Former Aston Villa man with high praise for Fabian Delph

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Kevin Phillips has been singing the praises of Fabian Delph.

It has been an exciting week for Fabian Delph. The former Leeds United midfielder performed brilliantly against Liverpool yesterday in a 1-0 victory at Anfield. That came just a few days after he started his first game for England against Switzerland on Monday.

He performed brilliantly in the game, despite a fractious start that saw him pick up a yellow card.

But it was just rewards for his performances over the past 18 months. One player who agrees is a fellow former Aston Villa player and England international.

Kevin Phillips played just 27 games for Villa and scored five goals during his one season at Villa in 2005-06, and his stock at Villa is not exactly high, after going on to play for rivals West Brom and Birmingham City.

He also played eight games for his country, and has written in his Chronicle Live article on the subject of Delph:

“Another player to perform for the Three Lions was Fabian Delph. It has taken a while for Fabian to establish himself since moving to Aston Villa and it was a similar story on his England debut. He began slowly, but as the game went on I thought he was excellent.

“Delph managed to have that burst of energy that took him away from the opposing player. To put in such a key performance away from home, in a tough setting, on your England debut speaks volume for the levels of confidence Delph is displaying at the moment.

“I know from experience when you go away with England and you have a decent showing for the national side, you come back to your own club on cloud nine, full of confidence.

“I remember playing in my England debut, returning to Sunderland and the next game was Stockport County away and I managed to get on the scoresheet as you were given that little bit of extra edge, coming back on a high.

“I am sure Fabian Delph will be experiencing similar emotions returning to Villa Park this week.”

Delph’s job now will be to establish himself as an England regular, something Phillips never managed to do. Keep up performing the way he is and there should be no problem achieving that goal.