A central midfielder was a high priority for St Johnstone this summer – and it has taken Callum Davidson a while to sign one.
After impressing on trial at McDiarmid Park and then agreeing a two-year deal, Daniel Phillips made his Saints debut against Rangers as an early replacement for Cammy MacPherson when the former St Mirren man injured his thigh.
Courier Sport puts the 21-year-old’s Ibrox performance under the microscope, with the help of Opta, to assess the early signs of Phillips being worth the wait.
Mobility
Having the energy and stamina to get about the pitch for a full game will be one of the key factors in Phillips’ success or otherwise in the Scottish Premiership.
Coming on in the sixth minute against a team with impressive pass and move capabilities – and being asked to play pretty much a full game in the sort of heat that necessitated two water breaks – was quite an introduction for a man lacking match fitness.
Predictably, it was in the first 10 minutes that Phillips struggled most to get involved and then it was in the last 10 minutes that he fell off the pace as tiredness kicked in and Rangers reinforcements were introduced around him.
Seeing Phillips make his first Saints appearance took the mind back to last December when Jacob Butterfield did the same.
As effective as Butterfield was at taking care of the ball, you could tell even then that mobility (or rather, the lack of it) was going to be an issue.
It won’t be for Phillips.
Passing and possession
It was in this facet of the game that Phillips exceeded my expectations.
I had in my mind a player who would choose the safe and closest option after earning possession for his team.
Yes, there were times when he rightly played it square, short or back (on one such occasion it was the start of a pitch-length second half counter-attack).
But he also got his head up to make mid-range, low and hard balls to his centre-forward’s feet and more ambitious, longer defence-splitting passes.
The weight of his delivery to loft a ball over the top for Stevie May to chase was perfect, however the substitute had mistimed his run and was caught offside.
Making sure you’re in a good position to pass the ball is as important as what comes next, of course.
Phillips was happy to take it in tight spaces and a shift of the hips to spin away from James Tavernier deep in his own half showcased that ability.
Leading the Opta passing accuracy statistics for the Saints players who were on the pitch for most of the game by nearly 10% is very impressive stuff.
A total of 89% would be a job well done in any company, never mind Rangers at Ibrox.
Aggression and discipline
Phillips has been signed to make tackles and make tackles he did.
He won possession eight times – the most in a red and white shirt.
His tenacity got under John Lundstram’s skin as the first half progressed and there is absolutely no doubt that the man with thighs like Sir Chris Hoy will be a physical match for anyone in the Premiership.
With that low centre of gravity and core strength, nobody will knock him off the ball.
Had Phillips not picked up three red cards at Gillingham last season, you suspect Saints wouldn’t have been able to bring a player of this pedigree to Perth for a trial.
There was one standard midfielder’s foul and booking early in the second half but there never appeared any danger of yellow turning into red.
The penny has hopefully dropped.
Tactical discipline will also be crucial in Phillips’ role.
And the fact that a giant hole didn’t open up in the Saints midfield at any point, as was the case regularly against the better teams last season, was proof that Phillips knows where he has to be when the ball is turned over.
Verdict
It would probably have been the plan to give Phillips half-an-hour at Ibrox but the fact he played around 90 minutes will quicken the process of turning him into a week on week starter.
There was plenty of early evidence to suggest he will be the all-action presence Saints have been crying out for at the base of their midfield.
Davidson may have discovered Perth’s answer to Jeando Fuchs.
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