Leeds United and England midfielder Kalvin Phillips has revealed Marcelo Bielsa’s influence on his tremendous England showing against Croatia.
Kalvin Phillips said: “I think it just goes to the stuff that I’ve done the last few years with Leeds. Yeah, Murderball and everything in general – we have a lot of running sessions at Leeds and we do very high intensity work at Leeds as well so I could only put it down to the guys at Leeds and obviously when I come here they help me do that as well. Murderball is basically 11 v 11, 100 miles-per-hour, no fouls, so if I take you out, no foul carry on playing, no offsides. If the ball goes out you either play from one of the keeper’s straight away or one of the coaches on the sidelines chucks a ball straight back in.”
Phillips maintained a 94% passing accuracy and registered the game’s only assist, winning the FA’s Man of the Match, despite UEFA’s delegate awarding the prize to goalscorer Raheem Sterling.