Moyes tells West Ham fans to back under-fire Phillips

David Moyes has backed Kalvin Phillips following the midfielder’s clash with West Ham United supporters on Saturday.

The manager also urged supporters to get behind the players in the game against Tottenham Hotspur tonight at the London Stadium.

Phillips has struggled to recapture his form following his January loan from Manchester City, and he gave away a penalty by fouling Anthony Gordon as West Ham blew a 3-1 lead to lose 4-3 at Newcastle United at the weekend.

Afterwards, he was confronted by frustrated supporters as the team left St James’ Park and responded with a middle-finger gesture. Moyes said: “Kalvin’s a human being and can do things which we all do at times. What he needs is support behind him, people to help him, and we’re going to stand with him and help him as much as we possibly can. Obviously, we need all our supporters to give all our players, whoever it is, their support.

“I’m not worried one bit. His job is to play but we also want the supporters to get behind all our players. It really is important. Sometimes, when people are not playing so well, they need everybody to get behind them.”

Phillips’s form has been so indifferent that despite being an England regular, he was left out of last month’s international friendlies against Brazil and Belgium.

The 28-year-old was at fault for two goals in his first two appearances, sent off on his fourth at Nottingham Forest and taken off at half-time on his most recent start, with West Ham 2-0 down at home to Burnley.

But Moyes still believes the former Leeds man has a part to play in the run-in, with West Ham in seventh place in the Premier League and through to the Europa League quarterfinal. “Let’s hope we can change his luck and his form between now and the end of the season,” Moyes said. “Kalvin Phillips is a really good player. He has not quite found it, but we hope that he will in the weeks and months to come. Kalvin is very much part of what we’ve got and we’ll continue to use him if we need him, that’s for sure.”

December, Foster becomes the 17th manager to either be sacked or leave by mutual consent in the Championship this season. The 47-yearold left his job as Steven Gerrard’s assistant at Al-ettifaq, in the Saudi Arabian Pro League, to take over the Plymouth post in January.

Kompany hits out

Burnley manager Vincent Kompany has said the standard of refereeing in the Premier League “hasn’t been good enough” this season. Kompany was sent off during Saturday’s 2-2 draw away to Chelsea for his protests against a penalty decision which also led to defender Lorenz Assignon seeing red, the latest in a string of incidents Kompany believes have gone against his relegation-threatened side. Kompany said he spoke to referee Darren England after Saturday’s match to apologise for his choice of words at the time, and he has also had a number of discussions with referees’ chief Howard Webb. “I’ll keep saying what I think,” Kompany said. “I’m not shying away from it and I’ve said it to the referees themselves, the officials, refereeing hasn’t been good enough this season.”

Carry on: Kalvin Phillips is still part of West Ham plans