47 | Phil Foden - 2023/24

[manimanc]

He should fuck this shower of shite off and look through his family tree to see if anyone had been to Ireland for a holiday.

How can he get on the ball when the Bellingham roadshow was in full effect. I just think the waistcoat yells 'Pass it to Jude, give it Jude' everytime anyone gets the ball.

This is how much Foden gets snubbed and overlooked by the press. Mainoo came on for 4mins, touched the ball twice, 6/10.

Foden played a full game with the two bigheads in midfield, grafted and got kicked all match, 5/10.

Fuckin do one England and the wanker press.

Edit.

Just seen gobshite from Liverpool got 7/10 and rave reviews. He was fuckin awful, control was shite and looked out of position.

 

[eastmanc]

Sounds like he’s become the next England scapegoat. Why do England fans/ media always need a player to criticise? Yes he didn’t play well, but I’d argue most of the team didn’t really either.

And City fans

 

[robbieh]

Even someone as talented as David Silva had to play out of position the majority of his international career due to Xavi and Iniesta.
False Nine, wide left, wide right.

The problem is that Bellingham's skillset is more reliable in an England team. England are not peak Barcelona or indeed City. We turnover the ball a lot. Bellingham is a powerful unit and benefits from a less possession based setup. Think Madrid, Dortmund.

 

[supercity88]

I watched him really carefully first half, and he was often central and continually making darting little moves between the lines showing for the ball.

But it never came.

Rice is so limited in the way he moves, he can't manage any subtle passes around corners. He's good defensively and progresses the ball well by running with it, but inside of the right foot passes all the time, no deception to open spaces. No passes through to Phil.

And dont get me started on the shite that is Alexander-Arnold.

Second half the game was crying out for Grealish in the left to move us upfield and buy fouls and Foden central. I'd say just as much though that throughout it was crying out for Rico Lewis to actually have someone in midfield receiving the ball correctly to open up their options, and someone who would be humble, not trying to show-off and keep playing simple but clever passes.

I'm not questioning the fact that the system and formation hinders Phil, but he can still do more. He's a world class talent and he's yet to show it in an England shirt regardless of where he plays. If he's not getting the ball enough he has to shout at those around him to give it to him, and when he gets it he has to do something with it. Yesterday when he got the ball he didn't do anything positive in an attacking sense. You can't blame the system for him playing a shite pass behind someone, or taking a quick free quick when under pressure and giving it away. That's not giving your team mates a message that you should get the ball more.

We'd get the best out of Phil playing him as a 10 and giving him the freedom of the pitch, but he can still be effective in others areas.

 

[supercity88]

He fits the English definition of the good passer which means he can put it on a sixpence from 60 yards. He's a good passer in the same way that Beckham was a good passer, not in the way that Kevin De Bruyne or David Silva are good passers. None of the perfectly weighted through balls that no-one else would even spot nevermind attempt.

It's mind boggling that he's been selected in midfield simply because he can play attacking passes. He's playing in a side that has a number 9 who rarely makes a run in behind and where the majority want the ball to feet. Dropping him, having Bellingham a bit deeper and Foden in the 10 with a proper wide left player would have been so much better for the team. When under the cosh we didn't have anyone in midfield showing for the ball so it kept going long and coming straight back.

 

[threespires]

I'll be honest, for the first 60 minutes he was shite. No ifs, buts or Man City glasses, he was shite.

What didn't help was Bellingham being overly self indulgent and wanting to almost show off. He's a great player, but his ego is even greater. Everyone suffered as it became the Jude show. Foden, TAA and Kane alike, all had their thunder stolen as Bellingham refused to stay in position or make a simple pass.

What did infuriate me about Foden was he went on that field chewing gum! He sang the National Anthem with gum in his gob, and every time he was involved in a breakdown of play, the camera would zoom in to find him chomping like Ermintrude the Magic Roundabout's Cow! It's not a good look and doing it shows you are not fully focussed. And before any young shite who thinks its OK to go on the field to represent your nation chewing gum, ensure you can quote a boxer, rugby player, athlete or indeed and sporting performance publication that recommends chewing gum as an aid to sporting performance!

Loads of reasons sports people chew gum, some physiological and some psychological. Quite a few studies that show positive effect on things like reaction time and concentration, albeit correlation rather than clear causation. Thought to be tied to increased blood flow. Not aware of any studies that show a detrimental effect unless you are talking about impact of caffeinated gum. I guess there's a very minor risk of choking.

 

[supercity88]

Except that Southgate actually has the players to play everyone in their correct positions, and instead, plays them out of position to fit in another player (TAA) out of position.

You could easily play:

Pickford

Walker------Stones-----Guehi------Trippier

Rice------Bellingham

Saka------Foden------Gordon

Kane​

And Trippier would be the only compromise. Bellingham is arguably the closest thing England have got to Gundogan. He's decent enough defensively, fairly physical, and incredible at arriving in the box at the right moment. And Gundo spent his entire City career playing behind Silva, De Bruyne or Foden. The reality is that that formation above would already be pretty defensively solid, because Walker and Trippier are not going to be joining the attack that much anyway.

Ignoring Foden's performance, let's actually look at how many chances England created. They had 5 shots in 90 minutes, so it's not like Bellingham and "Trent" have shown themselves to be creative geniuses. Most of the threat came from Saka, which is normal, because he's the best player at taking on opponents one-on-one, and in the absence of any coherent attacking plan, that's the best way to make something happen.

Absolutely Foden hasn't been good enough, but if you're handed the best player in the Premier League last season, the best player in La Liga, and the highest scoring striker in Europe (and it's not like Saka is a weak link), and you manage 5 shots on goal against Serbia, then maybe you need to look at the manager and the tactics. For comparison, the Netherlands managed 21 shots, Switzerland 15, Spain 11, Croatia 16, Italy 17, Germany 20. Even most of the losing teams had more shots than us.

We hear a lot about how the defence is weak so we need to set up to protect them. Walker was in almost everyone's team of the season, and is a good shout for best RB in the world. Stones had an injury-hit season, but he's still the player that a year ago was given credit for transforming us into treble winners with his intelligent play, and being the best player in the CL final. Trippier too might be getting on a bit and playing out of position, but he's a quality, experienced defender. So what they're basically saying is that we need to constantly build our entire team around protecting the back four because one of the four isn't a CL regular or playing for a title-challenging team.

Excellent post. My criticism of Phil is because I fucking love him and want him to light this tournament up. He undoubtedly can do better, regardless of where he plays but you're spot on - tactically the system could be so much better with the players we had available.

 

[theres only one carlito]

Playing him on the left isn’t the issue. Waistcoat is playing him in the exact same role that Pep plays him in. Foden plays left wing for us too. The difference, and THIS is the real issue, is the lack of control and proper build up under Southgate. It’s that control which allows City to consistently get up the pitch, pin the opponent back, and get everyone in their final positions (which for Foden is in the centre). It looks like Foden plays more central for us purely because we have control of the game. With England he has less opportunity to reach his end position because we just get the ball and twat it as far as we can.

I honestly think Southgate just thinks “Pep plays him there, drifting inside - I’ll do the same” but he doesn’t actually understand how the system allows it to work at City. He hasn’t once thought about that.

I think you’re right in what you’re saying though I think that it’s up to Phil to adapt. He can’t have pep holding his hand. He needs to trust his abilities in a different set up. Otherwise he’s becoming a one system player. I think he’s in danger of becoming a player that is so ingrained in one pattern of play that he’s struggling to adapt to a different style and set up. He’s easily good enough to adapt but he needs to let go of his city tactics for England and start playing the football match for what it is a bringing his skill set to the table. Southgate undoubtedly doesn’t help with his set up and selections but Phil can’t control that. He can control his overall performance and abilitys.

 

[Pedestrian]

Can’t see him starting the next game. Which is good.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

Cricketer last time I checked. Did less running that a blocked tap. Top athletes that use cardiovascular performance as key to their performance, do not chew gum.

Jeez, so that's how my City trial went down the pan.