Phil Foden is a problem for Gareth Southgate. A problem in that he does not want to play where the manager picks him.
A problem in that his reluctance to do so weakens the one area of the team that should be strongest. And a problem in that he is so good, a solution should be found beyond dropping him, even if his performance against Serbia warranted such.
The Premier League Player of the Year played, at times, as if dishonoured by being the last pick on the playground. Certainly, when Southgate came to picking the players for Foden’s preferred positions – No.10 and right wing – he was not chosen for either.
He duly played as if with a weight on his shoulders and all too rarely the ball at his feet. When he did have it, he was safe. When he didn’t, he was a liability, drifting from the area he was meant to populate.
Stuart Pearce was in Gelsenkirchen watching England’s scratchy 1-0 win, and he knows how a left flank should work. He had seen enough after 29 minutes and called for Foden to be substituted. Come half-time, it was the talk of the press box, too. A heat map showed Foden had come infield for involvement, but the magic in his boots had gone cold.
Phil Foden has struggled to produce his best form while playing in an England shirt
The Man City star produced an underwhelming performance in their Euro 2024 opener
It would be fine if, from the right, he was cutting inside and onto his left foot. But from the left he is unsure, a square peg searching for his square hole but instead running into Jude Bellingham, the team-mate with a pocketful of pegs for all scenarios. Is the playground big enough for the both of them? England’s most gifted pair are yet to make a partnership.
It was a surprise, then, when Foden played the full 90 minutes, despite no improvement in the second half. Pearce wanted Eberechi Eze brought on, but Anthony Gordon would have been more suitable, given England had lost their attacking initiative. Gordon can run back over just as hard as he does forward.
So, what to do now? There is an argument, and this was put forward by Cesc Fabregas, that the onus is on the player. While friends of Foden in the BBC studio sought to offer explanation in defence of him, Fabregas cut through that resistance in a way the 24-year-old had failed to do on the pitch.
‘It’s about if you want the ball enough to make the difference,’ he said. ‘Do you enjoy getting the ball under pressure? In the second half when they start to get pressed a little bit more, we start to see Foden hitting the ball 40 yards without looking. You will never see Xavi or Andres Iniesta do that. You need to take responsibility. I think players like Foden need to step up.’
Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate must find a solution to the struggles surrounding Foden
Fabregas is right, of course, but maybe Foden is not that type of player. He does not have the peacocking self-certainty of Bellingham. Foden is more of a home bird, evidenced by him performing far better for Manchester City then he has ever done for England. His wings are clipped when taken from the comfort of the nest he knows.
To that end, it is on Southgate to solve the issue. The most obvious fix is to drop Bellingham back into midfield, where the Trent Alexander-Arnold experiment surely reached expiry on Sunday night. That would allow Foden to play as a No.10 and feel the love of such responsibility. At least then it would get Gordon into a team that, already, is crying out for more players in their natural positions.
Foden may prefer to shift even further across field and onto the right of the front three. But that is where Bukayo Saka did what he did not against Serbia, attacking his full-back with pace and purpose. Saka has always looked a better fit in an England jersey. His 11 goals beat Foden’s four and, at Qatar 2022, Saka had almost double the number of shots per game and touches in the penalty area.
In the 18 months since the World Cup, Foden has scored just once in 13 internationals, all the while scoring for fun with City. It doesn’t seem much fun for him with England. In truth, it never really has done.
Foden recently won the Premier League with Man City and won the Player of the Year award
During the last European Championship, he was taken out of the team after the opening two games and appeared for only 25 minutes more before missing the final through injury. He was, it is said, furious at how his tournament played out.
It would be a brave move were Southgate to demote him to the bench again, but the England boss does talk about ‘finishers’ instead of ‘substitutes’. As one former player suggested to Mail Sport, why not have Foden as the replacement for Bellingham when the Real Madrid star runs out of steam, as he did against Serbia?
That is one possible solution, but the one Southgate is perhaps most inclined to favour is by doing nothing, leaving Foden on the left in the hope everything will be all right. The problem with that, is that the problem remains.
