47 | Phil Foden - 2023/24

[Canter]

I love Phil, but he was shite tonight. It happens, but it's not all on Southgate. Plenty of basic things he didn't do right. Just needs to play with the same confidence he does with us, turn and shoot or take people on. Keep demanding the ball and trying to make things happen. That's all it takes to be seemed a great player in an England shirt.

Keep demanding the ball, I don’t think there was another player on the pitch who demanded it / keeps demanding it as much as our Phil and keeps getting ignored! Add to that he’s playing completely out of position which is frustrating as fuck to see such talent go to waste out there. This manager is literally trying to put players into a team but playing them out of position. Trent another example.

 

[madloaf]

But I wouldn't call the 2020-21 season his very best season at City and his most effective position is the one he is currently playing at his club side.

I would. I actually think he was better then than he was this season - he was beautiful that season. Debruyne was twice the player he was this year, but i'm sure if i check back at my MOTM comments i had Phil often as the man. We can agree to disagree on that, you know you're stuff. Anyway, the point being Southgate has no clue how to use him properly.

 

[supercity88]

Keep demanding the ball, I don’t think there was another player on the pitch who demanded it / keeps demanding it as much as our Phil and keeps getting ignored! Add to that he’s playing completely out of position which is frustrating as fuck to see such talent go to waste out there. This manager is literally trying to put players into a team but playing them out of position. Trent another example.

He was given the opportunity to move into central areas but didn't make an impact. England lost their way going long too often but he had his opportunities to impress tonight. It's lazy to just put all the blame on waistcoat.

 

[madloaf]

He was given the opportunity to move into central areas but didn't make an impact. England lost their way going long too often but he had his opportunities to impress tonight. It's lazy to just put all the blame on waistcoat.

Its not. It isnt. It really isnt. It isn't. Managers tell players where to play. That's their whole fucking job. He was set up to fail, and if you can't see that then fine, but it doesn't make what you say true.

 

[Nellies left peg]

He was given the opportunity to move into central areas but didn't make an impact. England lost their way going long too often but he had his opportunities to impress tonight. It's lazy to just put all the blame on waistcoat.

Waistcoat even kept Phil out wide when Mainoo came on to play in Phil’s preferred position. Waistcoat is blinded by Billy big bollocks Bellingham and him and TAA are the big egos in this squad who will ultimately fail

 

[how soon is now]

Looked like a little boy lost at times last night whoevers failt it was but really needs to grow a pair and tell Terence trent Darby to get fucked when a free kick or corner is available.

 

[Craig]

Hes played a huge amount of minutes at AML, particularly in 2020/21 when we won the league, won the efl, lost in the UCL final coz of pep and lost in the semis of the fa cup - and he was the best player on the pitch very very often. He can play there - for sure, the whole problem is the setup with England. Yes he's better on the rightside of midfield cutting in, but he's languishing outside on the left for England because of the whole makeup of the squad is to let Bellingham do what the fuck he wants and everything else is pure fucking throw shit at the wall.

Watch any clips from that season though and he was fucking rapid skinning fullbacks on the outside over decent distances. He can’t do that now. So the left is his least effective position.

 

[Blue Smarties]

How many from the left, Gareth…

 

[tonea2003]

i'd rather he didnt play than play him like that
a complete waste of the lads talent, we are back to the scholes, lampard,gerrard conundrum, shoehorning players in anywhere you can rather in their correct effective positions
put him in the no 10 position or don't play him

 

[Eccles Blue]

I don’t really see how it is Phil’s fault that Bowen(?) wasn’t fast enough to be ready for a pass that is second nature to Phil and the City team. Some of the England players don’t have as quick a football brain as Phil. IMHO

 

[Eccles Blue]

Painful to watch him so isolated. You could see how frustrated he was all night. So many not on his wavelength

Exactly.

 

[Cheadle_hulmeBlue]

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.

 

[waspish]

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.

Always was going to be the case and it's all on Southgate! If he keeps playing Foden left sided if we get to the quarters or semi final he be on the bench!

 

[Cobra]

I don’t really see how it is Phil’s fault that Bowen(?) wasn’t fast enough to be ready for a pass that is second nature to Phil and the City team. Some of the England players don’t have as quick a football brain as Phil. IMHO

What?! The pass was behind Bowen

 

[threespires]

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.

Why? Because our media are mostly a bunch of arseholes and a proportion of fans are easily led. I fully expected the press to give him the lowest mark, despite several other players performing no better than him; but people on here should know better.

 

[Tricky_Trev]

He's basically this generation's Paul Scholes for England. The main creative force for the best club side in the country, but gets shoved out on the left to accommodate other players.

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.

 

[Txiki Txiki Bang Bang]

Put Bellingham wide left and see how well he does there.

Pep plays Phil wide left, Ancelotti plays Bellingham through the middle. You have a problem, blame Pep lol but seriously Phil needs to step up

 

[I'm With Stupid]

i'd rather he didnt play than play him like that
a complete waste of the lads talent, we are back to the scholes, lampard,gerrard conundrum, shoehorning players in anywhere you can rather in their correct effective positions
put him in the no 10 position or don't play him

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.

 

[mattcity5]

He was given the opportunity to move into central areas but didn't make an impact. England lost their way going long too often but he had his opportunities to impress tonight. It's lazy to just put all the blame on waistcoat.

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 With Stupid]

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

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.