Nat Phillips Speaks About Adapting to Premier League Football

The young center-back is frustrated with the Newcastle draw, but
he’s happy with the clean sheet and growing more comfortable every
match.

As Liverpool’s center-backs continue to be decimated by
injuries, Nat Phillips emerging as a player that Jürgen Klopp can
trust to start matches has been a saving grace for the defending
Premier League Champions. In a very short time, Phillips went from
an off the radar U23 player to being in contention to start on a
regular basis.

Despite having an extremely limited history of first-team
professional football (just 19 appearances while on loan at VfB
Stuttgart last season), Phillips has acquitted himself very
admirably, and he seems to be adapting to the challenge of the
Premier League.

, Phillips admitted that while
getting used to the PL has been challenging, he hasn’t felt like he
doesn’t belong, and he is growing more comfortable every time he
laces up his boots.

“It’s definitely challenged me [at this level]. I wouldn’t say
I’ve felt out of my depth. The more games I’ve played, the more I’m
getting used to it, but each game provides a different challenge,”
said Phillips.

“With each game I’ve just got to try to gather experiences from
them and work on the things I need to get better at, learn from
each game, and hopefully get the momentum.”

The Englishman’s most recent start, Wednesday’s scoreless draw
against Newcastle
United, was yet another tough test, but he was happy to
contribute to a clean sheet after failing to do so in his first two
starts.

“It was a tough game for myself, very physical, they didn’t make
it easy for me up there. But there’s plenty for me to work on, I’ll
look back on the game and see what areas I need to improve on. But
a clean sheet isn’t too bad.”

Though the clean sheet was a positive, the 23-year-old defender
certainly wasn’t happy with the result, and he felt his team had
done enough to earn the three points.

“Really frustrating. We felt we created enough [chances] in the
game to take three points and get the win,” said Phillips. “But,
unfortunately, we just couldn’t convert our chances. It can be like
that sometimes in football and we’ve just got to pick ourselves up
and go on to the next game.”