87 | Interview Podcast - Kalvin Phillips
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Kalvin hopes to not be out injured as long as first feared
Leeds United informed fans last week that Kalvin would be facing a spell on the sidelines of six weeks. We asked him how the shoulder was, and he was slightly more optimistic, saying: "It’s alright, getting better, hopefully I’m aiming for 3-4 weeks but obviously if it’s not ready I will have to aim for a bit longer than that", although it sounds as though he nearly put that at risk, getting very excited when Patrick Bamford scored against Aston Villa and throwing his arms in the air.
He thought he did well playing for England, but Bielsa had a different opinion
We asked Kalvin about the amount of detail the players receive from Bielsa ahead of the games. He said they receive team instructions, but also individual feedback, adding "I played the games for England, and thought I had done reasonably well, and same against Liverpool, but the meeting after that he took half an hour to just absolutely batter me. He just said I wasn’t good enough, the first game I was alright but the second game I didn’t look myself. He does it to keep you grounded, to not think ‘oh we beat top of the league last week and we are playing Leicester next week’. He does it to let you know you have bad games and you can always improve. That is something he does very well, doesn’t let you get too high and doesn’t let you get too low, and if you do get too low he will just keep consistent with you. Patrick Bamford has had so much stick, but he (Bielsa) has been so consistent with him, and look at him now, he’s on top of the world, scoring unbelievable hattricks against Aston Villa."
Last summer wasn't the first time Kalvin has almost left the club
Kalvin has been part of the first team squad for 5 years, so seen the coming and going of many managers. We asked if that ever led to him being close to leaving the club. He said: "Signing my first professional contract, and training with the first team I felt quite close (to breaking through). I was so far behind (Taylor, Byram, Cook, Mowatt) I wondered if it was ever going to happen (my debut). Neil Redfearn came in and I will be forever grateful for him giving me that chance. I have never looked back. When it wasn’t going well you wonder if your time is up here, but I was so laid back and always thought I am here to stay but if the club chooses to send me out on loan then that’s fine.
The season Garry Monk came I had decided to get out on loan as I hadn’t played under Steve Evans, but then I broke into the team. I had played under every manager previously but hadn’t had a look in under him."
Ben White was gutted not to come to Leeds, but needs to forget it and focus on playing
We talked to Kalvin about his relationship with teammates, both those past and present. He covered thoughts on new players such as Robin Koch and youth prospects like Leif Davis. Talk inevitably turned to Ben White, who he formed a great friendship with last season. Kalvin said: "I spoke to Ben after his game the other day. Obviously he was gutted at the time when he didn’t sign, but it came to a point where you have to just forget about the chance to play for Leeds and just play football. I don’t really talk to him about football now, just ask how he and his family are doing"
He didn't expect to get called up to England so quickly
Kalvin received his first call up for England, having not made an international appearance in any other age group, or an appearance in the Premier League. Kalvin said "I had never been recognised at any age level for either England, Jamaica or Ireland, so I thought you know what I will just forget about it then and just carry on doing my thing for my club. There was a lot of talk last year about needing to play in the PL to get in the England squad, so I knew there was interest there. Then I just got called up randomly, and though I feel I deserve it at the time I had thought I would need to prove myself for at least 6 or 7 months before I would get the call"
He went on to add that "The first half (of my debut) was tough, I wasn’t used to playing that level, that team or that formation, but after half time I just thought to myself I am just going to do what I do normally, get on the ball and spray passes and the managers been pleased with me."
The Liverpool game gave the squad the belief there are not many teams who can beat them
Leeds surprised many by only narrowly being defeated 4-3 in the last minute against Premier League champions in the first game of the season. Kalvin reflected 'After the game, we were all sat there thinking we have just run Liverpool ragged for 90 mins. You look at that and think ‘why can't we do that with every team in the league’. It opened our eyes to say we are a very good team, we put the best team last year under so much pressure, especially without Saturday Tuesday games giving us so much time to prepare.``
He gets on well with Grealish, but joked he planned to 'take him out' last week
Having not represented England previously, Kalvin identified Jack Grealish as the person he had known the most prior to joining the squad. We asked him who his mates were in the England set up. He said "I get along with Jack Grealish quite well, even though when we play Villa I try to kick the shit out of him. It is just banter between us, when we were at England he said he couldn’t wait for the game as he was going to rip us apart, but I told him ‘you won't because I am just going to take you out as soon as I see you’ It is just one of them where you just throw banter at one another. Conor Coady was so helpful, a nice, genuine guy, it was both our first game against Denmark. He is very vocal on the pitch, which I like, it helped me immensely."
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