As this piece is written the creator is munching down on a hashbrown butty with a cheeky cheese slice to recover from a boozy Christmas curry. This is by no means a criticism of anyone's fitness or weight. Let thee who is without sin and all that.
But Kalvin Phillips has still caught Pep Guardiola's ire this week as the Manchester City boss revealed he wasn't involved in the Carabao Cup clash with Liverpool due to the condition he returned from the World Cup in. "He's not injured. He arrived overweight. I don't know [why]. He didn't arrive in the condition to do training sessions and to play," he said.
Guardiola has called out players in the past for not being at the peak of their powers physically, just like Riyad Mahrez in October, but none have come in for such a harsh public haranguing as Phillips has. Being 'overweight' for a footballer isn't like being overweight to you and me. The standards are so incredibly high and any of us would kill to be in the 'overweight' shape Phillips is in. It would hardly be surprising if he's only a kilogram or two over which will be burned off in no time.
