Did Phil Foden play poorly vs. Serbia in the opening match of the Euros for England?
It’s a question that had many controversial statements from being ut of position, to having no impact in the match, this one did Phil no favors.
Some of the commentary:
What exactly was Foden called up to England for? That’s my main question.
If he can position himself and beg for the ball while being isolated like that and still not get it, what’s the point of calling him up? https://t.co/XoPg4wfTSK pic.twitter.com/KnUO3P2ox5
— Geronimo Morgans (@GeronimoMorgans) June 16, 2024
Phil Foden was Premier League player of the year and Harry Kane was a relentless scoring machine for Bayern this season. It takes a special manager to put a plan in place to stifle and nullify players of that calibre and we should acknowledge that.
So all credit to Southgate.
— Biggies Malls 2.0 (@Biggies_MaIIs) June 16, 2024
Southgate saw an all-timer season by the Premier League’s Player of the Year and decided to shove him at an unnatural position. If you aren’t going to play Foden in the middle, then might as well not play him.
— Mehul Gupta (@mehulg10) June 16, 2024
The last comment really gets to the crux of the issue and could be why Foden was so muted int this match. Serbia is a tough low block defending them and with Foden not being deployed centrally it impacted his game.
As such, the criticism of him has gone beyond and that’s even with England winning!
A crazy fact that many England players, from City or not, receive.
A suggestion could be playing Jude and Foden together centrally with Rice and seeing f Palmer can do the job out left.
We’ll see of Southgate changes tactics, but even in a win the team received many controversial remarks, let’s wee how they react.