Leeds United supporters will be delighted to see this latest club footage of Kalvin Phillips on Instagram.
Jesse Marsch has confirmed that Kalvin Phillips is in contention to feature against Wolves this week after not playing a single minute of football since December 5th having required surgery on his hamstring.
Will Leeds be relegated?
Yes!
No!
It’s no surprise that Leeds are having a disastrous season without Phillips who’s only played 12 games in the league all campaign but with the momentum of having won in the final minute last weekend and now the imminent return of Phillips, everything could come together just at the right time for Leeds.
Phillips, who could start tomorrow has now been videoed looking very happy and energetic back in training with his teammates, as the club have released fresh footage.
TIF Thoughts on Phillips’ return…
Patrick Bamford returned last week and managed to play 45 minutes for Leeds United and now with Phillips and Liam Cooper in contention to play this week, Marsch could not have asked for a better few days as manager and it could all be topped off with three points against Wolves before any of their relegation rivals play this weekend.
There’s no doubt fans will be buzzing to see the midfielder on his return to training as Phillips has been a regular whenever fit for Leeds during their time in the Premier League. Despite missing a period due to injury he still ranks in the top 10 for rating. Before his injury he averaged 2.3 tackles per game, 1.2 interceptions, 1 clearance and 1.6 dribbles per game, as well as 3.6 long balls per game as one of the key parts of switching play.
Indeed, the midfielder has loads of plaudits and rightly so, with Marcelo Bielsa singing his praises for club and for country, as well as Danny Mills stating just how ‘massive’ and ‘huge’ Phillips’ absence has been whilst commenting on just how much the Yorkshire club need him back.
The Whites conceded 17 goals in the 12 games Kalvin Phillips featured in in the Premier League prior to his injury and things soon coincidentally went downhill right after, as 14 goals were shipped in the following three games. Of course, this isn’t purely just down to Phillips missing, but it’s clear to see from a combination of his defensive stats above and the club’s defensive record prior to his injury that he was definitely a miss in those games.
So, with Leeds arguably still in a relegation battle right now, Jesse Marsch will no doubt be counting on the midfielder to come back in and pick up where he left off. Although, rushing him back is the last thing they will want to do as you’d rather have him for the rest of the season than rush him in and lose him to a little niggle.
In other news: Jesse Marsch has now made big behind-scenes call at Leeds