Jurgen Klopp has admitted that Liverpool’s Nat Phillips isn’t the most elegant of footballers – but stated that he simply couldn’t care less.
With Klopp enduring an injury crisis with regards to centre-back options, the Liverpool boss had to dig deep to find somebody to partner Joe Gomez in Saturday’s win over West Ham United.
And the German eventually settled for Phillips in what was the 23-year-old’s Premier League debut for the Reds.
It was a powerful bow for the towering defender, who managed nine clearances and won five of his aerial duels.
And Klopp described Phillips as a ‘monster’ after the victory at Anfield – even if he isn’t ‘easy on the eye’ as a footballer.
He said on BBC’s Match of the Day program, broadcast 31/10: “He’s not easy on the eye, he’s not Messi but who cares? In the air, he’s a monster! He was incredible. For the first game, I think everyone can imagine how nervy that must be after a long wait.”
Klopp noted that Phillips certainly wasn’t Liverpool’s response to Lionel Messi, but he didn’t need to be.
If anything, the young man needed to be comparable to Virgil van Dijk – who won’t play again this season – and the Bolton-born stalwart, to his credit, did a good impression of the Dutchman last night.
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