What is Phil Foden's Best Position for Manchester City?

Hello everybody and welcome back to Typical City. Phil Foden has caused a bit of a stir, mainly because of Gareth Southgate's comments yesterday, which were interesting. I've seen a lot of City fans kick up a fuss and raise their concerns about Southgate's understanding. Now I'm not here to get involved in the debate between whether Southgate in or Southgate out. I think there is some part of me that wants to give him another chance, another tournament because I know that's going to stir up a lot of you and quite frankly I'm not bothered. I'm here to give my opinion. The real opinion I want to give is that Phil Foden's position isn't as simple as City fans are making out right now and I think I've got the evidence to back that up. But just touching on Southgate's comments yesterday, one thing that I didn't like is you'd have to ask Pep. Have to ask Pep. I think that was deflection. I think that he is not letting on to what he actually understands and I'm sure that he isn't that blunt about, I just copy what Pep does. Whatever Pep does, I'll do what he does. Surely, surely that's not the man in charge of England. Surely not. And I like to think it's not. And I have some evidence to kind of prove that Gareth Southgate was vindicated yesterday with Foden's performance against Scotland and his position because I've got some heat maps to show you. All four of Phil Foden's Premier League appearances and Scotland's heat map yesterday. So let's get started, shall we? Burnley. Okay, this is an interesting one because this he actually played left wing. He started the game on the left in this game. But here you can see he's found himself. The little pocket on the left there, you can indicate that he's been playing on the left wing, starting the game on the left wing. But that little pocket on the right hand side, that Kevin De Bruyne position, that's a position I want to highlight. That's a position I think City fans are being fooled into thinking he's playing central midfield. He isn't playing central midfield. He's starting the game on, usually on the right. This game in particular, he started on the left, but he's usually on the right hand side of the pitch and he's given licence to drift in. Okay, now let's have a look at that position there. That De Bruyne position, I like to call it. That assist that De Bruyne got for Haaland in the 6-3 against United where Haaland's daddy long legs, stretch arm, strong legs, boing, stretched out and got on the end of that Kevin De Bruyne cross. Where he crossed it from, that's a position I think Phil Foden's finding himself in quite frequently. The next heat map is Sheffield United. He came on for the final six minutes. He had the shits that game, so unfortunate that he couldn't get more minutes that game, but he came on, got himself an assist for that Rodri Funderbult into the top left hand corner to rescue three points at Bramall Lane. Not much to go off here because it was such a small game, but there's still a pattern there. You can still see there's a bit of a pattern there. Then on to Fulham. This is interesting again because he actually swapped wings with Doku at some point, but there you go. That's not central. The red spots are on the right. They're on the right. They're not in the middle of the park. The only reason they're going and drifting across is because he genuinely swapped wings with Doku. That is a bit more inward. He's here, there and everywhere in that game, which is what you want from Phil Foden because I think he is that versatile, but again, middle of the park, not really seeing it. The evidence is there for you. Then you look at the Newcastle game, which is I think the one City fans are highlighting the most central behaviour, and I think they've got a point because he does drift in. Some of the red marks find themselves in the middle of the park, but there is still two bigger ones that are out on the right, which is an indication of that he starts on the right and he's given the freedom to drift inside. This game was the game that highlighted to me that Kyle Walker is overlapping Phil Foden at every opportunity, and I think that's what is even more interesting is the biggest red spot is in his own half. He's coming to collect the ball off the defence and playing out from the back, which is good, but there was obviously a tactic there to nullify the Tenali and Joel Linton and Gimaraes in the midfield. Phil Foden was bypassing them and collecting it deeper in that game, but there you go. You can see he is playing central a little bit more, but still big red marks on the right hand side. Now, Scotland. Let's have a look at that. That's pretty central to me. To be honest, that big, big red spot is that Kevin De Bruyne spot that I was highlighting before. That's where he's obviously got his goal up in the middle, and then he is on the right. There isn't much drifting onto the other side of a pitch, I'll give you that, but Jude Bellingham's heat map was interesting. I'm not going to put up every single player's heat map. I am going to put Grealish's up in a minute because I want you to see what an actual wide player does under Pep Guardiola, and there is some misunderstanding about Phil Foden's role right now. He isn't playing centrally. He isn't playing centrally. He's playing on the right who drifts in, and there's a reason for that, and the reason is to give Kyle Walker the space to overlap him. Right now, we're seeing Kyle Walker bombing it down that right wing. Right now. And here we saw it again. How did Phil Foden score his goal? Kyle Walker overlapping, whether it was a shot or a cross, Phil Foden was in the middle of the park to score that goal, and you saw Gareth Southgate's interview at the end of the game. He had a little wry smile, didn't he? Like, hey, there you go. Proved you all wrong, and I think he did to somewhat. I think he did. The comments weren't great, I'll give you that. Saying you'll have to ask Pep, I think that sparked a few, triggered a few City fans into thinking, oh, he's just relying on Pep. He's just a copycat. Even if he is, even if he is, it's not a bad person to copy, and with regards to Phil Foden's position, he's there. He's playing centrally, and he's tucking in. The biggest red spot is in that De Bruyne spot, then the second red spot, is right in the middle of the pitch. Right in the middle, and all the other drifts of yellow going out on the right. The only difference is, compared to City, he hasn't got the licence to switch wings. That's the only difference. But he's on the right, drifting into the middle. So I think it was a lot of nonsense coming out from a lot of City fans yesterday talking about Phil Foden's position being in the middle of the park, because I've given you the evidence. The evidence is there for all to see, and I wanted to highlight it, because I think it's reasonable to think that Phil Foden isn't playing right through the middle. He's finding himself in those positions, situationally and circumstantially, those moments in the game where he finds an opportunity to drift into the middle, and he's making the most of those opportunities, and he did exactly the same for England yesterday, in which a game in the first half, by the way, was one of the most one-sided performances I've ever seen from an England side. We battered them in the first half. But I'm not here to debate whether Southgate in, Southgate out, because I do think he's making some horrible selections in terms of Maguire, Henderson, things like that. Players that are bang out of form, not playing for their clubs. Calvin Phillips playing for England doesn't make much sense to me, because he's not playing for City. But this is about Phil Foden. I'm talking about Phil Foden, not Gareth Southgate, and Phil Foden's position there is pretty similar in an England shirt. Now I wanted to highlight your Jack Grealish. Now Jack Grealish, that is what a wide player looks like, and there is two wide players in the City team right now, in terms of their position. The two wide positions, not players, the two positions, they're different. When you ask Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden to play on the right, they are given the licence to drift in, and you can see from this Jack Grealish heat map versus Newcastle, he is fixed. He's got chalk on his boots, out on the left wing, up and down that left wing, but he's not coming in. Very rarely does he find himself in the little glimpses into the middle of the park, but predominantly in that left wing, attacking third position. Role's reversed for Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden. They're given a licence to drift in, and there's a reason, and it goes all the way back to the defence, and it's because Gavardial is not coming forward as a defender. He's tucking in as one of the three when we have the ball. Three being, it could be, Gavardial, Diaz, and Akanji, and Kyle Walker. He's given that freedom to bomb it down that right wing, and that's why we're seeing Bernardo Silva tuck in. We saw Phil Foden tucking in, exactly how we did for England, and these are positions that I think City fans need to be aware of. There is clearly a new tactic this season involving Kyle Walker heavily, and his overlapping role is new. It's a new system, and I think City fans are being conned into thinking Phil Foden's playing central midfield. He's not. He's almost getting out of the way of Kyle Walker, rather than just fixated in the middle of the park. That's not his role. He is coming out on the right. Alvarez's goal, for example, against Newcastle, that was Phil Foden picking it up on the right, and he cut it inside from the right wing into Alvarez for all the space for him to drill it in the top left-hand corner. He isn't playing centrally, but one thing I will say is that this guy should be starting every single game, definitely with Kevin De Bruyne's absence. Absolutely with Kevin De Bruyne's absence. The quality on show from Phil Foden is unquestionable. It's technically England's best player, without a shadow of a doubt, really. I mean, Bellingham is up there, of course, but Phil Foden is just special. He's got that magic spark. The way he cushioned that ball from Kyle Walker's cross-cum-shot, and he just cushioned it beautifully. Beautifully into an empty net, but he made it look easy. The one thing that bothers me is... First of all, before I go on to what bothers me, I do want to highlight that I think Phil Foden will eventually graduate, let's say, into the middle of the park. More than the right wing, where he could potentially start in the middle and not start in the right and drift inside, because I've spoken to Pep Guardiola, and that's not me making up ----. Those of you who have watched the channel for more than a couple of months will have known, and I showed you the couple of the pictures, where I met Pep Guardiola, and I've spoken to him, and the one player that he highlighted... This was four or five years ago, really before Phil Foden was even finding his feet. He said the most special talent in Manchester City squad was Phil Foden, and obviously he was right, coming out of the academy, and what he said was he sees him playing centrally, long term. As I said, what is your favourite... What do you see as Phil Foden? He says, long term, centrally. He will be playing down the middle of the park, okay? Guaranteed. Right now, he's got the versatility and he's got the competition in the middle of the park that makes it difficult for Phil Foden to cement his position in the middle of the pitch. I think, eventually, he will drift inside, learn the game a little bit more, and the fact that he's so versatile is just another bow, isn't it? It's another bow for City. It's just fantastic for us. It's brilliant that we have this versatility. Now, what bothers me is I don't want the club and I don't want Pep Guardiola to abuse Phil Foden's love for Manchester City, because I don't think he's been starting enough recently. I know he didn't play against Sheffield United because he had the shits, which is unfortunate, but for me now, he's starting every game. The way he fizzled out at the end of last season as well, so you blend the end of last season into the start of this season, he's picked up again. But the end of last season, I like to think that wasn't him at his best. And when I say abuse his love for the club, it's because he's such an avid Manchester City fan, which hasn't always proved to be the case when it comes to loyalty. Just ask Cole Palmer, who's chosen his own career over his love for Manchester City. That's up to him. That's not a diss at Cole Palmer. That's up to him. He wants to get minutes, fine. You've got to go elsewhere for them because you weren't good enough to play at Manchester City and get the minutes that you're craving. Phil Foden is, it's a different conversation with Phil Foden because he is, and I just don't want City, the club, to undermine him with wages that aren't up to the standards of other players, knowing that he'll accept it because he's just so happy to play for Manchester City. I know that he's obviously a City fan. I just don't want Pep to abuse that and think, oh, I'll drop him today because I know he won't kick up a fuss. I don't need to manage his ego. I don't need to worry about that because he's just going to play when I ask him to, and he'll put in 10 out of 10 effort every time I ask him to, regardless of whether he's played the last three games or not. I hope that's not the case. I don't think Pep would do that in truth. I really don't think he'll do that in truth. But he started three Premier League games this season, got himself three assists, three key passes as well, 1.9 dribbles per game as well, which is fantastic. So, started off really well, just get a couple of goals to his name. I think, to be honest, he could almost double those assists had Erling Haaland taken his chances in that Newcastle game because Haaland was given stuff on a plate from Phil Foden, and he could have a five or six assists to his name already had Haaland taken his chances. But keep doing what you're doing, Phil Foden, and those assists are going to easily get into the double figures this season. And I think Phil Foden, this season, is on course for double figures in both the goals and assists column. But one thing I did want to highlight is he's not playing centrally right now, out and out. I know people are thinking he's playing attacking midfield. He isn't. He isn't playing attacking midfield. He's drifting inside, and I just wanted to highlight that, and I've given you the evidence. I hope you can take this evidence and understand it a little bit more. Hopefully, it's helped you understand Phil Foden's role. I know it helped me understand because I had to go and study it, and you can all go and get this information. It's readily available for you, so you don't have to just use your eyes for every little bit of information. You can get this information yourself. I just wanted to put it in a nice little video for you for you to understand, and that's why you should like and subscribe to Typical City because I've done the hard work for you. Enjoy the evidence that I've given you, okay? Like and subscribe. Typical City is the channel, and I'll see you in the next one.