A week of controversy for England manager Gareth Southgate. He lit a fuse this week as his claims of Phil Foden being unable to play in England’s midfield have caught him under a bit of a fire storm on social media.
Let’s see what he had to say:
️ “He doesn’t play centrally for his club, so presumably there’s a reason for that.”
Gareth Southgate has questioned Phil Foden’s desire to play centrally on the pitch. ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/3UVXQ9xZ8Z
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) September 12, 2023
Those erroneous comments contradicted by thousands on X and by Pep Guardiola and just about every pundit in England show how Southgate is wrong.
Adding this to a long line of Southgate mishaps from playing players out of position or maintaining loyalty to out of form or aging players (Henderson, Maguire, Phillips) and the patience with him can’t be much larger.
Next year’s Euros will be massively important and having a sqaud with Foden an integral piece of it could be paramount to success.
As for his claims Foden is unable to do the join the middle, he has proven he can on the pitch. From the UCL Final last season to just this past month in matches vs Newcastle and Sheffield.
We’ll see how this story develops.
