightly so.

 

Now, if off the back of it we can sell him for 20 mil.

 

That's moneyballin'.

I didn't mean if we actually bought Nat for 20 million. I meant of we bought a defender, let's say someone we didn't much much about from abroad and he came in and performed how Phillips had then people would be fine with him I reckon.

[TheHowieLama]

1 minute ago, m0e said:

He'll be here next season.

 

He's English, 24, and we absolutely fucking love him!

He's big

He's Red

Look at his fackin head

 

[m0e]

2 minutes ago, manwiththestick said:

I didn't mean if we actually bought Nat for 20 million. I meant of we bought a defender, let's say someone we didn't much much about from abroad and he came in and performed how Phillips had then people would be fine with him I reckon.

This

[No2]

 

Some perspective is needed here, if anyone had offered £1m in the summer he was gone. We couldn't find a buyer in the Championship to take him, now he's a £20m signing for Moysie or Sean Dyche. He's gone from being concerned about his professional career to virtually guaranteeing himself a PL career and all that comes with that. Fair fucks to him, he deserves what ever he gets.

 

My concern with retaining him would be he doesn't look like he's built to slot in seamlessly every 6 weeks. I'd keep him rather buy Kabak but if he's playing regularly we won't  be competing for big trophies. 

[coachpotato]

Phillips is easily the next best centre half we have in the air after Virgil. Perhaps even his equal.

Thats a big factor when playing grock teams who seem to give us problems from set pieces and rely on outmuscling us in the air to get their goals.

He’s quicker than Matip for most of the season, when Matip isn’t fit, and Gomez as well come to that.

He lacks some pace, certainly as much as our high line requires from our centre backs, but at 24 he can learn to adapt better at positioning himself and reading the game, something the best centre backs gain with experience and which pace alone can’t always compensate for.

I doubt we have any player with a bigger heart than Nat, and his determination the other night to make up for the own goal was tribute to that.

If we get Konate (don’t know his rep for injuries) then it leaves VVD, Konate, Gomez and Nat for me. Matip just cannot be relied upon and Kabak has gradually impressed me but doesn’t have the aerial ability defensively or in attack at our set plays that Nat has.
I know Cannavarro wasn’t the tallest either but there’s a world of difference between him and Kabak, plus Kabak will cost money and Nat won’t, which might be the biggest deciding factor knowing our owners.

 

 

[KMD7]

32 minutes ago, Lee909 said:

Jesus Christ 

Phillips has done well but how can anyone watch him play and think he will be first choice. Imagine him trying to play the sort of high line that he will have to with Virg. Teams would just exploit that side of the field, he doesn't have the recovery pace at all. The away game in Madrid showed him against top level attackers. 

 

He's done well but he isnt close to even the match day squad when everyone's fit. The only way he stays if if we either sell Matip and don't take up the option on Kabak. If he stays as 5th choice great, but realistically it's just another wasted year for a player that needs to play, he isn't a kid. 

 

If we don't sign Kabak and let Matip go and he stays as the 4th option, fine. But we can't play the way they want to if he is a regular. He doesn't have the recovery pace to play 1 on 1 like Virg and Gomez do. The links with Konaté shows what Klopp wants in a CB. Big, good in the air and quick to play a really high line. Sell Matip and keep him, great. Bring him on late vs alehouse lump it teams like he does with Matip and save 80k a week on a player that's fit 4 months a year

Good post Lee, but on the other hand.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[m0e]

6 minutes ago, coachpotato said:

Phillips is easily the next best centre half we have in the air after Virgil. Perhaps even his equal.

Thats a big factor when playing grock teams who seem to give us problems from set pieces and rely on outmuscling us in the air to get their goals.

He’s quicker than Matip for most of the season, when Matip isn’t fit, and Gomez as well come to that.

He lacks some pace, certainly as much as our high line requires from our centre backs, but at 24 he can learn to adapt better at positioning himself and reading the game, something the best centre backs gain with experience and which pace alone can’t always compensate for.

I doubt we have any player with a bigger heart than Nat, and his determination the other night to make up for the own goal was tribute to that.

If we get Konate (don’t know his rep for injuries) then it leaves VVD, Konate, Gomez and Nat for me. Matip just cannot be relied upon and Kabak has gradually impressed me but doesn’t have the aerial ability defensively or in attack at our set plays that Nat has.
I know Cannavarro wasn’t the tallest either but there’s a world of difference between him and Kabak, plus Kabak will cost money and Nat won’t, which might be the biggest deciding factor knowing our owners.

 

 

Come on mate, VVD's heading is on a completely different level.

 

He sets up attacks with cushioned headers.

 

He scores 6 or 7 goals a season.

 

Getting their head on the ball is one thing, what happens after is night and day.

[coachpotato]

7 minutes ago, m0e said:

Come on mate, VVD's heading is on a completely different level.

 

He sets up attacks with cushioned headers.

 

He scores 6 or 7 goals a season.

 

Getting their head on the ball is one thing, what happens after is night and day.

Fair do’s, perhaps I went a bit too far with the comparison with Virg, but he’s next best in the air. In my opinion.

[aws]

1 hour ago, TheHowieLama said:

Injured the last couple weeks innit?

Hasn't he been subbed twice near the end of games? Maybe he's been carrying an injury though. 

[TheHowieLama]

1 minute ago, aws said:

Hasn't he been subbed twice near the end of games? Maybe he's been carrying an injury though. 

Dont think so man - wasn't included the last couple of weeks - he had played regularly in the matches before that.

[aws]

7 minutes ago, TheHowieLama said:

Dont think so man - wasn't included the last couple of weeks - he had played regularly in the matches before that.

Just checked - he was subbed against Arse, Madrid and Villa. 

[JohnnyH]

3 hours ago, dockers_strike said:

Just out of interest, but what's the definition of 'top class' CBs? We had 4 with van Dijk, Gomez, Matip and Lovren. Jurgen said it was very hard to keep them satisfied footballing wise with each wanting playing time. Loads on here dont or didnt rate Gomez, Matip and Lovren and it appears to me, people want 4 versions of van Dijk.

 

That's great, who wouldnt want that? But the point is, I dont know of 3 other CBs of Virgil's quality who are available, dont cost £50m+ each, all willing to come here and not have 3 of them kicking off from time to time about not playing?

What a perfect football forum post this is.  Take a simple point made by a poster and twist and drag it into some mad claim that said poster is demanding all the best players in the world in a given position. Beautifully done sir. Kudos in fact for nailing the modern forum response.   
 

There’s nobody in the world who expects, or thinks it’s even remotely possible, for us to have 4 Virgils. Wanting 3 other top class CBs is not demanding or expecting 4 Virgils, it’s looking for 4 top class CBs, i.e.capable of playing in a team who will challenge for the top honours. An example of which were the 4 we had (VVD, Gomez, Matip and Lovren - yes Lovren. He had brainfarts but was mostly very good and we could have desperately done with him this year). All those 4 are streets ahead of Phillips and, as this season had shown, we need that level of quality back. Klopp can say it’s hard to keep them happy, so you sell the one least happy and replace him like for like. That’s what’s happens. It’s how we ended up with that 4. 

[TheHowieLama]

4 minutes ago, JohnnyH said:

replace him like for like.

Oh John, what have you done man, what have you done?

[JohnnyH]

3 hours ago, MOGLET said:

I dont get the negativity towards Phillips, he has stepped in due to injuries, after not playing virtually any run of anything, and gets shite.

Yes he was a tad dire to start with, but given the total lack of game time, thats acceptable surely?

But tbh and in all honesty, he has turned into quite a decent defensive player for us, he isnt afraid of getting in there, he never shirks a tackle, and to be fair to the lad, he deserves a lot more credit.

The own goal last night was a fluke, and shouldnt be considered a fault.

For me, he has a right to be first choice to partner VVD when he returns, as im sure Gomez will need time to reinstate his place.

Dont get me wrong, the VVD, Gomez pairing worked very well, but Matip was never the same after his injury lay off.

And who is to say VVD will be straight back to being the giant he was prior?

I personally like the lad and think he deserves a lot more credit than he seems to be getting.

He’s getting huge credit. Massive credit in fact. He’ll probably be voted in our top 5 players of the season.  
 

Don’t confuse negativity towards him with people just saying that when we get this shit-show of a season out of the way we need to ensure we have top class CBs so we can get back to challenging for and winning league titles and European cups again. Phillips has done well, but he’s just not that level. Most players aren’t that level. It’s not a criticism, it’s just he’s not that top CB level. And at 24 he needs to be a starter now. 

 

[JohnnyH]

3 minutes ago, TheHowieLama said:

Oh John, what have you done man, what have you done?

I’m not sure. But whatever it was I didn’t mean it. 

[Pidge]

Give the man the golden samba already.

[Red74]

He’s fucking boss you wools. If he’d have cost £30m he’d be getting raved about. 
 

Jurgen dropped a bollock not putting him in earlier. 
 

Get him signed up and keep him here and regularly involved. Lads never let us down once. 

[3 Stacks]

There is more hyperbole about how good he has been than negativity in this thread. 

[TheHowieLama]

This poor fucker is going to crash hard.

 

Give him his dream move to Fulham.

[diamondjoe]

I like him and would keep him around for sure. He's obviously limited in pace but fuck me he'd head a scud missile for the team. 

 

[aRdja]

32 minutes ago, Red74 said:

He’s fucking boss you wools. If he’d have cost £30m he’d be getting raved about. 
 

Jurgen dropped a bollock not putting him in earlier. 
 

Get him signed up and keep him here and regularly involved. Lads never let us down once. 

If his name was Natale Philipinha...