Leeds United’s Kalvin Phillips certainly struck the right chord with the Elland Road faithful in his recent words about life under manager Marcelo Bielsa and the current feelings in the dressing room amongst the players.
The 22-year-old midfielder has played a key role for Bielsa in the way he wants us to play this season in the campaign of 2018/19 and although the youngster has been substituted early on two occasions when our game plan wasn’t working as planned, Bielsa has reverted straight back to giving him the next start as he clearly makes decisions based on a game without punishing a player for an occasional bad day at the office – whatever the reason might be and fans will be well aware Bielsa takes such days on his own shoulders to defend a player as he has Phillips in the recent past.
In any event, his stock amongst fans has certainly risen this campaign after criticism last year and Phillips spoke to the Yorkshire Evening Post about his substitutions, and they liked his honesty in his words.
“Obviously I was gutted. Coming off after 30 minutes is never good but I don’t believe the manager should be apologetic for that. It’s down to me and I should have played a lot better in that game but things happen in football. I just had to keep my chin up and get on with it. If I’m ever taken off after 30 minutes I’ll never take it in a bad way. I’ll always come in the next day with a smile on my face, wanting to learn. That’s the key about most of the players in this squad and it’s what the manager wants. If we give the manager what he wants, he’ll give us the time of day to make us better players.”
He's already stated multiple times that it's tactical, but still everyone wants to play, especially young players, so it's great he's happy to put the team first. It's blatantly obvious he cares more about the club than Lewis Cook or Charlie Taylor ever did.
— El Grimmo (@VileAnimal1919) October 15, 2018
Just read the article & what hits home is how level headed Kalvin is & the belief & confidence that Bielsa instilled in him great coaches do that MOT.
— Roger Cartwright (@rogercart57) October 15, 2018
Spot on. He's matured beyond belief.
— Andy Brook (@andybrook1) October 15, 2018
Great attitude ????????????
— colm ferguson (@Colmfergie) October 15, 2018
Good attitude . That's what we need. Great lad and v classy player now.
— jayjay82 (@jwh1982) October 15, 2018
As the above comments on social media show, his attitude has simply won him more fans and Bielsa takes praise for his approach as well.