Some players play in a way that reflects their character. Roy Keane took his simmering fury onto the pitch, Andrea Pirlo his detached cool. But some do not. Matt Phillips, at his best, is an explosive instinctive winger who can shred opponents at will. But he is a thoughtful, careful, deliberative man, a man who makes sure to choose the right word every time.

There are times when too much of Phillips’ admirable personality creeps into his game. When he overthinks things, gets on his own back, puts pressure on himself, and goes into his own shell. To play his best football, then, Phillips has to master himself, subdue his own thoughts and simply believe.

Almost every manager Phillips has ever played for – Ian Holloway, Gordon Strachan, Harry Redknapp and Tony Pulis – has told him that he needs to play with more confidence, to leave his doubts behind. But it was Ian Holloway, at Blackpool, who gave Phillips the perfect advice, which he is still making the best of.

“Don’t think, just do,” is what Holloway used to tell Phillips. Not to let his own anxiety get in the way of the brilliant dangerous play, which, after all, is what tempted Holloway to pay Wycombe Wanderers £350,000 for him in August 2010. Even if it took Phillips the best part of five years after that first big move to know what Holloway really meant.

“I never really understood it until towards the end of my time at QPR,” Phillips admits last week at West Bromwich Albion’s training ground. “It’s so simple. He just said ‘Don’t think, just do’. That is probably one of the hardest things I have found. When things aren’t going right, you over-think that pass, or you over-think whether to shoot or not.”

That is exactly what Phillips has done too often. That is why such a talented player has not yet made the best of his ability, and he admits that at Blackpool and QPR he was too quick to get inside his own head after a mistake.

“Especially when I was younger,” Phillips says. “When something like that happened I would beat myself up for the next five minutes. Then, within that five minutes, you’ve made another couple of mistakes. Suddenly you’ve had a bad game. It is like a goalkeeper conceding a bad goal in the first minute. It takes a lot of mental strength to come back and perform.”

Tottenham vs West Brom player ratings Show all 22 1 /22 Tottenham vs West Brom player ratings Tottenham vs West Brom player ratings <b>Tottenham:</b> Hugo Lloris - 6 out of 10 The French stopper was untroubled throughout, not having a single attempt on target to save. Getty Tottenham vs West Brom player ratings Eric Dier - 7 out of 10 Still part of a back three, the England man enjoyed a comfortable afternoon. Getty Tottenham vs West Brom player ratings Toby Alderweireld - 7 out of 10 Kept Rondon under wraps on the rare occasions that Albion got the ball forward. Getty Tottenham vs West Brom player ratings Jan Vertonghen - 7 out of 10 Suffered another ankle injury after an impressive hour that forced the distraught defender off. Getty Tottenham vs West Brom player ratings Kyle Walker - 8 out of 10 Another energetic performance down the right that was only marred by an indisciplined kick at McAuley. Getty Tottenham vs West Brom player ratings Victor Wanyama - 8 out of 10 With little defensive work to do, the midfielder demonstrated his ability to burst forward at pace. Getty Tottenham vs West Brom player ratings Moussa Dembele - 8 out of 10 Unflappable in possession, he showed more desire and energy that his midfield counterparts. Getty Tottenham vs West Brom player ratings Christian Eriksen - 8 out of 10 The creative force in this Tottenham side, he revelled in the space between West Brom's defence and midfield. Getty Tottenham vs West Brom player ratings Danny Rose - 8 out of 10 Dominant down the left and ferocious with his tackling, his running pinned back Albion's attacking options. Getty Tottenham vs West Brom player ratings Dele Alli - 8 out of 10 No goals for the youngster, but he played his part in an excellent attacking performance. His assist for Kane's third was sublime. Getty Tottenham vs West Brom player ratings Harry Kane - 9 out of 10 Scored three and could have had twice as many had it not been for Foster's heroics. Looked sharp from the first minute. Getty Tottenham vs West Brom player ratings <b>West Brom:</b> Ben Foster - 8 out of 10 The only Albion player to come out of the game with any credit. Beaten four times but still excellent. Getty Tottenham vs West Brom player ratings Craig Dawson - 5 out of 10 A goalscorer at both ends on his previous visit to White Hart Lane, the defender failed to dominate in the air as normal on this occasion. Getty Tottenham vs West Brom player ratings Gareth McAuley - 4 out of 10 An unfortunate own-goal, his part in Spurs' third was less forgiving. Booked for dissent. Getty Tottenham vs West Brom player ratings Jonas Olsson - 5 out of 10 The defender often lacked awareness as Tottenham flooded forward. Getty Tottenham vs West Brom player ratings Chris Brunt - 5 out of 10 Often panicked in defence at the home side pressurised, he was subbed early in the second half. Getty Tottenham vs West Brom player ratings Nacer Chadli - 5 out of 10 A disappointing return to White Hart Lane for the former Tottenham man, he showed little attacking intent and was eventually subbed. Getty Tottenham vs West Brom player ratings Darren Fletcher - 5 out of 10 The captain gave his all but failed to keep pace with Dembele and Wanyama. Getty Tottenham vs West Brom player ratings James Morrison - 5 out of 10 Never stopped running, but his control often let him down in possession. Getty Tottenham vs West Brom player ratings Claudio Yacob - 4 out of 10 Allowed Tottenham to much space to play as he chased the shadows of Eriksen, Alli and Dembele. Getty Tottenham vs West Brom player ratings Matt Phillips - 5 out of 10 Albion's recent bright spark only saw one glimpse of goal, but nearly brought his side back into the contest. Getty Tottenham vs West Brom player ratings Salomon Rondon - 5 out of 10 Little service for the front man who was dominated by Tottenham's back three. Getty

This has been a problem throughout Phillips’ career. Holloway was not the only manager to try to coax Phillips’ aggressive best out of him. But he feels like now, at 25, in his third shot at the Premier League, he is closest to putting Holloway’s advice into practice.

“It has been something that I have been working on for a while,” Phillips says. “Gradually I think things have got better within my own head space. That is what I have been working on improving. Hopefully I have put it to bed. I am just grateful that things are going well.”

Keeping out of his own head has helped Phillips improve his game (Getty)

Phillips is enjoying playing for West Brom and looks like he is taking to Premier League football better than in his first two attempts. Playing as a winger for a Pulis team is an unusual task and involves at least as much defending as attacking. In two recent away games, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, he has almost played as an auxiliary left-back in a formation that switches from 4-5-1 to a 6-3-1.

Phillips has become a diligent defender and in those two games he could not have done any more for his team. West Brom were heavily beaten at Spurs but at Chelsea last month they nearly got away with it. At the start of Phillips’ career he was an old-fashioned winger who loved beating opponents and getting crosses in. Now he is a modern wide-man, who helps out his full-back and then breaks with speed.

“You've got to be able to do both,” Phillips says. “It is something the modern day footballer, I feel, has to have. It’s hard work, but it's what you've got to do.” Phillips, then, is the picture of evolution from the old era to the new. “The game is changing,” he says, “and the players have to as well.”

Phillips has been deployed as a wing-back at times this season after learning the defensive side of his game (Getty)

Phillips has certainly grown a lot since he made his Premier League debut six and a half years ago. He was not born into the elite game but came up the hard way, through the system at his local club Wycombe Wanderers, the club he joined at the age of eight.

“Everyone was assigned jobs, cleaning the gym or the canteen, which was good,” Phillips remembers. He had to clean the boots of Derek Duncan, now of VCD Athletic in the Ryman Prem. “It gave you a bond with a first-team player, if you ever got to train with the first-team you had a familiar face there.”

Phillips broke into Paul Lambert’s first team at 17 and quickly impressed. League Two is not an easy place to be a teenager winger but Phillips did well and word spread. Two years later he was on the bus to Northampton away when he got a phone call telling him to get off so he could sign for Holloway’s Blackpool. He scored on his debut against Blackburn Rovers.

Words said to Phillips while at Blackpool by Ian Holloway have helped the winger find his feet at West Brom (Getty)

That was Phillips’ first season in the big time but Blackpool were relegated and he dropped into the Championship. Two years later he went to Queens Park Rangers, fighting to come back up under Harry Redknapp, who recognised the same ability, but also the same barriers, in Phillips’ game. He had another season back in the top flight, before being relegated again, and it was only then that Holloway’s advice started to click.