Kalvin Phillips was an unused substitute for Leeds’ 5-1 defeat by Manchester United last weekend, and many fans are confused as to why Bielsa chose not to play him at any point as Leeds were embarrassed.
The easy suggestion as to why Phillips didn’t play would be that he hasn’t had much rest due to the starring role he played in the Euros as England made it to the final before being defeated on penalties by Italy. But Phillips’ England teammates Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire featured heavily in the tournament and both started at Old Trafford.
Andy Townsend has theorised that the reason could be that Phillips returned from his summer holiday overweight. “There have been some rumours… that he was a bit overweight when he came back after the summer.” But even then, Townsend doesn’t understand why he would be on the bench if he was never going to play. ‘If he’s overweight, he shouldn’t be on the bench.’
Either way, it was clear that Leeds missed their star defensive midfielder last weekend, and they’ll be hoping he will be fit for the Everton game.
