47 | Phil Foden - 2025/26

[Trevor Morley's Tache]

Cherki played that pass but I agree with you. Foden's in bad form, probably just fatigued more than anything. But he's still shown plenty this season and if we sign Semenyo it would be an option to rest Foden, play Cherki central and have Semenyo wide. Then Foden gets a rest and would perform better.

He's been a couple of inches off making a killer pass on more than one occasion in the last few games. A little bit of luck and he'd have had a handful of assists to his name and been on the winning side twice more.

Incredibly small margins.

 

[alexmcity]

This feels extremely disingenuous, considering Phil is just outside the top ten in xA at 12th (as posted above), not to mention he's one of the league's top goalscorers.

Phil should have more assists to Haaland this season. I can think of a few grade A chances Haaland has missed from Phil off the top of my head. One of which was versus West Ham, which he put in right after the initial save—another versus Sunderland right in front of the goal, etc.

City have the best attack in the league featuring the best PL goalscorer ever. It's normal for the No 10 in such a team to be close to the top 10. I think he should be top 5. Pep is a genius at constructing machines for scoring goals.

 

[pbueno16]

He's been a couple of inches off making a killer pass on more than one occasion in the last few games. A little bit of luck and he'd have had a handful of assists to his name and been on the winning side twice more.

Incredibly small margins.

Certainly but if we’re having to dig for those occasions for a 10 in this team, then it’s just not enough. For how much we see of the ball and who we have up front, there’s no excuse for how often goes missing or just makes the wrong decision when he does get the ball. Could’ve had an assist or two and put us out of sight on Sunday if he took advantage of the opportunities he gets in the final third.

 

[alexmcity]

Even more impressive, he's actually 12th. View attachment 179496

The really impressive thing is that Cherki is top having played just 824 minutes. That's extraordinary.

Foden has played 1500+ minutes, 500 more than Doku and 700 more than Cherki (nearly 8 full games). Is it impressive that he's below the likes of Rice, Wharton or Mbeumo? Maybe Rice's numbers are distorted from taking Arsenal's corners (but it's an important ability).

 

[Trevor Morley's Tache]

Certainly but if we’re having to dig for those occasions for a 10 in this team, then it’s just not enough. For how much we see of the ball and who we have up front, there’s no excuse for how often goes missing or just makes the wrong decision when he does get the ball. Could’ve had an assist or two and put us out of sight on Sunday if he took advantage of the opportunities he gets in the final third.

The players picture of the play is a whole lot different to the perspective from the stands or on the TV. What we see as a simple pass is often way more difficult than we think it is. Also, the pace of the modern game means that the picture the players see is rapidly changing, and they have split seconds to decide what to do before the moment is gone.

 

[pbueno16]

The players picture of the play is a whole lot different to the perspective from the stands or on the TV. What we see as a simple pass is often way more difficult than we think it is. Also, the pace of the modern game means that the picture the players see is rapidly changing, and they have split seconds to decide what to do before the moment is gone.

Of course but he’s an attacking player who should know when the risk is too high to force passes through. He too often commits to the wrong move which leaves us defending counters without a stable midfield.

 

[Jonas.shaffer]

The really impressive thing is that Cherki is top having played just 824 minutes. That's extraordinary.

Foden has played 1500+ minutes, 500 more than Doku and 700 more than Cherki (nearly 8 full games). Is it impressive that he's below the likes of Rice, Wharton or Mbeumo? Maybe Rice's numbers are distorted from taking Arsenal's corners (but it's an important ability).

When you factor in that our wingers are incapable of scoring, and Foden's superpower is his goal-scoring ability, then yes, IMO, being 12th currently is more than satisfactory.

 

[alexmcity]

When you factor in that our wingers are incapable of scoring, and Foden's superpower is his goal-scoring ability, then yes, IMO, being 12th currently is more than satisfactory.

That excuse with the wingers was covered. Savinho is a squad player, Doku has started in 11 from 20 games, Cherki and Reijnders are decent at scoring goals, Haaland is out of this world.

Yes, Foden's talent is at scoring goals. More specifically, he's world-class at taking the ball in his stride and scoring from outside of the box. That's a great quality.

But he was excellent at running with the ball and beating defenders. Weirdly, he seems to have lost that ability before entering his prime. Would have been devastating if he still got it. He was quick 2-3 years ago.

 

[pbueno16]

That excuse with the wingers was covered. Savinho is a squad player, Doku has started in 11 from 20 games, Cherki and Reijnders are decent at scoring goals, Haaland is out of this world.

Yes, Foden's talent is at scoring goals. More specifically, he's world-class at taking the ball in his stride and scoring from outside of the box. That's a great quality.

But he was excellent at running with the ball and beating defenders. Weirdly, he seems to have lost that ability before entering his prime. Would have been devastating if he still got it. He was quick 2-3 years ago.

Been dropping too deep to drive at defenses like he used to and Cherki/Reijnders operate in the areas he’d shoot from.

 

[ashleycaulcott1]

He has not had a great couple of weeks lets be honest but all this no creativity & doesnt create chances is bollox, Haaland alone has robbed him of 6/7 assists

 

[alexmcity]

View attachment 179506


He has not had a great couple of weeks lets be honest but all this no creativity & doesnt create chances is bollox, Haaland alone has robbed him of 6/7 assists

That's a superficial stat and it was covered above. Wirtz is top 4 in that table and he has been wank creativity wise. See the xA table posted yesterday where Wirtz is 47th. Foden is 12th, which is decent.

However, in the current setup, we need balance between chance creation and goalscoring. Cherki and Doku are top at creating good chances, Haaland and Foden provide the goals, Reijnders helps with goals from midfield as well. Hopefully, Semenyo will score goals too.

So, in the current system, we need more Foden the goalscorer than Foden the creator. We can't rely only on Haaland to finish the attacks. Furthermore, Foden scores goals Haaland doesn't, namely, from distance. Thus he complements Haaland in a really good way.

If Foden improves in the big games and if he adds more creativity (he has the ability), then City will be unstoppable in attack, which will help with our defensive problems as well.

But the main thing expected from Foden now are better performances in the big games. He works hard and helps more in defence than Cherki and Reijnders, but he can help a bit more in attack in such games or to keep the ball better. He has to be more involved.

For example Reijnders, for all his faults, assisted the goal at Arsenal and scored the only goal vs Chelsea. Doku has been top in big games. Cherki has been good.