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Marcelo Bielsa responds when asked how Leeds midfielder Kalvin Phillips can keep improving

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Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa has given a methodical answer when asked about how Kalvin Phillips can continue to get better.

Aged 24, Phillips is experiencing his first taste of Premier League football this season and he’s making it look a walk in the park right now during the opening couple of months of the campaign.

The £30,000-a-week star (Mirror) did miss three games with a shoulder problem, but apart from that has played every minute of the other seven league games and has been instrumental.

He is such a talisman for the Leeds team as the deep-lying playmaker at the base of a midfield, where he’s so effective both in and out of possession.

Bielsa gave a detailed response when asked how Phillips can keep improving:

“What distinguishes Kalvin from the rest is the capacity to play the ball. In order to obtain the ball and distribute it, there’s two paths: one is to recover the ball and after recovering it, managing the ball. The second path is to be able to move into positions where he can receive the ball and be able to distribute it. The more he recovers the ball and the more he moves to become free, the more he will be able to shine,” Bielsa said, as quoted by Leeds Live.

Leeds United v Arsenal - Premier League
(Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

TBR’s View:

Phillips is now being receiving so much more exposure on the top stage and importantly he’s sticking to the exact things that made him a standout in the Championship.

The midfielder is so intelligent off the ball with the way he reads opposition attacks and is aggressive in tackling, while in possession it seems like almost everything Leeds do goes through him with his brilliant range of passing.

Bielsa is a difficult man to judge when it comes to his comments in press conferences, but it sounds like he wants Phillips on the ball as much as possible to dictate matches.