Kalvin Phillips’ West Ham career ‘goes from bad to worse’ as mistake leads to collapse at Newcastle

Kalvin Phillips can’t catch a break in a West Ham shirt, and it was another day to forget for the midfielder against Newcastle on Saturday.

The Hammers were 3-1 up and flying against the Magpies at St James’ Park, until Phillips came off the bench, and what Hammers fans hoped wouldn’t happen… happened.

David Moyes’ men produced a fine response, finding themselves 1-0 down early on after Alexander Isak’s controversial penalty – with goals from Michail Antonio and Mohammed Kudus sending the visitors ahead at the break.

Jarrod Bowen then found the net with a strong low finish to make it 3-1 briefly after the restart, but it all fell apart after the introduction of Phillips.

There were 20 minutes of play left when Moyes decided to take striker Antonio off and replace him with the midfielder.

Phillips’ loan spell at the east London club had not been hugely positive before this game – gifting a goal to Bournemouth’s Dominic Solanke in his first appearance since arriving from Man City, while he was subsequently sent off in just his fourth game for the club.

He then started against Burnley before the international break, but was taken off at half-time with the Hammers trailing 2-0. They rallied to draw 2-2 without him.

And the opposite happened against Newcastle on Saturday lunchtime, as his introduction led to West Ham’s demise as the hosts staged a miraculous comeback to win 4-3.

Phillips conceded the second penalty of the match, hitting the back of Anthony Gordon in the box, allowing Isak to make it 3-2 from the spot, before a late brace from substitute Harvey Barnes sealed a superb victory for Newcastle.

It came down hard on Phillips, with former West Ham striker Dean Ashton insisting he was simply unlucky to catch the Magpies winger as he attempted to clear the ball.

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But the talkSPORT pundit admitted things just haven’t worked out since his loan spell at the London Stadium.

“Anthony Gordon, in very similar scenes to the first half where he got ahead of Vladimir Coufal, I think he got ahead of Kalvin Phillips, who looked like he was going to clear and slam Gordon.

“Phillips doesn’t know, he doesn’t see Gordon behind him – he just thinks, ‘I’m going to clean this up,’ and Gordon bravely puts his leg in the way as he tries to hook the ball, and he knows that he’s going to get beaten up.

“I don’t particularly blame Phillips for that because it happened so quickly. Gordon is so quick and he’s just trying to clear the ball and he can’t back out of the challenge.

“But it seems to be going from bad to worse for Kalvin Phillips in a West Ham shirt.

“I’m sure David Moyes will have to answer questions about his substitutions, the timing of them and the fact that they seemed to wilt under pressure.”

talkSPORT host Gabby Agbonlahor later admitted he “felt sorry” for Phillips amid his nightmare season.

“He looks so unconfident,” said the former Aston Villa captain. “I actually feel sorry for him now.

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“He comes on, it happens and you can see it on his face, he doesn’t really take the ball the way he should.

“And for Barnes’ winner, he turns Phillips too easily, and after Barnes turns him, Phillips walks. He must be so unconfident, it’s really difficult.”