I don't see the star player hype. He's a good talent, no doubt, and will do good things in his career but I don't see him progressing to the level of a David Silva.
Phil Foden - What Is His Potential?
- Thread starter Davs
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
This won't age well.
We'll see about that.
He'll be as good as prime Silva within about two more years at this rate. Also got the goal threat that David usually didn't.
Hard to say but I reckon a top 5-10 player in the world potentially. He needs to play week in week out now as a starter to reach his full potential.
Messi was the exception. Obviously that's not a fair comparison in the slightest, but Foden does have that raw talent that doesn't come around very often and I think Guardiola recognises that.
He was ridiculously good against Liverpool.
I think he's got Ballon d'or potential. To be as dominant as he is at such a young age, and still visibly and steadily improving too.
He's basically the player people thought Jack Wilshere would be already at 21. I called it with Wilshere while he was still at the peak of his powers, Foden is different gravy.
But he really isn't though? Are we watching the same Foden?
I'd say he is, yes. Not every game, but there aren't that many offensive midfielders ahead of him in the PL already. Liverpool case in point.
Couldn't agree more. Mark my words. He is going to be in the running for player of the year.
In the running, sure, he's too talented not to be and have some breakout seasons in his career but he's never going to be the front-runner IMO, Haaland and Mbappe are too dominant as players for a guy like Foden to stand out and win an individual prize IMO, and they're all roughly the same age.
Should have been clearer. I mean EPL player of the year. For the ballondor it's difficult, agree.
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Andorra ffs
You don't like him do you? But I agree with you, this is Andorra for feck sake.Andorra ffs
Absolutely no chance imo. I do think him and greenwood could be England’s best players in 5 years time though.
He is a beast man. He has that attitude to succeed. We should make a bid for him at some stage.
He's a fantastic talent, but based on the H/L in that video against Andorra it's like what we saw with Rooney in midfield. He had acres of space and time on the ball. I have seen Greenwood ping those first time when he was under pressure and I don't think he is ready to be a midfielder.
Some of the hype around him is insane. "Stockport Xavi" is absolutely ridiculous. I feel some of the posters here have never seen Xavi play as no way would one even think of making that comparison. He has nothing on Xavi in CM. Xavi was truly a generational midfielder. Foden will be a top player but I see his role as more of a forward/attacking player rather than a midfielder who will control the tempo. Those type of players don't come around often (let alone those of Xavi's standards) as that requires more than just diagonal passes.
I appreciate what you're saying but the point to note is that he's playing a completely new role. He displayed a completely different skillset to what he's known for. Against a side like Andorra you can do an experiment like that. The experiment was a great success and hints of what kind of player he could become for club and country.Andorra ffs
What we saw with Rooney was switched passes to either wing. Long passes in front of the back four. Foden played diagonal balls behind the back four and right on the money to the intended receiver and put them through on goal. Big, huge difference.
As well as Foden's first touch, his ability to turn with the ball and general tightness of technique is what makes him a different prospect to Rooney in midfield. That's not to say that he's going to become a top class central midfielder but the potential in terms of skillset is interesting. One of the failures of the English football system in my opinion is the tendency to turn every gifted player into an attacking midfielder or winger.
To become a regular starter.
What's funny is people acting like he hasn't been excellent in the role he plays at City. He clearly isn't a midfielder but is talented enough to boss the game there against Andorra.
He only started playing well for City when Pep moved him to the forward positions IMO.
Assuming you mean for England as he has been a starter, when fit, for City for 18 months....
17 starts / 1600 minutes in the league last season. That’s not regular to me.
Then you don't remember Rooney's play is all I can say. Rooney has produced much, much more. Let's not even discuss this if that's all you remember about Rooney and are somehow portraying Foden does more than Rooney had done wrt ball distribution.
That's why I'm surprised at people saying it's Andorra. Sure but passing a diagonal ball behind a parked defense is impressive even if it's Andorra. He created what 3 chances with such passes, one of which Sancho ended up assisting the first goal.
That's the point. Playing well against Andorra is one thing. Being consistently great at the top level is something else. He isn't a consistent performer for City.
You could chalk that up to age, but until he develops into a better player that does consistently play well, some of us aren't going to rate him as much as others do.
All I saw was a mess of a defense that had the organization and shape of a grade school team. If performances against Andorra are what define Phil Foden, it doesn't say much about him.
Performances against Andorra don’t define him. He was one of City’s best players in the knockouts stages of the Champions League last season and made the UEFA CL team of the season. He also put big performances against Liverpool in the past couple of seasons. That said, I’m not a fan of the whole ‘generational talent’ stuff but I do think he’ll like be a world class player.
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Van de Beek just cried a little after reading this.
No disagreement as such with that, but he's barely out of his teens. Consistency comes with age, for most players. He's already a pretty regular starter on the best team in the league, displacing other players of very high quality, and it's not a surprise if he's City's best player in any given game. Also, he plays fairly frequently for England, and again in positions where the competition is fierce. He's proven he can shine at the highest level, and unless injuries get him, he is hardly likely to have peaked yet. All of that to me backs up a supposition he's got the potential to win the Ballon d'or at some point over the coming years.
I remember disagreeing with posters over Grealish’s ability to play as a CM in a double pivot.
Foden could do it.
Foden could do it.
Incredible touch... reminds me a little of Iniesta with his close control and little of kaka in the way he carries the ball - if he turns out even close to what they were at their peak then city have a hell of a player on their hands... hopefully he goes in the Gazza / Wilshire list of players who didnt fulfill their potential rather than the Scholes / Lampard type who probably exceeded early expectations
Not sure he will remain on the wing for much longer though - will be interesting to see what happens if pep does leave in 2023 - perhaps a new manager will play him centrally?
Not sure he will remain on the wing for much longer though - will be interesting to see what happens if pep does leave in 2023 - perhaps a new manager will play him centrally?
On a side not a bit. I had a conversation with a friend about the lack of wingers in Croatian football in general. Maybe its for a separate thread but here goes. Thats because 2 reasons, one is Croatian players are not as fast as their counterparts in other countries, genetics. And the other is when they start as kids they first play on smaller pitches whereas English kids are playing on a regular, big pitch from the start. Thats why we dont lack technical players who are good in tight spaces like Modrić or Kovačić for example or Prosinečki and Boban before and English have an abundance of offensive players, wingers and forwards who are good in open spaces. For example Mason Mount is the most similar player to Modrić and he even said watched Modrić as a kid and he's his role model. On the other hand lots of players who are technically gifted as him get lost in the system or are turned to wingers or forwards. He said he heard lots of good things about Garner for example. The friend I mean.
Scholes comparisons.Andorra ffs
I get it's nice to see the skills on display and the potential of him playing the position there in the future, but you'd expect many highly technical players to be able to do that against the likes of Andorra as it's quite literally levels below them messing around in other positions whilst training at their clubs, it's just that most times, we don’t see managers experiment and drop that calibre of attacker into midfield to make a show of fodder.
Even doing the same against the worst PL side or best Championship sides would have more merit, let alone the decent, good or top class sides where you're no longer anywhere near training conditions and have to execute and process in fractions of the time against opposition who can actually read intent and cover accordingly unless disguised like the very best passers in the world do when putting on a clinic against top-level opponents.
What the performance tells me more than anything else is that Foden had a high technical level and Andorra are, as you'd expect, completely out of their depth thus making Foden's mind up for him on certain passages of play and also in how they were in no way ready at any juncture to combat the action, which is simply not what you come up against in a regular season unless drawn against lower league clubs in the F.A. Cup.
I'm not saying Foden couldn't do the same against better opposition, but this level opponent doesn't state he could, either.
Even doing the same against the worst PL side or best Championship sides would have more merit, let alone the decent, good or top class sides where you're no longer anywhere near training conditions and have to execute and process in fractions of the time against opposition who can actually read intent and cover accordingly unless disguised like the very best passers in the world do when putting on a clinic against top-level opponents.
What the performance tells me more than anything else is that Foden had a high technical level and Andorra are, as you'd expect, completely out of their depth thus making Foden's mind up for him on certain passages of play and also in how they were in no way ready at any juncture to combat the action, which is simply not what you come up against in a regular season unless drawn against lower league clubs in the F.A. Cup.
I'm not saying Foden couldn't do the same against better opposition, but this level opponent doesn't state he could, either.
I think this is a bit overstated. Even when I was a kid we played 5 a side mostly. It's true in competitive school games etc that a full sized pitch was used. Today a lot of kids are brought up playing in 'cages' which are often smaller pitches.