Kalvin Phillips: West Ham boss David Moyes urges fanbase to support 'excellent’ midfielder after tough start

David Moyes has urged West Ham supporters to back Kalvin Phillips after a difficult start to his loan spell at the club.

The 28-year-old came in for criticism for his performance during West Ham’s 4-3 loss against Newcastle United.

Phillips came off the bench when the Hammers were winning 3-1, but conceded a penalty within 10 minutes of being on the pitch. The incident was seen as a turning point which galvanised Newcastle to stage an extraordinary comeback.

The Manchester City loanee, who also made an error leading to a goal on his West Ham debut, was then allegedly seen making an offensive gesture to supporters when boarding the team bus after the defeat.

"Kalvin is a human being and can do things we all do at different times," said West Ham boss Moyes in his press conference.

"What he needs is support behind him, people to help him, and we're going to stand with him, help him as much as we possibly can.

"Obviously, we need all our supporters to give all our players, whoever it is, their support.

"He’s fine. He’s back training. We’ve all moved on from the weekend and we’ve got a big game coming up."

Phillips was hoping to revive his career at West Ham after a disappointing 18 months at City, but he has failed to register a goal or an assist in his 11 Premier League appearances for the Hammers.

He was also sent off against Nottingham Forest and was dropped from Gareth Southgate’s England squad.

"Kalvin Phillips is a really good player, an international player, an excellent footballer and I do believe we can still make something out of the time we’ve got left with him here," Moyes insisted.

West Ham will look to bounce back from the defeat to Newcastle when they welcome Tottenham Hotspur to the London Stadium on Tuesday, live on TNT Sports and discovery+.

The Hammers were 2-1 winners in the reverse fixture, with second-half goals from Jarrod Bowen and James Ward-Prowse cancelling out Cristian Romero’s early opener.

"They have done well this season, so it's going to be a difficult game," Moyes said. "The manager [Ange Postecoglou] has been effective, but we believe in ourselves and we'll try to reproduce the performance we put in against them in December."

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