4 months ago
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Kalvin Phillips’ start to his West Ham career went from bad to worse as he was sent off in only his fourth appearance for his on-loan club.
The England midfielder was blasted by former Hammers striker Dean Ashton as he was booked twice in the space of five minutes in a defeat to Nottingham Forest.
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Phillips joined West Ham in the final days of the January transfer window from Man City, but it has not been the signing under-pressure manager David Moyes would have expected.
Three minutes into his first game in a Hammers shirt, Phillips gifted Bournemouth a goal in a 1-1 draw with the Cherries, and it took just four games for him to get his first red card for the club.
He earned his first yellow card against Forest for a needless push on Nicolas Dominguez, but he did not heed the warning from the referee as he was soon sent down the tunnel after a rash challenge on Morgan Gibbs-White.
Ex-Hammers striker Dean Ashton was watching the game for talkSPORT, and was not happy with the January signing.
“The first booking is stupid because he just pushes Diminges to the floor when he doesn’t need to,” he said.
“And then he goes in at knee-height to try and get the ball, he doesn’t get a lot of it and gets Gibbs-White instead.
“It’s been, let’s be honest, an absolutely shocking start to his West Ham career for Kalvin Phillips.
“He’s clearly been sat on the bench for far too long and he is nowhere near up to speed!”
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It appears Phillips is really testing Gareth Southgate and the England manager’s record of selecting him ahead of this summer’s European Championship.
This was only Phillips’ eighth Premier League appearance of the season, and yet it was his second sending off of the campaign.
Footage resurfaces of Kalvin Phillips' heartwarming moment with West Ham fan with midfielder set to arrive at London Stadium on loan
It reduced West Ham to ten men with just 30 minutes left to play, with Moyes’ men eventually succumbing to a 2-0 defeat at the City Ground.
And they sealed the win with two goals at the end of each half - Taiwo Awoniyi opening the scoring on the brink of half-time and Callum Hudson-Odoi getting the second in the fourth minute of stoppage-time at the end of the game.
