Former Aston Villa striker Kevin Phillips has defended current player Bjorn Engels after he was heavily criticised in recent days.
The centre-back made two costly errors during the 3-2 defeat at Villa Park against Tottenham Hotspur last Sunday.
The Belgian international has been criticised heavily by some pundits, but Phillips has now leapt to his defence.
As quoted on Football Insider, he said:
It is always a tough one. It is harsh to blame the kid.
You defend from the front and you defend as a team and every goal has two or three mistakes in it. Unfortunately, the defender is going to take the brunt of it because he was the last man involved.
Engels showed great determination. He gave away a penalty but then he has got his goal as well. You can criticise him for giving the penalty away but then you have to give him praise for getting his header on the end of the cross and getting the goal.
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We agree with Phillips that it is harsh to blame Engels. Why?
Because other than his two errors, he had a pretty solid game.
The defender made five clearances in the match, more than any other Villa player and also made three interceptions, the second-most in the team (WhoScored), which goes some way to proving that he is not worthy of such heavy criticism.
Furthermore, Engels had not started a league match since mid-December, where was named in the XI for the home defeat to Southampton. This could mean that towards the end of the match, fatigue was seriously affecting him.
Despite the criticism, it has been nice to see some players and fans support the 25-year-old despite his errors.
