47 | Phil Foden - 2023/24

[meltonblue]

Southgate has been the England manager for 8 years, that's more than enough time to sort out the tactical side of the game. There's more international breaks than ever before it seems, and I have absolutely no idea what England's attacking tactics are, other than the keeper hoofing it long.

I agree. Doesn’t change the individual performances though. Some are better with less instruction, some aren’t.

 

[Bluemoonie92]

I do find it strange watching him with England. Guessing he is following orders but his play is alot of returning to sender. Rarely tries to run forward with it. Defo playing within himself

 

[Xhavenjoe]

I do find it strange watching him with England. Guessing he is following orders but his play is alot of returning to sender

They call that the Elvis pass

 

[RayCTID]

Am I being paranoid or do Phil and Bellingham not like each other?

It does still seem a little cliquey. Saying that it is not just an England issue.

 

[Big Jonjo]

I feel there's a few things wrong with Phil playing for England in this tournament. Firstly, he's trying too hard. He needs to relax. I feel if Pep was there, he would be telling him to slow down when he's on the ball. I noticed every time he didn't have the ball he was waving to get it. Sometimes he wasn't in the right place to receive it. I just think he needs to relax and back himself. As some other posters have said, he never once opened his body up and ran at the Swiss. While there were times he was looking to receive the ball when he wasn't in the best place to receive, there were countless times he should have received a pass, mainly from Bellingham, which he didn't receive. I think if Southgate is playing Foden central, then he needs to instruct the team to ensure most things go through him. Bellingham is better running on to receive a through pass from Foden, but his ego means he wants to be the main man and do everything himself. I think this is having a major impact on Phil. As well as all this the movement of the other England players and rhythm of the game is completely different to that what he experiences at City. Just my tuppence worth!

 

[Crooked_rain]

Am I being paranoid or do Phil and Bellingham not like each other?

I got that feeling.

Maybe it's not that they dislike each other per se, I just get the feeling they're very different characters. Bellingham seems to have his little group of arse lickers around him like Arnold, so it's probably there's probably little cliques going on, which probably isn't Phil's style.

Either way, Bellingham never passes to Phil in any worthwhile position. He only passes to him when there's no other option and he might get the ball back.

 

[dennishasdoneit]

It's pretty sad to see Bellingham visibly not wanting to pass the ball to Phil. Must be hard to bring your best game to the table when playing alongside an ego as big as bell end. ..The goal celebration after the last match is probably a pointer in this regard.

Something is not quite right between certain players ....

Like others have said,I still think there is going go be a magical moment from our Phil at this tournament for England.
The team looked better as a unit last night,but Foden still looks disjointed and a tad unhappy.

I really thought Foden was going to be the City attackinging player I'd dreamed of dominating the National teams performances.
I never saw Colin Bell for England but you can see from old footage how players like Kevin Keegan used to steal the headlines and I see something similar here. Bell of course succumbed to Martin Buchans dreadful challenge with a knee Injury which effectively curtailed his career just at its height..

Paul Lake was my next big Blue hope for the international team,but he only got as far as the initial 40 man squad under Bobby Robson,and a similar horrific knee injury ensured we never saw Dentons finest turn out for his country..

It's very hard to describe the joy I had a kid when City had players turn out for England..Peter Barnes magical display against Italy at Wembley still springs to mind, and I was elated when Trevor Francis scored two goals for England when playing alongside Tony Woodvock as England put 5 past Ireland in the home internationals....I was buzzing ..
Barnes of course was outshine by bloody Steve Coppell...And Francis was just a walking sick note..

When Joe Corrigan got a rare game in between the Ray Clemence / Peter Shilton goal keeping monopoly ,again I would be so proud ...


Let's hope Phil bounces back,for no one can fault his work rate and desire,and Southgate, I believe ,won't let him stray too far from the 1st eleven ,for he knows,full well that Foden can change things in the blink of an eye. What Southgate cannot do,is sort out the petty 'I'm not passing to you' nonsense which is currently going on.....and that's a great shame.

Player power..is a thing.

 

[pauls]

It's pretty sad to see Bellingham visibly not wanting to pass the ball to Phil. Must be hard to bring your best game to the table when playing alongside an ego as big as bell end. ..The goal celebration after the last match is probably a pointer in this regard.

Something is not quite right between certain players ....

Like others have said,I still think there is going go be a magical moment from our Phil at this tournament for England.
The team looked better as a unit last night,but Foden still looks disjointed and a tad unhappy.

I really thought Foden was going to be the City attackinging player I'd dreamed of dominating the National teams performances.
I never saw Colin Bell for England but you can see from old footage how players like Kevin Keegan used to steal the headlines and I see something similar here. Bell of course succumbed to Martin Buchans dreadful challenge with a knee Injury which effectively curtailed his career just at its height..

Paul Lake was my next big Blue hope for the international team,but he only got as far as the initial 40 man squad under Bobby Robson,and a similar horrific knee injury ensured we never saw Dentons finest turn out for his country..

It's very hard to describe the joy I had a kid when City had players turn out for England..Peter Barnes magical display against Italy at Wembley still springs to mind, and I was elated when Trevor Francis scored two goals for England when playing alongside Tony Woodvock as England put 5 past Ireland in the home internationals....I was buzzing ..
Barnes of course was outshine by bloody Steve Coppell...And Francis was just a walking sick note..

When Joe Corrigan got a rare game in between the Ray Clemence / Peter Shilton goal keeping monopoly ,again I would be so proud ...


Let's hope Phil bounces back,for no one can fault his work rate and desire,and Southgate, I believe ,won't let him stray too far from the 1st eleven ,for he knows,full well that Foden can change things in the blink of an eye. What Southgate cannot do,is sort out the petty 'I'm not passing to you' nonsense which is currently going on.....and that's a great shame.

Player power..is a thing.

My observations that The gact that Phil was regularly closed down by at least two players last night tells you the official version from the Swiss end and Waistcoat s post match interview referenced his contributions.
All the negative scores or comments in the media are from the usual considerable anti City brigade.
It's obvious he's not been his best but Harry Kane has not won one arial dual and has looked possibly the worst player in the whole tournament despite scoring two tap ins.

 

[adrianr]

My observations that The gact that Phil was regularly closed down by at least two players last night tells you the official version from the Swiss end and Waistcoat s post match interview referenced his contributions.
All the negative scores or comments in the media are from the usual considerable anti City brigade.
It's obvious he's not been his best but Harry Kane has not won one arial dual and has looked possibly the worst player in the whole tournament despite scoring two tap ins.

I was going to expand on my earlier post, couldn't be arsed at the time, but Phil is undoubtedly doing a ton of thankless work at the moment for the team, and as you say he was a clear point of focus for doubling up on from the Swiss. They never wanted to give him any time on the ball in those central areas but he was still moving around trying to knit things together. The biggest thing Phil is bringing to this team right now is control. We're not good enough as a whole to dominate the ball for 95% of the match like he will do at City, but even with all the marking he's still often the safest pass, and he is constantly shifting players around to try and make space either for himself or for others. It's not going to make headlines and I think for his own benefit he could use a good headline right now, but I'd still say there's just about zero chance Southgate drops him, media be damned.

Kane is another matter entirely. Not trying to add another to the list of perfectly aligned elements that need to happen for Phil to perform, especially as he was given a lot of time last night in a more preferred position, but much like people were crying out for runners behind when he was on the left, I'm sure Phil would kill someone for some more (fucking any) movement from his striker.

 

[Crooked_rain]

Kane is another matter entirely. Not trying to add another to the list of perfectly aligned elements that need to happen for Phil to perform, especially as he was given a lot of time last night in a more preferred position, but much like people were crying out for runners behind when he was on the left, I'm sure Phil would kill someone for some more (fucking any) movement from his striker.

Also that's what makes Haaland so good, he occupies two defenders at a time, which opens things up for the likes of Phil at City.

When Kane does nothing, he literally affects nothing, its like playing with 10 men. Haaland sometimes isn't involved on the ball, but he has defences unsettled non stop.

Haaland can leave most defenders for dust in a foot race, he can beat most in a physical battle and his movement in the box is clever. the defenders don't know whether they're coming or going, so they just stick two on him and hope for the best, which leaves gaps for the likes of Foden to exploit.

Kane on the other hand, great finisher if you can put it on a plate with yards of space. Other than that, he's not particularly physical and I could smoke him in a foot race. He's a good passer of the ball, but England don't really play with runners getting defences like he had with Son, so his passing is really not in the equation. All you're left with is a fantastic finisher that cant run and is very easy to mark out of the game in a team that can't seem to make clear cut chances..

No doubt Kane is good in the right team who can serve his needs. I'm just not sure this current version of the England team and how they approach football can carry this immobile version of Kane at this level. Much like Ronaldo and Portugal.

I think a more active striker like Toney or Watkins would open up things more for the likes of Foden to punish teams.

but I just wasted 5 minutes of my time writing this post because Kane is never getting dropped as long as he has a hole in his arse.