Jurgen Klopp Delighted by Nathaniel Phillips

Jurgen Klopp is absolutely delighted by the performance of Nathaniel Phillips during the match between Liverpool and West Ham. Liverpool’s coach was under severe pressure in finding a solution for the defensive line after the simultaneous injuries of Virgil Van Dijk, Fabinho and Joel Matip.

If this is the way Nathaniel Phillips has decided to play from now onward, then Jurgen Klopp can relax. The British centre-back played stunningly last Saturday in the match won by Liverpool against West Ham.

Following the injuries of Virgil Van Dijk, Fabinho and Joel Matip, Jurgen Klopp has to decide who to deploy beside Joseph Gomez. Among the possible choices, such as Rhys Williams, Sepp van den Berg, Nathaniel Phillips and Billy Koumetio, it seems that, once again, Klopp picked up the right one. For the entire match, Phillips was impeccable giving confidence to the rest of team which managed to come back in time from an early goal scored by Pablo Fornals.

We all know that the 23 years old Phillips was a good player; last season, he indeed impressed at Stuttgart (on loan) but, few of us, would have pick him up to replace Van Dijk and, certainly, he was not the first choice. However, since Liverpool has currently the best football manager in the world, some decision seems easy at Anfield Road. And there you go: the newly appointed centre-back is also man of the match. Well done, Jurgen!

Klopp commented on Phillips, “When you know the story behind it it makes it even more incredible. I am really pleased for him and nobody deserves it more. He is a great guy, a smart guy, and knows exactly everything about himself as a footballer. He kept it really simple and that was important for us. In the challenges he was there, really aggressive but with no fouls”.