Bielsa raves about Kalvin Phillips, suggests his display last night was ‘very interesting’

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Leeds United defeated Hull City 1-0 on Tuesday night.

Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa has told Leeds Live that he thought Kalvin Phillips’ versatility against Hull City made his performance ‘very interesting’.

The Whites made the short trip to the KCOM Stadium to take on Hull on Tuesday night, days after drawing 1-1 away at Sheffield Wednesday as they lost top spot over the weekend.

Tuesday’s game was a tight encounter, but one piece of magic won the game for Leeds, as Tyler Roberts jinked away from one defender before driving a long-range strike into the bottom corner.

With three points and a clean sheet, Leeds have returned to the top of the Championship table, even if only temporarily as West Brom could go back to the summit with a win over Sheffield Wednesday tonight.

Leeds saw a number of players impress against Hull, and whilst goalscorer Roberts stole the headlines, midfielder Kalvin Phillips enjoyed another outstanding performance in the middle of the park.

Phillips, 22, has really kicked on under Bielsa, and has even earned calls for him to be in the reckoning for England recognition despite being in the second tier, with England still looking for midfield options.

Phillips starred against Hull, and Bielsa told Leeds Live after the game that Hull’s different systems led Phillips to played in four different roles on Tuesday night, adapting well to each.

Bielsa added that his versatility made his performance ‘very interesting’, praising him for defending well and using the ball well as his season goes from strength to strength.

“You saw the opponent had five different structures during the game,” said Bielsa. “They played with a line of three, a line of four. With two nines, one nine, with three midfielders in the same line, with two defensive midfielders with one 10 behind the nine. This made us make Phillips do many adaptations.”

“He adapted himself with a lot of experience and didn’t have any problems. He played as a number four in front of Jansson and Cooper, in the line of three and also in the same line as Klich with two defensive midfielders, with Samu in front. “So he has a capacity to adapt from a tactical point of view that is very interesting. Because in all the zones he defended well and he used the ball well.”