Matt Phillips overcoming 'mental demon' to star for West Brom

Brimming with confidence and oozing class, after a workmanlike start to the season, the 25-year-old winger has suddenly burst into life.

Phillips may have spent most of his career in the Championship with Blackpool and Queens Park Rangers, but he has all the attributes needed to succeed in the Premier League.

Power, pace, and a willingness to defend, he proved against Watford last weekend that he's also dangerously two-footed, rifling one into the corner from the edge of the box with his so-called weaker foot.

But according to his biggest fan, the key to unlocking that undoubted potential in his boots is instilling confidence in between his ears.

"We're all made differently, and thank god we are," explained Pulis. "Different people have different strengths and weaknesses. It is accepted that lack of confidence is a weakness of his. He is trying his hardest, and playing the way he is playing is the best medicine he could take."

Phillips comes across as a quiet but determined young man, who takes care over his words in interview. He takes the same level of care and determination into training, and that effort is now paying off on the pitch. But Pulis has never had any concerns over his ability.

"Matt is most probably his own worst enemy in terms of confidence," said Pulis. "If he had that self belief and that confidence that some players have got he'd be absolutely outstanding every week.

"He's got all the tools, he can score a goal, he creates goals, he's got fantastic pace, he's physically a real specimen and athletically as good as anybody.

"So it's just that self belief and putting your arm around him and encouraging him week in, week out to overcome a mental demon that I think he is trying to get rid of more than anything else."

Pulis, who has been leading Albion in recent months while a huge legal battle with former club Crystal Palace rumbles away in the background, says he can compartmentalise his life. But he reckons Phillips finds it difficult.

"There's areas – and I've always been able to do it – where you can put things and keep them there in your mind and carry on with other things," he said. "I think most probably he's not been able to do that.

"I'm not a psychologist but it's just trying to get him to move that to one side and out of his way.

"If he does that and believes in himself as much as we believe in him then he can have a fantastic season for the football club."

Fortunately for Albion fans, the Baggies boss has noticed a vast improvement in his winger's mentality recently.

"My door is always open if he wants to pop in and have a chat," said Pulis. "Thank goodness he hasn't done that for a few weeks."

And things could soon be getting better for Phillips, who has been left out of Gordon Strachan's last two Scotland squads.

"I missed a couple of calls from Gordon just before the England game," said Pulis. "That was going to revolve around Matty and how he has done.

"Gordon knows his form has spun around and he is looking like the player Olly (Ian Holloway) had at Blackpool, who was such an exciting player."