The West Ham boss is backing Kalvin Phillips to return to form following his England setback – and vows to help him “crack the code” to get him back to his best.

David Moyes is determined to ‘crack the code’ and get Kalvin Phillips back to full fitness with West Ham.

Phillips endured a difficult start to his loan spell in east London and was left out of Gareth Southgate’s latest England squad on Thursday.

But Moyes believes he can solve the riddle and rediscover the player Pep Guardiola spent £42million to bring to Manchester City 18 months ago.

“I speak to him regularly, he’s a really good guy to talk to as well. He wants to listen, get feedback and wants to improve,” Hammers boss Moyes said.

“There’s no doubt he’s going to find his form again. Hopefully we can crack the code before time runs out, we really do. That’s the key.

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“I told him the other day the England manager doesn’t give you 31 caps, you’re not signed by the best manager in the world, there must be something everyone saw.

“We need to crack the code to get it back. He has to play, we have to continue to build his confidence, I can see that.

“How are you improving?” You have to work a little harder and hope that one day something clicks for you, you get a boost. Score a goal and get a boost, or something.

“He’s a good kid and he wants to improve. I don’t really know if that’s a good enough answer to the magic code, but I can see that someone will benefit from him because he’s definitely a player of high level and other people have already judged him that way.

Phillips is likely to be among the substitutes again on Sunday when West Ham host fellow European hopefuls Aston Villa.