47 | Phil Foden - 2025/26

[decmancity]

There's other young players in his position who are making stronger cases to be ahead of him in the England team and you can't really argue against it if you put club allegiances aside.

Who?

And the list better not include people like Palmer and Saka.

 

[blue_danube]

Who?

And the list better not include people like Palmer and Saka.

Why not?

Is Phil proving he's head and shoulders better than them? Not at all. If he was this would class player he was meant to be, he would be able to prove that.

Saka has proven to be better for England anyway. Palmer had way more impact in the moments he got in the Euros. I don't even think that's up for debate. Yes you can say Phil has won more trophies, but there's average rags from a few decades ago with many trophies because that's team related.

Our fans make all the excuses in the world for him. It's Southgates fault. It's Bellingham's fault for not passing to him blah blah blah. Funny how only Phil seemed to struggle under Southgate eh? Pretty much any other player turned up and played more or less how they usually do , so maybe Waistcoat was not the problem. Do you think Tuchel has an agenda against him too because he doesn't think Phil can cut it as his number 10 ahead of some others? Because I think he's more objective than us City fans..


Don't get me wrong, I'd absolutely love Phil to be a sublime player for us and go to England and show everyone he's a truly great player but I just don't think he's really kicked on at all as an all around player. He's got one or two attributes that are brilliant but he's not some world class star that's way better than his competition for positions for England. They're all more or less around the same.

Right now he's dining out on being player of the year two years ago. He's done little since then apart from a decent spell in January last year and been a little better this season.

 

[decmancity]

Why not?

Is Phil proving he's head and shoulders better than them? Not at all. If he was this would class player he was meant to be, he would be able to prove that.

Saka has proven to be better for England anyway. Palmer had way more impact in the moments he got in the Euros. I don't even think that's up for debate. Yes you can say Phil has won more trophies, but there's average rags from a few decades ago with many trophies because that's team related.

Our fans make all the excuses in the world for him. It's Southgates fault. It's Bellingham's fault for not passing to him blah blah blah. Funny how only Phil seemed to struggle under Southgate eh? Pretty much any other player turned up and played more or less how they usually do , so maybe Waistcoat was not the problem. Do you think Tuchel has an agenda against him too because he doesn't think Phil can cut it as his number 10 ahead of some others? Because I think he's more objective than us City fans..

yes Phil is, hes got more goals and assists than both combined this year for starters and this is a down year for him.

Has a track record of delivering trophies individually and contributing massively to the team ones, neither Saka and Palmer have done that. Are you trying to compare the contributions of Foden to City's trophies to what the likes of Wes Brown and John O'Shea did (these are your average rags I assume?)

Quite frankly couldn't give two shits about England, for all Saka and Palmer have "proven" for England, England have won fuck all and they have achieved fuck all, what is there to write about?

Southgate is a shit manager and Tuchel will turn out the same, but it's Phil's fault I guess.

 

[King Jay]

The start of this good run and his most impressive form was him on the right, Doku on the left and Cherki on the bench. When Cherki came in on the right Phil's form fell off.

He hasn’t play 1 match this season on the right it would make sense just to switch both

 

[K-Bo]

On the england question, Phil has been undeniably crap for england in almost every game he's played for England. He's probably played well 5 times or less.

Plenty of players do better than that for england, even out of position. He won't play significant minutes at the world cup, outside of injuries to Bellingham, Rogers and Palmer and it's his own fault that is going to happen.

This is a completely different conversation to his city performances though.

 

[EdersonsSmiley]

Funny how only Phil seemed to struggle under Southgate eh? Pretty much any other player turned up and played more or less how they usually do , so maybe Waistcoat was not the problem. Do you think Tuchel has an agenda against him too because he doesn't think Phil can cut it as his number 10 ahead of some others? Because I think he's more objective than us City fans..

This is absolutely nonsense, every single forward player bar Saka was getting pelters for being awful for England. There was an actual debate for dropping Harry Kane at times for Ollie fucking Watkins.

We literally set pieced our way through tournaments with Maguire and penalties but yeah the front 6 were replicating their club form.

Why do people invent complete horseshit to try and criticise players?

 

[meltonblue]

On the england question, Phil has been undeniably crap for england in almost every game he's played for England. He's probably played well 5 times or less.

Plenty of players do better than that for england, even out of position. He won't play significant minutes at the world cup, outside of injuries to Bellingham, Rogers and Palmer and it's his own fault that is going to happen.

This is a completely different conversation to his city performances though.

Completely agree.

 

[blue_danube]

yes Phil is, hes got more goals and assists than both combined this year for starters and this is a down year for him.

Has a track record of delivering trophies individually and contributing massively to the team ones, neither Saka and Palmer have done that. Are you trying to compare the contributions of Foden to City's trophies to what the likes of Wes Brown and John O'Shea did (these are your average rags I assume?)

Quite frankly couldn't give two shits about England, for all Saka and Palmer have "proven" for England, England have won fuck all and they have achieved fuck all, what is there to write about?

Southgate is a shit manager and Tuchel will turn out the same, but it's Phil's fault I guess.

Yeah Phil has delivered on an individual level and been part of winning trophies but he was surrounded by brilliant players too. But we're going back two years now since he looked like a real top class player that can make an individual impact regularly.

He's not kicked on from that, he's gone backwards apart from a few spurts where he's scored regularly for a few weeks.

Phil of two years ago I'd put above pretty much any England player but you can't live in the past. Two years/seasons is a long time in football. Where's that Phil gone?? - for the last 18 months he has not proven tp be any better than other English lads fighting for that position..

The longer it goes on, that brilliant player of the season year he had will start to look like an anomaly rather than a true reflection of his ability. Plenty of players have pulled excellent seasons out of the bag before. The top players sustain it. Phil hasnt.

Do I think on their very best days that he's better than the likes of Saka? 100%. But then I don't consider Saka and Palmer to be world class. I don't consider Phil to be either. He's got a couple of world class attributes but he's not world class consistency, which is what separates the great from the good.

 

[decmancity]

Yeah Phil has delivered on an individual level and been part of winning trophies but he was surrounded by brilliant players too. But we're going back two years now since he looked like a real top class player that can make an individual impact regularly.

He's not kicked on from that, he's gone backwards apart from a few spurts where he's scored regularly for a few weeks.

Phil of two years ago I'd put above pretty much any England player but you can't live in the past. Two years/seasons is a long time in football. Where's that Phil gone?? - for the last 18 months he has not proven any better than other English lads fighting for that position..

The longer it goes on, that brilliant player of the season year he had will start to look like an anomaly rather than a true reflection of his ability. Plenty of players have pulled excellent seasons out of the bag before. The top players sustain it. Phil hasnt.

Completely disagree, this standard that you're holding him to just doesn't exist and Saka and Palmer certainly aren't doing it and in fact have never touched the level Foden was at a season and bit ago.

As recently as Sunderland he provided a pass that should have been the game winner (Pass to Savinho). I don't think Foden has been great at all but the rest of the team around him has faltered in the last few weeks despite the West Ham and Forest wins. Appears that people expect Foden to be delivering everything himself.

 

[NQCitizen]

Completely disagree, this standard that you're holding him to just doesn't exist and Saka and Palmer certainly aren't doing it and in fact have never touched the level Foden was at a season and bit ago.

As recently as Sunderland he provided a pass that should have been the game winner (Pass to Savinho). I don't think Foden has been great at all but the rest of the team around him has faltered in the last few weeks despite the West Ham and Forest wins. Appears that people expect Foden to be delivering everything himself.

Don't get why people are ignoring that Phil has been to asked to do a much more unselfish, water-carrying Bernardo-esque role because Reijnders and Cherki offer nothing in the press or in chasing back.

Not sure Cherki, Foden and Tijj should all start the same game unless it's against someone we should batter.

Yesterday taking the best of the 3 off only compounded it.

 

[rodrizontal]

Why doesn't he take direct free-kicks anymore? I thought he was becoming better at them, then he just stopped taking them.

 

[Jonas.shaffer]

Some of these comments of late are laughable.

 

[Paul1970]

Who?

And the list better not include people like Palmer and Saka.

Morgan rogers

 

[Paul1970]

Yeah Phil has delivered on an individual level and been part of winning trophies but he was surrounded by brilliant players too. But we're going back two years now since he looked like a real top class player that can make an individual impact regularly.

He's not kicked on from that, he's gone backwards apart from a few spurts where he's scored regularly for a few weeks.

Phil of two years ago I'd put above pretty much any England player but you can't live in the past. Two years/seasons is a long time in football. Where's that Phil gone?? - for the last 18 months he has not proven tp be any better than other English lads fighting for that position..

The longer it goes on, that brilliant player of the season year he had will start to look like an anomaly rather than a true reflection of his ability. Plenty of players have pulled excellent seasons out of the bag before. The top players sustain it. Phil hasnt.

Do I think on their very best days that he's better than the likes of Saka? 100%. But then I don't consider Saka and Palmer to be world class. I don't consider Phil to be either. He's got a couple of world class attributes but he's not world class consistency, which is what separates the great from the good.

Two seasons ago I’d say Phil was the best in the world at what he did and the most natural footballer since gazza and joe Cole .

 

[Betterdeedthan red]

Why not?

Is Phil proving he's head and shoulders better than them? Not at all. If he was this would class player he was meant to be, he would be able to prove that.

Saka has proven to be better for England anyway. Palmer had way more impact in the moments he got in the Euros. I don't even think that's up for debate. Yes you can say Phil has won more trophies, but there's average rags from a few decades ago with many trophies because that's team related.

Our fans make all the excuses in the world for him. It's Southgates fault. It's Bellingham's fault for not passing to him blah blah blah. Funny how only Phil seemed to struggle under Southgate eh? Pretty much any other player turned up and played more or less how they usually do , so maybe Waistcoat was not the problem. Do you think Tuchel has an agenda against him too because he doesn't think Phil can cut it as his number 10 ahead of some others? Because I think he's more objective than us City fans..


Don't get me wrong, I'd absolutely love Phil to be a sublime player for us and go to England and show everyone he's a truly great player but I just don't think he's really kicked on at all as an all around player. He's got one or two attributes that are brilliant but he's not some world class star that's way better than his competition for positions for England. They're all more or less around the same.

Right now he's dining out on being player of the year two years ago. He's done little since then apart from a decent spell in January last year and been a little better this season.

Saka has about 3 assists this season .
Foden is twice the player Saka will ever be

 

[TurboDuo]

 

[MCFC !]

PHIL FODEN IS ONE OF OUR OWN AND IS THE BEST TECHNICAL PLAYER IN OUR TEAM. HE IS JUST 25 YEAR OLD BUT PLAYED OVER 360 GAMES IN WHICH HE SCORED MORE THEN 100 GOALS WITHOUT SINGLE PENALTY AND ASSIST I THINK 80 TIMES? HE WON SO MANY TROPHIES WITH TOP PLAYERS WE HAVE, BUT NOT JUST LIKE A PASSENGER, HE SCORED MANY IMPORTANT GOALS... BACK IN 2000'S WHEN A PLAYERS RUNNING 12 KILOMETRE PER MATCH THAT WAS MUCH, BUT PHIL IS NOT SO TALL AND ALMOST IN EVERY GAME HE RUN 14 KILOMETRES?... THAT'S BRUTAL ! NOBODY IN OUR TEAM HAS REFLEXES LIKE HIM, HE IS LIKE A CAT... WHEN WE HAVE TOP PLAYERS AND PASSERS ON EVERY POSITIONS THAT WAS A JOY TO WATCH... BUT BECAUSE WE NOW HAVE MORE MEDIOCRE PASSERS WHICH GIVE AWAY THE BALL MANY TIMES PER MATCH HE MUST RUN MANY TIMES BACK AND HELP THE DEFENCE AND THERE IS HIS ENERGY WASTED... NOVADAYS EVERY GAME IS PLAYED MORE THAN 100 MINUTES AND WE ARE GOING EVERY YEAR DEEP IN CUP COMPETITIONS , IN WHICH REFEREES ARE AGAINST US AND ALL OPOSITION PLAYERS KICK THE SHIT OUT OF US, HUNTING OUR PLAYERS DOWN WITHOUT ANY CHARGING NOT HELPING ! PHIL'S BEST PLAYING POSITION IS 10... WE PLAYING WITH TOO MANY LOW PLAYERS IS BAD TACTIC... BERNIE IS FINISHED AND SLOWING EVERYTHING, EVERYTIME DOWN... WE MUST BUY TALL, FAST, FRESH MIDFIELDERS WITH GOOD TECHNIC AND STAMINA OTHERWISE WE WON FUCK ALL AND PHIL'S ENERGY GONNA BE RUNNING IN THE GROUND...

 

[alexmcity]

Anyone can misplace a pass in such a situation, including Kevin.

The problem is that Foden lacks that ability to create many chances that both Kevin and David had.

At 25, he still has time to develop it, but it might be a bit difficult for him at this stage of his career.

 

[madloaf]

PHIL FODEN IS ONE OF OUR OWN AND IS THE BEST TECHNICAL PLAYER IN OUR TEAM. HE IS JUST 25 YEAR OLD BUT PLAYED OVER 360 GAMES IN WHICH HE SCORED MORE THEN 100 GOALS WITHOUT SINGLE PENALTY AND ASSIST I THINK 80 TIMES? HE WON SO MANY TROPHIES WITH TOP PLAYERS WE HAVE, BUT NOT JUST LIKE A PASSENGER, HE SCORED MANY IMPORTANT GOALS... BACK IN 2000'S WHEN A PLAYERS RUNNING 12 KILOMETRE PER MATCH THAT WAS MUCH, BUT PHIL IS NOT SO TALL AND ALMOST IN EVERY GAME HE RUN 14 KILOMETRES?... THAT'S BRUTAL ! NOBODY IN OUR TEAM HAS REFLEXES LIKE HIM, HE IS LIKE A CAT... WHEN WE HAVE TOP PLAYERS AND PASSERS ON EVERY POSITIONS THAT WAS A JOY TO WATCH... BUT BECAUSE WE NOW HAVE MORE MEDIOCRE PASSERS WHICH GIVE AWAY THE BALL MANY TIMES PER MATCH HE MUST RUN MANY TIMES BACK AND HELP THE DEFENCE AND THERE IS HIS ENERGY WASTED... NOVADAYS EVERY GAME IS PLAYED MORE THAN 100 MINUTES AND WE ARE GOING EVERY YEAR DEEP IN CUP COMPETITIONS , IN WHICH REFEREES ARE AGAINST US AND ALL OPOSITION PLAYERS KICK THE SHIT OUT OF US, HUNTING OUR PLAYERS DOWN WITHOUT ANY CHARGING NOT HELPING ! PHIL'S BEST PLAYING POSITION IS 10... WE PLAYING WITH TOO MANY LOW PLAYERS IS BAD TACTIC... BERNIE IS FINISHED AND SLOWING EVERYTHING, EVERYTIME DOWN... WE MUST BUY TALL, FAST, FRESH MIDFIELDERS WITH GOOD TECHNIC AND STAMINA OTHERWISE WE WON FUCK ALL AND PHIL'S ENERGY GONNA BE RUNNING IN THE GROUND...

As far as ASCII art goes I can't quite make it out.

 

[Sky Blue]

PHIL FODEN IS ONE OF OUR OWN AND IS THE BEST TECHNICAL PLAYER IN OUR TEAM. HE IS JUST 25 YEAR OLD BUT PLAYED OVER 360 GAMES IN WHICH HE SCORED MORE THEN 100 GOALS WITHOUT SINGLE PENALTY AND ASSIST I THINK 80 TIMES? HE WON SO MANY TROPHIES WITH TOP PLAYERS WE HAVE, BUT NOT JUST LIKE A PASSENGER, HE SCORED MANY IMPORTANT GOALS... BACK IN 2000'S WHEN A PLAYERS RUNNING 12 KILOMETRE PER MATCH THAT WAS MUCH, BUT PHIL IS NOT SO TALL AND ALMOST IN EVERY GAME HE RUN 14 KILOMETRES?... THAT'S BRUTAL ! NOBODY IN OUR TEAM HAS REFLEXES LIKE HIM, HE IS LIKE A CAT... WHEN WE HAVE TOP PLAYERS AND PASSERS ON EVERY POSITIONS THAT WAS A JOY TO WATCH... BUT BECAUSE WE NOW HAVE MORE MEDIOCRE PASSERS WHICH GIVE AWAY THE BALL MANY TIMES PER MATCH HE MUST RUN MANY TIMES BACK AND HELP THE DEFENCE AND THERE IS HIS ENERGY WASTED... NOVADAYS EVERY GAME IS PLAYED MORE THAN 100 MINUTES AND WE ARE GOING EVERY YEAR DEEP IN CUP COMPETITIONS , IN WHICH REFEREES ARE AGAINST US AND ALL OPOSITION PLAYERS KICK THE SHIT OUT OF US, HUNTING OUR PLAYERS DOWN WITHOUT ANY CHARGING NOT HELPING ! PHIL'S BEST PLAYING POSITION IS 10... WE PLAYING WITH TOO MANY LOW PLAYERS IS BAD TACTIC... BERNIE IS FINISHED AND SLOWING EVERYTHING, EVERYTIME DOWN... WE MUST BUY TALL, FAST, FRESH MIDFIELDERS WITH GOOD TECHNIC AND STAMINA OTHERWISE WE WON FUCK ALL AND PHIL'S ENERGY GONNA BE RUNNING IN THE GROUND...

Well that woke me up.