47 | Phil Foden - 2025/26

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He forced everything through Haaland and ignored teammates who were free and better positioned to score. Cherki and Foden were both guilty of trying to funnel every attack toward Haaland instead of taking the obvious options. We were wasteful, predictable, and honestly a bit foolish in this match.

There were poor decisions all around—from Haaland, from Cherki, and from Foden—and instead of correcting it, they kept compounding those mistakes. It felt like the obsession with getting Haaland on the scoresheet took priority over winning the game, and in the end, that mentality cost us two points.

 

[Lavinda Past]

He's 25 and should be at or near his 'peak'.

He was better at 19 than he is now, thanks to having great players around him. Take those great players away and Phil is struggling.

He looks done to me. A long rest is needed.

 

[Mattyc55]

Really starting to piss me off. First touch was shocking and some of the decision making even worse.

 

[CC1]

If that was the case he’d have played him in instead of that shit pass to Erl

That’s just one example. Love Phil but I don’t think Cherki is worth copying. Cherki has a lot to learn hence pep’s frustration with him. He’ll learn but the Phil we know is a much better; sensible & clever player then Cherki

 

[alexmcity]

Phil is showing his naivety. He’s so in awe of Cherki, he’s trying to copy his flicks & tricks. He should stick to his own game.

He's trying to be himself, as he loves doing tricks. The problem is that his nice tricks and skills in light training and his in-game technique are two different things.

We need his goals to compete for the title. But he shines mostly against average teams. In the big games he hasn't been great. Can't remember the last big game where Foden was one of our top performers. Real away in April 2024 where he scored a fantastic goal? The goal was special indeed, but I wouldn't say the same about the performance.

 

[Gorbachev]

He's 25 and should be at or near his 'peak'.

He was better at 19 than he is now, thanks to having great players around him. Take those great players away and Phil is struggling.

He looks done to me. A long rest is needed.

Agreed. He was helped out greatly by having a prime KDB, Rodri and Gundogan in the team, and earlier on David Silva.

Now he has all the spotlight on him he is showing he just doesn't' have the consistency in his game to be that world class match winner.

I think he will always just be a solid attacking mid that will go through purple patches in the season and get you double figure goals, but he will never be what KDB or Silva was for us.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Really angry about his performance today and quite a few round me were also giving him some shit. Really poor decision making and he looked quite half-hearted as well. There were a couple of occasions in the 2nd half where the ball was his to be won, but he jogged towards it and was beaten to it by a Chelsea player.

 

[richards30]

He's 25 and should be at or near his 'peak'.

He was better at 19 than he is now, thanks to having great players around him. Take those great players away and Phil is struggling.

He looks done to me. A long rest is needed.

Agree, he’s been much better this season but he peaked 20-23 imo and won’t get any better or hit them heights again. Having the likes of KDB and Gundogan alongside him helped no doubt .

 

[Craig]

Agree, he’s been much better this season but he peaked 20-23 imo and won’t get any better or hit them heights again. Having the likes of KDB and Gundogan alongside him helped no doubt .

Yeah, very good player but i expected him to become truly great like a Silva or KDB. Losing that burst of pace he had a couple of years ago has really hampered him

 

[ninjamonkey]

After that early chance that he should have scored imo, he was utterly anonymous. That was England Phil Foden. If you'd told me he didnt come out for the second half, I couldnt immediately dispute that, so ineffective and like Cherki, both should have been subbed before Reijnders.

 

[Stelea]

Definitely wasn't invisible - he had a visibly poor game. It happens

Not ( never) dominating like we expected

 

[Ajm1985]

Agree, he’s been much better this season but he peaked 20-23 imo and won’t get any better or hit them heights again. Having the likes of KDB and Gundogan alongside him helped no doubt .

Honestly don't get why anyone makes any predictions like this. We have no idea how his career will pan out. He's had a couple of poor games but this season he's shown he's got his scoring touch back, while also being asked to perform a more active midfield role. Who knows, he could continue to improve and effect all 3 phases of the pitch but lets not extrapolate too much

 

[chris85mcfc]

Should be one of 3 or 4 players that we can rely on every single week to be an 8/10

Its the absolute opposite with him and has been for two seasons; often hes a 6.5/10 and occasionally you get a 10/10 which is where the inconsistency comes from

I'm just not even sure what his best position is anymore. Many wanted him moved centrally, but hes so weak and doesnt take control of the game, just gets bullied about and spends more time on the floor

Hit his peak when surrounded by the best players in the world, but now we dont have that quality, he isn't capable of becoming one of those players

Seen a few people digging out Cherki; he should actually be able to look at Foden to guide him in terms of experience etc but that will never actually happen and I see a situation where Cherki actually surpasses Foden over the next 12 months

 

[Damanino]

overplayed imo. dont think it helps him if he has to play so many minutes. lookes tired which leads to basic errors.

 

[Roachy]

Well off it.

 

[samuelyeboah]

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

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The worst was when all he had to do was find Haaland when they were 2-v-1 but he fucked that up by hitting the one Chelsea player between them.

 

[BLUE THUNDER]

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That was the game right there.
Can’t believe he didn’t lay it off.

 

[richards30]

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Horrendous decision to not play Cherki in

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

He had a little purple patch last month with goals and assists in abundance,

However he did similar last January and I'm beginning to wonder if his ceiling is around 10-12 goals per season with too many peripheral performances diluting his overall influence and preventing him from ever reaching the levels of Rodri and De Bruyne or even Gundogan.