Leeds United midfielder Kalvin Phillips jokingly claimed he should teach strikers Patrick Bamford and Eddie Nketiah how to score, following his winner against Birmingham on Saturday. 

Kalvin Phillips scored the only goal as Leeds won 1-0 to overcome Birmingham City at Elland Road. Strikers Patrick Bamford and Eddie Nketiah both had 45 minutes up-front for Leeds during the game, with neither being able to really test the goalkeeper.

Nketiah can feel hard-done-by in the second half, with his chance to be played in for a shot at goal snatched away by Phillips’ breaking run from midfield being favoured by Jack Harrison.

Harrison snatched possession from the Blues’ full-back, Maxime Colin, driving into the box before flicking the ball into an overlapping Phillips, with Nketiah in space just further to the side. Phillips made no mistake with the finish but Nketiah can feel aggrieved that a chance was seemingly snatched from him when he was most eager to impress Bielsa.

Phillips had this to say on the goal to Leeds Live: “To be fair, I apologised to Eddie after the game because I know how eager he is to score and if was Pat[rick Bamford] I'd have probably apologised as well,”

“Luckily I was in that position, but I think any other day if they were in that position they'd do the same as me.”

When asked if he could carry on from Saturday with a few more goals, Phillips said: “Yeah, I know, hopefully. I might start teaching Pat and Eddie how to finish! Don't tell them I said that, only joking.”

The Verdict

In such an important game in Leeds’ history, it was perfectly fitting that the local lad scored the winner in front of his own fans. Nketiah has every right to be frustrated at not getting the chance to score, but he will also be happy that he was on the winning side for Leeds.

Going forward for Leeds, it would be positive for them to see more goals from throughout the team, with the strikers not hitting the heights everyone knows they are capable of.