47 | Phil Foden - 2023/24

[supercity88]

Yeah, but he beat his man 3 (THREE) times, and then played a pass to no-one.

Did I mention how many times he beat his man? It was 3 in case you missed it.

The one time Bellingham actually got any criticism on commentary - think Shearer said he had the chance to cross it but decided to take his man on for a third time and pass it to the keeper instead.

Bellingham got a goal, played well but did a lot of things that weren't positive for the team and should be picked up on. It's about the team winning and not one player standing out. We've always been obsessed with our star players rather than the success of the system and team in this country. Volleying a pass to the right back when a touch and calm pass to someone closer was more beneficial is exactly what's wrong with the fawning over Bellingham.

Other than the goal, which he wasn't involved in other than to head it into the net, he didn't do anything that was actually worth the exaggerated credit. But that's what playing for England is like.

People don't want to see Phil calmly dictate the game and play some wonderful passes in midfield which unlock the opposition. He just needs to run into the box and slot one in the net and he'll get 10/10.

 

[supercity88]

I'm only a 13 minutes into this analysis, but it's pretty good.



Highlights multiple times in the first 30 minutes where Foden makes the pass and run and doesn't get the return. One time where he does and miscontrols it, to be fair too. But also one time where he's seeing the obvious pass for TAA or Rice and it doesn't come.

Some good stuff in there.

The fundamental issue England have with the current tactics and system is that we're going to face a good team at some point and naturally Southgate will revert to a more rigid approach. If Foden is in the 11 he therefore plays left with more of a requirement to stay in those positions to do his defensive work and we'll have very little in the attacking third as a result.

The bigger issue with England and the reason we will not win the Euro's is Kane. His work rate off the ball is horrific and has been for a while. England are much better when defending on the front foot, but it has to be as a whole unit. It's what our players are used to. Sitting off leads to trouble. We're then reacting and not being proactive in our defensive work. Kane was fucking abysmal on Sunday defensively. He wasn't pressing at all and allowed them to walk it into our half, straight past him leading our midfielders to step up and open up a passing line too easily.

Similarly, Pickford going long repeatedly when a pass into midfield would draw them onto us and open up space to attack.

Southgate needed to make changes to freshen things up and Kane coming off should have been one of them.

 

[supercity88]

The great John Barnes thinks we'll never see the best of Foden until England play like City ffs.Perhaps Phil should do a Ben White then ?

Trusting Phil is all that needs to happen. Give him the ball and look to find him. He definitely could have done better on Sunday, but fundamentally Southgate needs to get the message to his players to use him as much as they can.

Rice plays with Odegaard and Saka who are generally to the right of him. Most of Arsenal's threat comes down that side. He needs to look for Phil more on his left side. Bellingham plays with Vinicius and Rodrygo who use their pace and run into space. He's generally the more static one. He needs to understand Phil sees the bigger picture and to pass to him more. It's early days so hopefully they get that understanding. But as I said, come the knockouts we'll be a lot more rigid and Phil will be wasted.

 

[Colin Bells Boots]

Trusting Phil is all that needs to happen. Give him the ball and look to find him. He definitely could have done better on Sunday, but fundamentally Southgate needs to get the message to his players to use him as much as they can.

Rice plays with Odegaard and Saka who are generally to the right of him. Most of Arsenal's threat comes down that side. He needs to look for Phil more on his left side. Bellingham plays with Vinicius and Rodrygo who use their pace and run into space. He's generally the more static one. He needs to understand Phil sees the bigger picture and to pass to him more. It's early days so hopefully they get that understanding. But as I said, come the knockouts we'll be a lot more rigid and Phil will be wasted.

You do realise that Southgate needs to understand ( and have the balls to apply ) such things ?

 

[Brightwell Bros.]

Bellingham looked good "being everywhere" and took both Foden and Kane, more disciplined players, out of the game in doing so because if he is everywhere then other players need to move to accomodate him. Pep or Klopp would give him a fucking bollocking for that sort of game. The press was saggy, the shap gone.

 

[Platt Lane 59]

Some good stuff in there.

The fundamental issue England have with the current tactics and system is that we're going to face a good team at some point and naturally Southgate will revert to a more rigid approach. If Foden is in the 11 he therefore plays left with more of a requirement to stay in those positions to do his defensive work and we'll have very little in the attacking third as a result.

The bigger issue with England and the reason we will not win the Euro's is Kane. His work rate off the ball is horrific and has been for a while. England are much better when defending on the front foot, but it has to be as a whole unit. It's what our players are used to. Sitting off leads to trouble. We're then reacting and not being proactive in our defensive work. Kane was fucking abysmal on Sunday defensively. He wasn't pressing at all and allowed them to walk it into our half, straight past him leading our midfielders to step up and open up a passing line too easily.

Similarly, Pickford going long repeatedly when a pass into midfield would draw them onto us and open up space to attack.

Southgate needed to make changes to freshen things up and Kane coming off should have been one of them.

Southgate will never drop Harry Kane.
The problem for Southgate though could be egos within the team ?
Kane, as captain, is used to getting all the accolades and attention.
Suddenly, Bellingham, Foden and even Rice, are getting all the attention.
"King" Harry is losing his crown rapidly.
Sounds cruel for Kane, but I feel England need to give Watkins or Toney a start in their 2 remaining group games.
Bet, safety-first Southgate bottles it though...

 

[Crooked_rain]

Southgate will never drop Harry Kane.
The problem for Southgate though could be egos within the team ?
Kane, as captain, is used to getting all the accolades and attention.
Suddenly, Bellingham, Foden and even Rice, are getting all the attention.
"King" Harry is losing his crown rapidly.
Sounds cruel for Kane, but I feel England need to give Watkins or Toney a start in their 2 remaining group games.
Bet, safety-first Southgate bottles it though...

I wouldn't see any point in playing Toney over Kane. A lot of Toney's best attributes and style is when coming deeper at times and linking up. Kane can already do that and is simply much better than Toney at both scoring and dropping deep. Given the fact it was clear Kane was under instructions not to come so deep, there's no point in bringing Toney on just to stay up top when Kane is a better finisher anyway.

Watkins is a different story because I think he's much better at playing runs in behind, but again, England don't really get forward with a lot of energy, which then allows teams to get men back, so I don't think Watkins would get the same opportunities to get in behind as he does at Villa.

Either way, neither are really in Kane's league if we're being honest about it. He's one of the best strikers in the world and England captain. There's about as much chance of me getting a call up as there is Kane being dropped for Watkins in a major tournament.

 

[Colin Bells Boots]

Bellingham looked good "being everywhere" and took both Foden and Kane, more disciplined players, out of the game in doing so because if he is everywhere then other players need to move to accomodate him. Pep or Klopp would give him a fucking bollocking for that sort of game. The press was saggy, the shap gone.

Our new " saviour " needs to be accommodated !

 

[Crooked_rain]

England are much better when defending on the front foot, but it has to be as a whole unit. It's what our players are used to. Sitting off leads to trouble. We're then reacting and not being proactive in our defensive work.

and kind of on this topic, I think there's some credibility to getting a manager who can essentially adopt the tactics that successful teams in that country are using. it's very logical if you think about it. If you look at the Spain team that won the World Cup, their play wasn't that far removed from Barcelona and obviously they had Barcelona players in there. The Germany team that won the World Cup in Brazil pretty much played a typical Bundesliga style of football. Italy won the last Euros and they looked pretty much the same as a top Serie A team does in how they play.

Surely te logical thing is that you get players from teams like City and Arsenal and get them to approach the game in a similar way to what they do every week. obviously it's not so simple because its Southgate, not Pep or Lego Head, but it's just a tournament for a few weeks, I'm sure you can at least imitate a similar approach to football. it's not rocket science. instead we get players used to playing a certain way every week, having massive success doing it and bring them in to play a very rigid kind of football but they're not used to. what do you expect the outcome to be?

I believe any manager that's won these trophies doesn't just pick players, they also take influence from successful teams in their country because that's what they're used to.

Us and Arsenal are the two best sides in England, 5 of our 10 outfield players play for those two clubs, yet England's coaching staff clearly don't realise its probably worth trying to get something similar going.

 

[citizen_maine]

and kind of on this topic, I think there's some credibility to getting a manager who can essentially adopt the tactics that successful teams in that country are using. it's very logical if you think about it. If you look at the Spain team that won the World Cup, their play wasn't that far removed from Barcelona and obviously they had Barcelona players in there. The Germany team that won the World Cup in Brazil pretty much played a typical Bundesliga style of football. Italy won the last Euros and they looked pretty much the same as a top Serie A team does in how they play.

Surely te logical thing is that you get players from teams like City and Arsenal and get them to approach the game in a similar way to what they do every week. obviously it's not so simple because its Southgate, not Pep or Lego Head, but it's just a tournament for a few weeks, I'm sure you can at least imitate a similar approach to football. it's not rocket science. instead we get players used to playing a certain way every week, having massive success doing it and bring them in to play a very rigid kind of football but they're not used to. what do you expect the outcome to be?

I believe any manager that's won these trophies doesn't just pick players, they also take influence from successful teams in their country because that's what they're used to.

Us and Arsenal are the two best sides in England, 5 of our 10 outfield players play for those two clubs, yet England's coaching staff clearly don't realise its probably worth trying to get something similar going.

they couldn't play rags or dippers though