Alan Hutton was surprised Man City boss Pep Guardiola chose to publicly call out Kalvin Phillips.

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former Tottenham and Aston Villa right-back urged Phillips to take on the criticism and use it to improve.

As quoted by Sky Sports (25 December), Guardiola claimed the 27-year-old returned from the World Cup “overweight” and “not in the right condition to train”.

The England international was a surprise omission from City’s Carabao Cup 3-2 win over Liverpool on Thursday, with his national side teammates John Stones, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish making appearances.

Phillips has made just four substitute appearances for Guardiola’s side this season due to a shoulder injury and had been a doubt for the World Cup.

But the midfielder managed to make two appearances for Gareth Southgate’s side in Qatar.

After Guardiola’s comments, Hutton suggested the ball is in Phillips’ court to come back stronger.

“It was always going to be difficult leaving Leeds where he was the main guy, the main player,” he told Football Insider.

“He has come to a Man City team where Pep, he changes his team, you are not a starter week in week out. He has had injury problems as well.

“I was quite shocked that he came out into the press and let everybody know the reason. I thought he would have kept that in house and dealt with it with the player himself.

“Whether that be extra training or diet and just dealt with it that way. Maybe Pep feels that he needs a kick up the backside to get going again and that is what he needed.

“The ball is in Phillips’ court now. He needs to take it on and deal with it and become better within himself. Maybe that was the rocket that he needed to get going.“

SOURCE: footballinsider247.com