47 | Phil Foden - 2023/24

[alexmcity]

Should have done a lot more against Tsimikas who is anything but a top defender.

 

[GaudinoMotors]

Would play him in the Alvarez hole.

 

[Belgian Flash]

His ability/talent can't be questioned in terms of him being gifted with a ball.

It just seems to me he rarely gets going with a long period of top performances where he is doing it almost week in and week out over a sustained period of time.

He blows hot and cold a fair bit in my opinion, especially for someone with that talent. He looks to have the ability you would find in a player that should be competing for player the season awards throughout the whole league, but his consistency doesn't put him near that category.

I don't expect a 9 out of 10 very week, but I still think his ability to truly influence games is very hit and miss.

Time flies too, he's nearly in his mid 20s. By the end of this season he's 24. He's not a kid.

Exactly my thoughts. It can't be that a wide position should affect his performance so much, wing playmakers are not unicorns these days, it should make many things easier in fact. I think hes just not assertive enough and doesn't have the confidence that matches his ability.

 

[supercity88]

His ability/talent can't be questioned in terms of him being gifted with a ball.

It just seems to me he rarely gets going with a long period of top performances where he is doing it almost week in and week out over a sustained period of time.

He blows hot and cold a fair bit in my opinion, especially for someone with that talent. He looks to have the ability you would find in a player that should be competing for player the season awards throughout the whole league, but his consistency doesn't put him near that category.

I don't expect a 9 out of 10 very week, but I still think his ability to truly influence games is very hit and miss.

Time flies too, he's nearly in his mid 20s. By the end of this season he's 24. He's not a kid.

There's no doubt he's inconsistent and I think most of us want more from him and are hard on him as a result. We know how good he can be and want to see him get there. 24 is still so young though. You wouldn't typically expect a consistently top class player until they're 26-30 so he's got a couple of years to further develop. He's not a kid, but he's still very very young. I'm not sure there are many players as young as he is, who have been playing consistently well. I'd love to see him put in performances like his one against Newcastle, week in week out, and I'm sure he wants to be delivering that as well. I still think he needs to have that game where he runs the show, scores the winner and gets the confidence to know he's the man. He didn't start the FA Cup or CL final last season remember, so he perhaps needs that moment to go and deliver more consistently.

 

[kaz7]

There's no doubt he's inconsistent and I think most of us want more from him and are hard on him as a result. We know how good he can be and want to see him get there. 24 is still so young though. You wouldn't typically expect a consistently top class player until they're 26-30 so he's got a couple of years to further develop. He's not a kid, but he's still very very young. I'm not sure there are many players as young as he is, who have been playing consistently well. I'd love to see him put in performances like his one against Newcastle, week in week out, and I'm sure he wants to be delivering that as well. I still think he needs to have that game where he runs the show, scores the winner and gets the confidence to know he's the man. He didn't start the FA Cup or CL final last season remember, so he perhaps needs that moment to go and deliver more consistently.

24 is not very young though and he has been playing for pep for seven years and learnt from dave , he should really be much better by now

 

[bluenova]

There's no doubt he's inconsistent and I think most of us want more from him and are hard on him as a result. We know how good he can be and want to see him get there. 24 is still so young though. You wouldn't typically expect a consistently top class player until they're 26-30 so he's got a couple of years to further develop. He's not a kid, but he's still very very young. I'm not sure there are many players as young as he is, who have been playing consistently well. I'd love to see him put in performances like his one against Newcastle, week in week out, and I'm sure he wants to be delivering that as well. I still think he needs to have that game where he runs the show, scores the winner and gets the confidence to know he's the man. He didn't start the FA Cup or CL final last season remember, so he perhaps needs that moment to go and deliver more consistently.

23 is even younger ;)

He had three spells with injuries last season, which I think he suffered from - both in terms of playing while injured, or being on the bench when he was still recovering, and also arriving back fit when the team were already on fire.

 

[supercity88]

24 is not very young though and he has been playing for pep for seven years and learnt from dave , he should really be much better by now

He's not 24 until May and yes, it is young. Name me other players around the world who are performing consistently at his age? Peaks and troughs are common with younger players. I'd expect consistency from players who are 26+ but he's still younger than Dave was when he joined City! Plenty of time for him to develop and become more consistent.

It's not an easy job playing for the best team in the world, and he'll know he has to become more consistent. The biggest question remains where he is going to play moving forwards. He's a much bigger goal threat than David Silva was - he's only 12 goals behind despite playing 200 games fewer. But whether he can run the game like David is the question. I still believe, in time, he'll be able to. But I think expectations on Phil are so high because he's one of us!

 

[supercity88]

23 is even younger ;)

He had three spells with injuries last season, which I think he suffered from - both in terms of playing while injured, or being on the bench when he was still recovering, and also arriving back fit when the team were already on fire.

I was replying to someone saying he would be 24 by the end of the season!

 

[bluenova]

I was replying to someone saying he would be 24 by the end of the season!

Ah. Then I blame them if we're now ageing players by how old they'll be at some point in the future :)

I also agreed with most of your post - Just wanted to add that a bit of context to the bit about not starting the finals last year. He had started most of the big CL games in previous seasons.

I think he suffers in some people's eyes because he's been here so long, but you're dead right - players get that consistency later. I pointed out on another thread that he's 3 years younger than Gundogan was when he joined us, and a year younger than David Silva. It's no surprise that Gundo, Bernardo, Mahrez and Grealish were Pep's go-to players when he wanted control - they've all got years more experience than Phil.

 

[JDV]

Wow what a goal. Sometimes he makes it look too easy.