47 | Phil Foden - 2024/25

[Craig]

Right,
So Foden misplaces a tight pass because the rest of the team haven't given him options because they are shit and suddenly he's had a shocker?

Yet, Kovatic was responsible for 1 goal and a direct shot on target in close succession because he went wondering off in his own and lost the ball after blaming it against the opposition and that is ok?

Not having it.

Pep has gone mental. Foden is rightly lost in this team which is set up to sit tight on the 20 yard box and then let kovatic do his thing. (See above).

Pep played him on the left against Brugge.
The same Foden who earlier in the day gave an interview stating he fucking hated playing on the left for England.

Pep continues to hang the fucker out to dry on the pitch because he's the only one able to cope with peps positional hokey cokey.

So it was Southgate’s fault and now it’s Pep’s

 

[Saddleworth2]

People just have short memories. David Silva was excellent for City from beginning to end, apart from the 2015-16 season when he just decided not to turn up for most of it and finished the season with 16 G/A in 36 appearances.

For context, Foden is currently on 14 G/A from 29 games despite having his worst season since breaking into the first team, as you've said. I don't remember Silva getting the kind of accusations that Foden's currently getting.

David had plenty of criticism during that period if I remember. Its fair enough if its balanced and based on fact. G/A don't really tell you half of the story though do they? Its Phil's all round play I think folk are disappointed with, even when he has been rattling in goals his work-rate and passing haven't been to his usual standard. Everyone hopes he can get back to the best version of himself but some balanced criticism is perfectly valid imo.

 

[youngbob]

David had plenty of criticism during that period if I remember. Its fair enough if its balanced and based on fact. G/A don't really tell you half of the story though do they? Its Phil's all round play I think folk are disappointed with, even when he has been rattling in goals his work-rate and passing haven't been to his usual standard. Everyone hopes he can get back to the best version of himself but some balanced criticism is perfectly valid imo.

As I've said several times in this thread, I'm fine with Phil getting criticism. What makes you think I'm not? I've criticised himself myself. But a lot of it in this thread has crossed a line. The tone and language used by some people on this forum smacks of the kind of shit we used to laugh at United and Chelsea fans for back in the day, and to insult a lad who's one of our star players, from the streets of Edgeley, living out our dream, is nothing short of disgraceful tbh.

 

[Saddleworth2]

Do you actually watch any of his games?
He's one of the most proactive players we have.

He's not hench so can struggle in the dual I'll give you that, but that's it

Woopidoo.

woopido yourself. And yes I watch all the games, most of them at the Etihad. You clearly are not watching him off the ball or when he loses the ball. Either that or your idea of proactive means 'jog at half pace' and leave the man you should be marking/tracking to others and then point and wave your arms about.

Thats what I'm seeing and I don't think I'm alone.

 

[Saddleworth2]

As I've said several times in this thread, I'm fine with Phil getting criticism. What makes you think I'm not? I've criticised himself myself. But a lot of it in this thread has crossed a line. The tone and language used by some people on this forum smacks of the kind of shit we used to laugh at United and Chelsea fans for back in the day, and to insult a lad who's one of our star players, from the streets of Edgeley, living out our dream, is nothing short of disgraceful tbh.

criticism is one thing, insults are another, I agree with you on that.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

So it was Southgate’s fault and now it’s Pep’s

Perhaps you missed the bit where:

A) Foden hates playing on the left.
B) Pep plays foden on the left.
C) Waistcoat played foden on the left.

???

 

[Craig]

Perhaps you missed the bit where:

A) Foden hates playing on the left.
B) Pep plays foden on the left.
C) Waistcoat played foden on the left.

???

No fan of Southgate whatsoever but he’s played plenty of games on the right and centrally for England ( i know he didn’t in the Euros) and not really nailed down a spot. There comes a point where the excuses need to stop.

Yes, those tactics by Pep were suicidal against Brugge. However, that was one half where he’s played there in ages. He might not like playing there but 2/3 years ago he played. some of his best football out there, bursting away from fullbacks and delivering quality balls in. These days he looks like he’d struggle to get away from Gundo.He badly needs that sprint coach back in his training regime.

At the moment he’s tending to start from the right because he’s not delivered too much when central. When was the last great killer pass we’ve seen when drifting in or central or great turn to leave a defender trailing? He’s getting a game at the moment purely for his goal threat and not much else. He doesn’t look like he’s got the drive or workrate to takeover from KDB as the 10.Its sad to watch him look such a shadow at the moment because we all know how immensely talented he is.

 

[alexmcity]

Perhaps you missed the bit where:

A) Foden hates playing on the left.
B) Pep plays foden on the left.
C) Waistcoat played foden on the left.

???

It's the manager's fault that Foden hates to run and fight? I doubt that.

He's only 24 and I'm not sure he covers more distance than Gundogan. Actually, I'm sure Gundo runs more than Foden.

 

[No One Understands]

Is this not enough?

View attachment 145361

To quote Maximus:
Are you not entertained?

 

[.db.]

He rightly took the plaudits last season in which he was magnificent but fuck me he was utter gash today.

He is old enough, experienced enough to take this type of game and make them his but he simply doesn't.

If marmoush settles and produces, Pep is going to have to be faced with a difficult decision because I am not sure they can both play together, today they were getting in each others way.

I noticed that n’all. Both trying to find the same spaces.

It’ll one or the other who ends up playing with a creative midfielder when we sign one in the Summer to replace De Bruyne (because we have to sign one to replace De Bruyne due to there being no creative central players on the books other than him).

 

[applejuice]

Perhaps you missed the bit where:

A) Foden hates playing on the left.
B) Pep plays foden on the left.
C) Waistcoat played foden on the left.

???

A) he can refuse to play

B) he can refuse to play

C) Saka and Bellingham simply performed much better for England.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

True.

 

[paulsimpson]

Does it? He made a howler yesterday, granted, just like we’ve seen many of his colleagues do this season. He’s been fairly and roundly criticised for that. Can’t think of many other bad passes he’s made, this season or others, that have led to the opposition scoring.

Yes his only error that that has led to a goal is against Arsenal as per Premier League player stats

 

[super_city_si]

Some right fucking whoppers in this thread

Holy shit. I’ve avoided most of the player threads but christ there’s some crap in this.

Hes having a relatively poor season but that doesn’t negate what he’s done or what he is capable of. He’s picking up form wise. Hes a fantastic player and hes a blue.

 

[King Jay]

Perhaps you missed the bit where:

A) Foden hates playing on the left.
B) Pep plays foden on the left.
C) Waistcoat played foden on the left.

???

It’s really hard to accept that he is just shit for the national team eh? Bellingham and Saka were just the better players what’s so hard to accept? He played plenty of times at the 10 and still didn’t play well for the national team. I don’t care if he is from the academy his overall game without scoring is below the expectations

 

[.db.]

Thinking back over Foden’s career so far, a noticeable trend is that he’s seemingly stagnated at points a few times and then kicked on to a higher level.

He didn’t score enough goals for a forward player at one stage, and he improved on that (even having had a poor season this season he’ll likely beat his scoring seasons from 2020-2023). His shooting technique was quite poor at one stage (he used to shut his eyes and move his head away from the ball), and he improved on that.

There are still a number of things he needs to improve on: he’s not creative when playing centrally, he creates far more out wide (but he’s only ever really consistently played half a season centrally, even last season when De Bruyne came back Foden mostly played on the right); he dips in-and-out of games, even when playing well; he’s still a bit weak physically like a young player would be…

Be interesting to revisit this by, say, they end of the 2025-26 season and see where he’s standing then.

 

[Big Yaya Wilko 12]

Right,
So Foden misplaces a tight pass because the rest of the team haven't given him options because they are shit and suddenly he's had a shocker?

Yet, Kovatic was responsible for 1 goal and a direct shot on target in close succession because he went wondering off in his own and lost the ball after blaming it against the opposition and that is ok?

Not having it.

Pep has gone mental. Foden is rightly lost in this team which is set up to sit tight on the 20 yard box and then let kovatic do his thing. (See above).

Pep played him on the left against Brugge.
The same Foden who earlier in the day gave an interview stating he fucking hated playing on the left for England.

Pep continues to hang the fucker out to dry on the pitch because he's the only one able to cope with peps positional hokey cokey.

Not really the case though was it? He had two teammates on for the switch. He went for it and it was piss poor because he didn't see Partey (somehow). It wasn't a tight pass. It was a stinker of a ball.

Also it totally changed the game and absolutely killed us. He was responsible for the momentum switch and the headloss.

He then couldn't kick the ball straight in the aftermath of his game costing decision. So; yeah, he had a shocker.

 

[tackeds]

Thinking back over Foden’s career so far, a noticeable trend is that he’s seemingly stagnated at points a few times and then kicked on to a higher level.

He didn’t score enough goals for a forward player at one stage, and he improved on that (even having had a poor season this season he’ll likely beat his scoring seasons from 2020-2023). His shooting technique was quite poor at one stage (he used to shut his eyes and move his head away from the ball), and he improved on that.

There are still a number of things he needs to improve on: he’s not creative when playing centrally, he creates far more out wide (but he’s only ever really consistently played half a season centrally, even last season when De Bruyne came back Foden mostly played on the right); he dips in-and-out of games, even when playing well; he’s still a bit weak physically like a young player would be…

Be interesting to revisit this by, say, they end of the 2025-26 season and see where he’s standing then.

Agree with this. If you look back at his 22-23 season, he had a pretty major dip in form then, before he kicked on again. In fact if you go back and look at his thread from that season a lot of the comments in there are very similar to what’s been posted in this one.

Also remembered this

Any case I’m backing the lad.

 

[ShaunMCFC]

I reckon prime Messi would struggle in that midfield, think he gets a lot of shit because of the season he had last year. Genuinely think once that midfields sorted, Rodri back and hopefully González does well, then Foden will be back.

Fuck England, let em keep championing Bellingham as the next coming of Pele and watch us win fuck all for another 20 years

 

[Mr Grumpy]

For the record,
Philip Walter Foden is my favourite Manchester City player of all time.

Carry on.