Michail Antonio shares what David Moyes has told West Ham’s players to do with Kalvin Phillips this week

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It’s safe to say Kalvin Phillips’ loan spell with West Ham has not exactly gone to plan so far.

The England international made the move away from Manchester City in January, with the shift to The Hammers seen as a smart move at the time.

However, it’s not gone well. At all.

Phillips was introduced recently at Newcastle with West Ham winning comfortably but ended up being on the losing side. It was the latest in a list of poor displays from Phillips, who has also been filmed having a run-in with a Hammers fan as well.

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But while Phillips struggles for confidence and form and pretty much has zero chance of making the England squad now this summer, his teammates are getting behind him.

And speaking on the BBC’s The Player’s Podcast, Michail Antonio has said that David Moyes has had a message for the squad about Phillips this week.

David Moyes sends message to West Ham players about Kalvin Phillips

With Phillips likely to be involved in the busy run-in to the end of the season, Antonio was speaking about how West Ham can get the best from their loan signing.

And revealing a meeting with David Moyes, Antonio has shared what Moyes has told the West Ham squad about getting Phillips playing well.

“It’s always confidence that’s exactly what it is, you don’t lose ability overnight. So it’s definitely confidence, it’s just been like the gaffer said the other day, he said we just need to put an arm round him and let him know we all believe in him and that’s what the main part of it is,” Antonio said.

“When someone is down, it’s not the thing to kick him. You have to try your hardest to lift him and show you believe in him. Fans want you to just turn up and do the job and it just doesn’t work that way. We haven’t got a big squad, so he’s going to get another opportunity, he’s going to get another chance, so we need the fans to back him instead of getting at him because for the next six weeks he’s a West Ham player so try and build him so he can help us, rather than knock him down so he doesn’t.”

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Quite whether Phillips can put in some good performances and win over West Ham fans in around 6 weeks of football, remains to be seen.

But with a big summer ahead and Leeds potentially coming back up, Phillips will surely want to impress.

A move away from City is inevitable but unless he shows something with West Ham, then the choice of clubs for his next move is going to end up being a touch sparse.