Nat Phillips

[baitman]

The huge difference for him will be not playing alongside top class players. Imagine swapping Virgil Van Dijk for Gary Cahill

I really hope he does well, but this is a move that will show his real level.

Has Nat ever played alongside VVD.
Nat has looked decent playing alongside williams and others, but he wasnt being "carried" by more "complete" centre backs.

He must be very rusty given his lack of game time, hopefully he will get his **** together and prove his worth

[vlahka]

He played amazing for us for almost half a season with little play before. Plays a bad game in another team, automatically hes rubbish and cant do a job for us. Clearly everyones forgotten he actually DID do a job for us. A bloody good job. And without VVD next to him to carry him like Gomez gets carried. Thats not a fluke performance. He's quality and it'll start showing once he gets his footing again.

[Norbs]

Has Nat ever played alongside VVD.
Nat has looked decent playing alongside williams and others, but he wasnt being "carried" by more "complete" centre backs.

He must be very rusty given his lack of game time, hopefully he will get his **** together and prove his worth

[Norbs]

He played amazing for us for almost half a season with little play before. Plays a bad game in another team, automatically hes rubbish and cant do a job for us. Clearly everyones forgotten he actually DID do a job for us. A bloody good job. And without VVD next to him to carry him like Gomez gets carried. Thats not a fluke performance. He's quality and it'll start showing once he gets his footing again.

[Irishnev]

Norbs is clearly on team Nat

[Corndog]

He played amazing for us for almost half a season with little play before. Plays a bad game in another team, automatically hes rubbish and cant do a job for us. Clearly everyones forgotten he actually DID do a job for us. A bloody good job. And without VVD next to him to carry him like Gomez gets carried. Thats not a fluke performance. He's quality and it'll start showing once he gets his footing again.

Like Gomez gets carried

You lament other fans fickleness / poor memory but if you think that about joe Gomez, it’s the same thing

[red g]

Surely is stock cannot be much higher. He played half a season for us and did really well, Yet not one premier club came in for him?

I have never heard a defender be called a M.O.T.D player as its normally given to attackers doing fancy bits and not much else. Maybe those thumping headers & Crunching tackles hide other defincies needed at the very top level.

[Norbs]

Norbs is clearly on team Nat

.

i just dont think he's a bad backup

[Irishnev]

.

i just dont think he's a bad backup

Just not for us

[Charly]

Might just be a Skrtel type debut...

Now you are taking the ****ing piss!!!

[Irishnev]

Now you are taking the ****ing piss!!!

Not as bad as Jonathan Woodgate…..

[Doc_Piptorious]

Now you are taking the ****ing piss!!!

Actually not really. Well not totally.

Skrtel's first start was a cup game against a lower league club I think, and in it he looked like he had never seen a football before let alone having played with a football team.


So not dissimilar to the debut Phillips had for Bournemouth.


Not saying Phillips will go on to be as amazing as Skrtel was, but he cannot really have as bad a game again, could he?

[vlahka]

Like Gomez gets carried

You lament other fans fickleness / poor memory but if you think that about joe Gomez, it’s the same thing

Oh please. How many years has he been with us and people have commented on his low performance. Especially whenever he comes back from his frequent injury spells hes not very good for a run of games. He's only ever looked solid with VVD beside him. Nat came into the team with hardly any game time, paired up with another young inexperienced defender, and won MOTM and got us into CL. Its bizarre how undervalued some people here see him as.

[Paul12]

Oh please. How many years has he been with us and people have commented on his low performance. Especially whenever he comes back from his frequent injury spells hes not very good for a run of games. He's only ever looked solid with VVD beside him. Nat came into the team with hardly any game time, paired up with another young inexperienced defender, and won MOTM and got us into CL. Its bizarre how undervalued some people here see him as.

When Nat and Rhys were in the team, the other players had to play differently to make up for the lack of penetration in their passing and their lack of pace, turning speed and (in Rhys' case) anticipation. That affected for eg Trent and Robbo. None of that is true for Gomez.

[wiw]

Gomez had 9 CL appearances the year we won it, and 28 PL appearances the year we won it. There's surely no argument over his ability to perform in what is one of the best teams in the world, and arguably the best in our history (the caveat being; when fit).

What Phillips did was fantastic and I like him as a player, but whether we like it or not, the manager seems to have him as 5th in the pecking order. Do we know whether he got the move purely because he wants to be playing each week? Would seem logical