47 | Phil Foden - 2025/26

I might get flamed for this, but I didn't think he was good. In fact, none of the players impressed me yesterday. Foden was effective from the first minute and again in the 91st, which allowed us to win the match and pick up three more points. It's a shame he wasn't as effective against Newcastle, but I'm very happy for him if this helps him get back to his best and express himself more freely on the pitch. A brace that prevents us from getting another bad result after two defeats would have been devastating. Well done to him, but he's clearly not a number 10; he's more of a striker than a playmaker. And we need goals right now, but if Doku isn't in form, unfortunately, we don't know what to do with the ball. We absolutely have to find a solution to this problem.
 
Sam69 said:
I might get flamed for this, but I didn't think he was good. In fact, none of the players impressed me yesterday. Foden was effective from the first minute and again in the 91st, which allowed us to win the match and pick up three more points. It's a shame he wasn't as effective against Newcastle, but I'm very happy for him if this helps him get back to his best and express himself more freely on the pitch. A brace that prevents us from getting another bad result after two defeats would have been devastating. Well done to him, but he's clearly not a number 10; he's more of a striker than a playmaker. And we need goals right now, but if Doku isn't in form, unfortunately, we don't know what to do with the ball. We absolutely have to find a solution to this problem.
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Foden wide and Cherki in the 10 imo.
 
I wonder if the Leeds game should be a lesson in how we need to use Foden in the future (i.e. give him the ball with the goal in sight and not before). I think he's great, but I don't think he's the David Silva-type, "tight spaces" technician that he's being billed as, or that Pep seems to think he is. At least consistently. He's a gamebreaker and should be used similarly to Haaland, or how we used to use Sterling and Alvarez.

He can get involved in the build-up, like all our players get involved in some way. But I'd like to see him out on the right more and moving inside to score/assist, with Cherki or Reijnders behind Haaland instead. Kinda like where we had Alvarez during the 23/24 season during De Bruyne's four-month absence, drifting in from the right, instead of in this metronome #10 role he's been playing in during more recent games. His form is very up and down playing central.

Between his two goals against Leeds I thought he was shocking, to be honest, and he was pretty off-colour in recent games against Newcastle & Villa (and Leverkusen) too. He was frequently dispossessed, there were loose touches all over the place, and he couldn't stamp his authority down. He's definitely the main man in midfield, but he's better as more of a second striker/inside winger imo. He has a different physical profile to Sterling but he should be used like that.

He was at his best against Leeds when he was arriving in the final third as the last player (or 2nd to last player) to touch the ball in a move. Once Cherki came on, his role in the build-up shifted on one step, and it clicked. Having him be the guy who's meant to thread it all together and be the glue/metronome ain't working imo. As I've said, I think he's less of a Gundogan/Silva and more of a Sterling/Alvarez. He needs to be the guy our creative players look to find.
 
Sam69 said:
I might get flamed for this, but I didn't think he was good. In fact, none of the players impressed me yesterday. Foden was effective from the first minute and again in the 91st, which allowed us to win the match and pick up three more points. It's a shame he wasn't as effective against Newcastle, but I'm very happy for him if this helps him get back to his best and express himself more freely on the pitch. A brace that prevents us from getting another bad result after two defeats would have been devastating. Well done to him, but he's clearly not a number 10; he's more of a striker than a playmaker. And we need goals right now, but if Doku isn't in form, unfortunately, we don't know what to do with the ball. We absolutely have to find a solution to this problem.
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He won the PFA player of the year as a number 10.
 
Foden and Cherki will create chances for each other to score. From what I've seen so far, they are on the same wavelength.

It's just whether we can have both in the team at the same time as they leave our midfield light. Fingers crossed Rodri gets somewhere back to his level. That'll allow these two more freedom.
 
MaineRoadMemories said:
Foden and Cherki will create chances for each other to score. From what I've seen so far, they are on the same wavelength.

It's just whether we can have both in the team at the same time as they leave our midfield light. Fingers crossed Rodri gets somewhere back to his level. That'll allow these two more freedom.
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As I said up there, get Foden out of the midfield and let Cherki have the run behind Haaland. This all becomes much easier when Rodri is back - it's understandable that he's taking it slowly and carefully but it has been frustrating that his recovery progress from Brentford has been so disjointed.
 
Tomblue said:
A move back to the wing would signal the beginning of the end of his time at City. Never ever been a winger.
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He was the second best left winger in Europe behind Mbappe in 2021-22. He won the 2023-24 PL POTS* playing on the right wing for half the season (once De Bruyne came back from injury in the January Foden only started 3 games centrally until the end of the season).

He’s a cracking winger, just like he’s a cracking attacking midfielder. He’s scores more goals centrally but gets more assists out wide.


(*although, for me, Rodri should have won PL POTS that season.)
 
I thought about their one goal, which came off Bernardo; he should have attacked it, but that said, I thought he worked harder defensively than most others.
 
We will go as far as Phil, Jeremy and Erling take us. I have said this all summer. Its good we can have supporting play from Nico, Nunes, Oreilly, Dias, Josko and the rest But our faith lies with those 3 and hopefully Cherki and Rodri once he gets up to speed
 
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