Tottenham youngster Ashley Phillips is showing at Plymouth Argyle the importance of spending time out on loan.
Phillips has started seven Championship games since arriving at Home Park last month, where he is linking up with fellow Spurs youngster Alfie Devine.
While each of those appearance have come at centre-back, as per WhoScored, his positioning in the back five has altered slightly.
Ashley Phillips’ best position
In the loss to Leeds United last week, he was used in the middle of the defence, with Lewis Gibson and Julio Pleguezuelo either side.
The youngster has been used more predominantly on the right, though, as was the case in the 3-0 loss to West Brom on Tuesday (20 February).
“We are really pleased with Ashley,” Plymouth boss Ian Foster, who knows Phillips well from the England age-grade set-ups, told Plymouth Live [19 February].
“Moving him centrally gave us an opportunity to limit his distance. When you play centrally in a back three, you do less running than you do as the outside centre-back.
“It was a little bit tactical and a little bit physical with that decision. I thought he performed really well. He’s just going to get better and better.”
Wherever he is used in defence, Phillips still boasts a commanding presence. No player registered more tackles (two) or clearances (three) in the loss to West Brom, for example [WhoScored].
Tottenham have a star on their hands in Ashley Phillips
Phillips also showed in that most recent outing that he is assured on the ball, as he boasted a passing accuracy of 85 per cent – only Gibson (88 per cent) could better that among those to play a full part.
Indeed, he has a passing accuracy of 81 per cent across the course of the campaign, which rises to 91 per cent when only including passes in his own half [Sofascore].
As Tony Mowbray, his manager at Blackburn Rovers, previously said [Lancs Live, November 2021]: “He’s fast, mobile and can pass it really well.
“He can use both feet, he’s composed…if you were to create a defender in the mould of how you would want one, this kid has got every attribute.”
Phillips is a defender first and foremost, and he particularly thrives when it comes to blocks, registering 1.4 per game at Plymouth.
That rises to 1.79 per 90 minutes, which ranks him in the top five per cent of of centre-backs across the next 14 divisions most similar in quality to the Championship [FBref].
For added context, no Tottenham player averages more than one block a game, with Ben Davies top of that particular metric on 0.9.
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Ashley Phillips could be a regular at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium one day
Phillips also wins 46 per cent of his ground duels and 56 per cent of his aerial duels. For comparison sake, Micky van de Ven – superb at the back for Spurs this term – has figures of 65 per cent and 49 per cent respectively.
“It’s our job while he’s here to continue to develop him,” Plymouth boss Foster added. “To make him a better player, give him the experiences he’s getting, but his performances so far have been fabulous.”
Already now capable of playing various positions at the back, Phillips will return to Spurs a better player than the one that left last month.
In other Tottenham news, Spurs have been told they have a Frenkie de Jong version 2.0 on their hands.
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