Nat Phillips, currently on loan from Liverpool, believes that the intense atmosphere of playing for Celtic will only elevate his performance.
The defender feels well-prepared for the heightened expectations that come with wearing the Celtic jersey.
Having featured in major matches at Anfield, including those in the English Premier League and Champions League, Phillips also recalls his time in Germany and with Bournemouth in The Championship, where the focus was on titles and promotions, showing he’s no strangers to pressure.
Now, the prospect of playing for a club where the aim is collecting silverware and where every point dropped is like a loss to the supporters thrills him. Phillips is confident about facing and thriving in the challenges awaiting him in Scotland.
“With anything in life, you want to be moving towards an end goal,” Phillips said, quoted by the Herald.
“It’s good that Celtic have that here. They want to be winning trophies. They’re not just looking to survive as some teams might be in other areas of football.
“In Germany I had that with Stuttgart – it was promotion or nothing in the Bundesliga 2. When I went to Bournemouth we had the end goal of winning promotion and at Liverpool there were high demands there and it’s the same here. I quite enjoy that, and it brings the best out of me.
“It just makes everything more meaningful when you’ve got something to strive towards.”
Reflecting on his tenure at Liverpool, Phillips noted the peculiar phase marked by injuries, which handed him a string of matches, including pivotal Champions League games and crucial league matches.
“In the time I was playing at Liverpool, it was a bit of a strange period, because there was a bit of an injury crisis then.
“I got a decent run of games at the end of that season. There were three Champions League games, and some pretty important ones in the league to push for the Champions League places.
“Certainly in that season where there were all those injuries, there was a decent amount of pressure on us, and I enjoyed it.
“I quite enjoy having that pressure and feeling like you’ve got to rise to the occasion, and when you do win those games and you perform and do well, it makes it that much sweeter.
“So I come here with experience of playing under pressure and dealing with it.”
