Foden or Greenwood: who do you take?

[passing-wind]

I feel Foden will progress as a player individually much more under the guidance of Pep compared to Greenwood with Ole. The main reason for this is despite being branded the best finisher at the club, Greenwood is playing wide despite Martial having a very below par season.

I understand it takes maturity to play upfront to offer the team an outlet via movement etc but I only see greenwood at his full capacity playing in a more central position. Foden still has uncertainty with Pep's use of his availability however. If next season he's still a regular mid way through then I feel he will have a prominent career at his domestic club.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

The future sees Greenwood as a #9 and Foden as a #8. So before picking which one you would take over the other, I think it's important to think about what is more important to your team? You attack or your midfield? I personally think it's hard to compare the two. They are very different players who tend to both be playing on the wing but for different development reasons. Of course, being a United supporter I'm going to be biased towards my own, but Foden is going to be a very special player. In fact, I see a lot of Iniesta in Foden. Not sure who I could compare Greenwood to...

 

[Chief123]

I was listening to Simon Jordan on talkSPORT this morning.

He mentioned there were two amazing performances on the weekend by two players who were Foden and Greenwood.

He went on to really emphasise that Greenwood was “absolutely outstanding” against Everton. Now I’m a big fan of Greenwood and think he’s going straight to the top. However, I felt like he played well on Saturday but not a performance that really stuck out how Simon Jordan made it sound. He was one of our better players but I’ve definitely seen him play much better. I just found it strange that he went a bit over the top with his admiration of his performance.

 

[Murray3007]

I was listening to Simon Jordan on talkSPORT this morning.

He mentioned there were two amazing performances on the weekend by two players who were Foden and Greenwood.

He went on to really emphasise that Greenwood was “absolutely outstanding” against Everton. Now I’m a big fan of Greenwood and think he’s going straight to the top. However, I felt like he played well on Saturday but not a performance that really stuck out how Simon Jordan made it sound. He was one of our better players but I’ve definitely seen him play much better. I just found it strange that he went a bit over the top with his admiration of his performance.

got to say i thought he was excellent v Everton, was after he slipped past Digne, he just seemed to grow in confidence, was by far his best performance of the season, wanted the ball all the time, was taking on players alot more, passing was good, only thing that was missing was a goal unfortunately, Foden will get the headlines more because he got a goal and an assist.

 

[Stacks]

It will be tougher for Greenwood. I feel he will need to develop a lot to play CF at top level. Will need to get stronger, develop hold up play etc. He will need to be used in this position first off

 

[mav_9me]

Should avoid comparing at any time due to different types of players.
And no point comparing now cuz this season Foden has been better but last season Greenwood was. Given their age and associated inconsistency this will be the case for a while no?

I Ike Foden a lot though. I'd play him in CM every game for city and England but this is probably better for him.

 

[renandstimpyfan83]

From and England perspective, Foden could end up being the English Iniesta but with Cesc’s numbers which is frightening.

Greenwood is definitely exciting but we are absolutely stacked with forwards (particularly wingers or outside forwards where he’s playing now) so he’s not so much the player we’re crying out for. If he ends up being a level above the current options he’ll be unquestionably world class which is great news for us.

 

[UnofficialDevil]

I feel Foden will progress as a player individually much more under the guidance of Pep compared to Greenwood with Ole. The main reason for this is despite being branded the best finisher at the club, Greenwood is playing wide despite Martial having a very below par season.

I understand it takes maturity to play upfront to offer the team an outlet via movement etc but I only see greenwood at his full capacity playing in a more central position. Foden still has uncertainty with Pep's use of his availability however. If next season he's still a regular mid way through then I feel he will have a prominent career at his domestic club.

Agree, Greenwood should be played as a striker whenever that is possible, cup games, coming on from the bench when we are winning etc, but he should be played as striker and not a right winger inside forward or whatever, its not doing him any good.

 

[Wilt]

PFA Young Player of the Year....

Phil Foden 1/2 (clear favourite)
Mason Greenwood 50/1

As far as the bookmakers are concerned it’s not even a contest.

 

[Bebe]

PFA Young Player of the Year....

Phil Foden 1/2 (clear favourite)
Mason Greenwood 50/1

As far as the bookmakers are concerned it’s not even a contest.

Does Rashford qualify?

 

[Wilt]

Does Rashford qualify?

Yes age limit is 23, Rashford is quoted at 8/1

 

[Sleigh]

If you can only have 1, surely you’d take Foden.

Greenwood is competing for a starting slot at England with Sancho, Sterling, Barnes, Saka, Bellingham, Hudson-Odei, McNeill, Kane, Nelson, Grealish etc to be part of the attacking front three.

Foden has to oust potentially Maddison, Alli, Lingard or Mount

 

[Bebe]

Yes age limit is 23, Rashford is quoted at 8/1

That's awfully tempting honestly. Their last chance to give it to him and Foden's got a couple years yet.

 

[Wilt]

That's awfully tempting honestly. Their last chance to give it to him and Foden's got a couple years yet.

Yes if Rashford can string a few decent games together, then maybe....

 

[footballistic orgasm]

Pep doesn't see Foden as a central midfielder (as of now anyways) and it's obvious why, IMO : Foden is too direct and is also good in front of goal (be it with the final pass or scoring).
He's more of an attacking midfielder or a wing forward at this point... For the English NT, he'll be competing directly with players like Maddison, Mount, as well as Sterling, Graelish, Sancho, Rashford and... Greenwood.

 

[Martial'sEmergingSmile]

Foden is the best English prospect I've seen in a long time. Technical ability is off the charts, he glides over the pitch, his dribbling is so good that he almost seems faster with the ball than without...and he couples all of it with really high game intelligence and decision making beyond his years.

Foden--------------------------Grealish

--------Greenwood---Kane---------

Would be such a nice, technically excellent front 4 - with overlapping full backs in Alexander-Arnold and Shaw. Good balance too with two lefties and two right footed players.

 

[RooneyLegend]

Greenwood

 

[Ali Dia]

That's awfully tempting honestly. Their last chance to give it to him and Foden's got a couple years yet.

thats actually a great shout. Do many 23 year olds win it though?

 

[Teja]

Foden is the best English prospect I've seen in a long time. Technical ability is off the charts, he glides over the pitch, his dribbling is so good that he almost seems faster with the ball than without...and he couples all of it with really high game intelligence and decision making beyond his years.

Foden--------------------------Grealish

--------Greenwood---Kane---------

Would be such a nice, technically excellent front 4 - with overlapping full backs in Alexander-Arnold and Shaw. Good balance too with two lefties and two right footed players.

Agree with the post, but lots of good options for England in forward areas, so I don't think Greenwood's getting anywhere near there. Sancho, Mount, Rashford, Sterling, Grealish, Maddison, Foden all ahead of Greenwood and only 3 starting spots behind the striker.

 

[calodo2003]

PFA Young Player of the Year....

Phil Foden 1/2 (clear favourite)
Mason Greenwood 50/1

As far as the bookmakers are concerned it’s not even a contest.

What’s Lingard’s odds after such a quality start for West Ham?

 

[MadDogg]

Greenwood was better last season, Foden has been better this season.

Longterm it's hard to say which will be better. I admit I am a little worried that Greenwood may not fully suit playing either as a lone striker or a wide forward though, and perhaps his best position would be as part of a two striker system that doesn't really get used these days. I guess because of that I'd lean towards Foden, but hopefully Greenwood does cement one of those roles. He's still got a fair bit of maturing to do (both physically and mentally from what we've seen over the last 6 months).

 

[Betson]

Both look like top class prospects , Foden plays in a much stronger team which makes things that bit easier for him but I would still not swap Greenwood for him

 

[RedRonaldo]

Pep doesn't see Foden as a central midfielder (as of now anyways) and it's obvious why, IMO : Foden is too direct and is also good in front of goal (be it with the final pass or scoring).
He's more of an attacking midfielder or a wing forward at this point... For the English NT, he'll be competing directly with players like Maddison, Mount, as well as Sterling, Graelish, Sancho, Rashford and... Greenwood.

That’s exactly my thoughts, from what I’ve seen so far, he is direct type of AM who is good in front of goal, dribbles well or can even provide a few good cross, but I don’t see him as playmaker type of midfielder who is good at orchestrating team play yet.

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

Till Greenwood gets proper time at Centre Forward it’s honestly an unfair race.

One is a creative midfielder, the other one of the most natural finishers in years being shunned to the right wing.

It’s Foden by a country mile at this juncture.

 

[RedRonaldo]

Till Greenwood gets proper time at Centre Forward it’s honestly an unfair race.

One is a creative midfielder, the other one of the most natural finishers in years being shunned to the right wing.

It’s Foden by a country mile at this juncture.

Question being, is Greenwood suit to play lone striker role in modern game though. I am sure he could do well in 2 FW setup, but in modern 3 FW setup, it seems he often struggle abit at both wing forward or lone striker role. But he is still young so he still have lots of time to adapt.

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

Question being, is Greenwood suit to play lone striker role in modern game though. I am sure he could do well in 2 FW setup, but in modern 3 FW setup, it seems he often struggle abit at both wing forward or lone striker role. But he is still young so he still have lots of time to adapt.

In the correct system slight strikers can work & in essence I think he’s more than capable of playing as a Wide Forward but unlike say at a Citeh where they operate higher up with plenty of off ball runs ala Sterling he’s more inverted winger for us.

For the short period the MMM trio fired last year they were all getting in the box on the end of chances but he feels a little more restricted this year.

Cavani is far & away the best no.9 at the club now but I’d like to see Greenwood get some minutes at CF with the best 11 before judging his current suitability.

Like you say he’s young though so hopefully this develops his all round game before he gets to play up front more often.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Till Greenwood gets proper time at Centre Forward it’s honestly an unfair race.

One is a creative midfielder, the other one of the most natural finishers in years being shunned to the right wing.

It’s Foden by a country mile at this juncture.

That's a bit much. It was Greenwood who was miles better last year.

It's just too early to say where the two of them stand. Foden does have the advantage of playing in a much better team and under a much better coach.

 

[Stacks]

Foden is the best English prospect I've seen in a long time. Technical ability is off the charts, he glides over the pitch, his dribbling is so good that he almost seems faster with the ball than without...and he couples all of it with really high game intelligence and decision making beyond his years.

Foden--------------------------Grealish

--------Greenwood---Kane---------

Would be such a nice, technically excellent front 4 - with overlapping full backs in Alexander-Arnold and Shaw. Good balance too with two lefties and two right footed players.

people were saying this about Grealish 5 mins ago. Every new prospect is the best English talent. They said this about TAA also

 

[Fluctuation0161]

I'd take whoever is playing against a calamity keeper.

 

[GuyfromAustria]

thats actually a great shout. Do many 23 year olds win it though?

Last 15 Winners and their age at the end of the season:

2005-06 Wayne Rooney (20)
2006-07 Cristiano Ronaldo (22)
2007-08 Cesc Fabregas (21)
2008-09 Ashley Young (23, was 24 in July)
2009-10 James Milner (24)
2010-11 Jack Wilshere (19)
2011-12 Kyle Walker (22)
2012-13 Gareth Bale (23, was 24 in July)
2013-14 Eden Hazard (23)
2014-15 Harry Kane (21)
2015-16 Dele Alli (20)
2016-17 Dele Alli (21)
2017-18 Leroy Sané (22)
2018-19 Raheem Sterling (24)
2019-20 Trent Alexander-Arnold (21)

 

[sun_tzu]

I'm just looking forward to seeing both with England over the next few years

It's pretty hard to compare a somebody who will.probabky end up as a centre forward to somebody who will probably end up as a centre mid... safe to say Greenwood shows better movement and attacking ability whilst Foden looks to have a better range of passing and ability to control a game... rather unsurprisingly when you consider where they will probably end up playing

Great news for England though to have them both coming through

 

[SqualorVictoria]

Last 15 Winners and their age at the end of the season:

2005-06 Wayne Rooney (20)
2006-07 Cristiano Ronaldo (22)
2007-08 Cesc Fabregas (21)
2008-09 Ashley Young (23, was 24 in July)
2009-10 James Milner (24)
2010-11 Jack Wilshere (19)
2011-12 Kyle Walker (22)
2012-13 Gareth Bale (23, was 24 in July)
2013-14 Eden Hazard (23)
2014-15 Harry Kane (21)
2015-16 Dele Alli (20)
2016-17 Dele Alli (21)
2017-18 Leroy Sané (22)
2018-19 Raheem Sterling (24)
2019-20 Trent Alexander-Arnold (21)

So Ruben Dias is also eligible, right?

Only half serious. Looking at that list, there is not a big chance that a foreigner gets it, and basically zero that a centre half! I remember Aguero also being eligible when Walker got it.

 

[Red00012]

I was listening to Simon Jordan on talkSPORT this morning.

He mentioned there were two amazing performances on the weekend by two players who were Foden and Greenwood.

He went on to really emphasise that Greenwood was “absolutely outstanding” against Everton. Now I’m a big fan of Greenwood and think he’s going straight to the top. However, I felt like he played well on Saturday but not a performance that really stuck out how Simon Jordan made it sound. He was one of our better players but I’ve definitely seen him play much better. I just found it strange that he went a bit over the top with his admiration of his performance.

I would say that was Greenwood’s best performance of the season Saturday night.

 

[OmarUnited4ever]

from what've seen, Foden is naturally a Midfielder, who operates as an Attacking No.8 in a single pivot, or an Attacking No.10 in double Pivot, and can also play from the wings, his passing, link up play, and dribbling will make him more as a creator, rather than a goal scorer (despite his excellent scoring season this year).

Greenwood is a pure attacker, and a finisher by nature, very direct and excellent shooting ability and this year he developed into a good Right Wing/Forward, I am not sure Greenwood is ready to take on the role of CF/No. 9, where he leads the line, he is too young for that and needs more time to hone his skills in other areas to be ready, but I am confident he will become a top class CF in within 3-5 years (he is only 19 now!).

Both are different and offer different things, this year Foden is doing very well, last season Greenwood was on fire, this only means England has an awesome crop of young players doing very well in club level (Sancho, Saka, Greenwood, Foden, Rice, Mount, Reece, Hudson-Odoi, Trent, etc...)

 

[NasirTimothy]

Both fantastic players, but goalscoring is the most valuable trait in football. Greenwood has the potential to be one of the most natural goalscorers of his generation in an era where there don't seem to be many top class strikers coming through, so I'll take him.

The delusion in this thread is hilarious. First of all, the repeated notion that ‘goal scoring is the most valuable trait in football.’ I’ve no idea where this idea came from but back when Maradona was slicing through entire defences every week, no one was saying that Hugo Sanchez was better because he possessed ‘the most valuable trait in football’ to a greater degree.

The most valuable trait in football is ability on the ball. Without that you can’t control the game and you can’t create goalscoring opportunities for yourself or others.

I think people are getting confused. The statement ‘the hardest thing to do in football is score a goal’ is a long-standing cliche with some truth and validity, but that’s not the same as saying that pure goalscorers innately have more merit than more skilled all round attacking players. They simply don’t.

Also, people are kidding themselves if they think Greenwood is already some crack marksman. He has the potential to be that for sure but he’s not there yet. He has 22 goals in 81 career appearances (all comps) and Foden has 25 goals in 102 games. For the league, they’ve both scored 11 goals, MG in 51 appearances and Foden in 58.

Now it’s entirely possible that Foden has played many more minutes for City to get his goals than Mason has for United. I also get why United fans want to back their guy, it’s totally natural and maybe Greenwood will indeed end up being the better player. But people need to stop with the ‘it’s not close’ nonsense, that just smacks of blinkered bias.

 

[Manchester Dan]

Always find it odd that we are so quick to compare young players rather than just accept they’re both talented and could BOTH go on to play at the highest level. Drives a lot of unhealthy discussion because the reality is that they’re both still rapidly developing every minute that they spend on the pitch.

 

[red4ever 79]

I would say that was Greenwood’s best performance of the season Saturday night.

Fully agree with you. I thought from the first min he looked up for it. Sick of seeing Ole take him off in every game though

 

[Alfie092]

Foden is the better all-round player and Greenwood is the better goalscorer currently.

That could change, especially with Foden being 18 months ahead in his development, which is a longtime for younger players. If you look at how much Greenwood's all-round game has improved in 18 months it has been big! Even though he still has a long way to go, imagine where he could potentially be at in 18 months?

The potential they both have is frightening, Foden does also have the edge in regards to being at a more stable club setup to win trophies, they have a recognised style of play which suits his game and he plays under arguably one of the greatest managers of all-time.

 

[Tallis]

The delusion in this thread is hilarious. First of all, the repeated notion that ‘goal scoring is the most valuable trait in football.’ I’ve no idea where this idea came from but back when Maradona was slicing through entire defences every week, no one was saying that Hugo Sanchez was better because he possessed ‘the most valuable trait in football’ to a greater degree.

The most valuable trait in football is ability on the ball. Without that you can’t control the game and you can’t create goalscoring opportunities for yourself or others.

I think people are getting confused. The statement ‘the hardest thing to do in football is score a goal’ is a long-standing cliche with some truth and validity, but that’s not the same as saying that pure goalscorers innately have more merit than more skilled all round attacking players. They simply don’t.

Also, people are kidding themselves if they think Greenwood is already some crack marksman. He has the potential to be that for sure but he’s not there yet. He has 22 goals in 81 career appearances (all comps) and Foden has 25 goals in 102 games. For the league, they’ve both scored 11 goals, MG in 51 appearances and Foden in 58.

Now it’s entirely possible that Foden has played many more minutes for City to get his goals than Mason has for United. I also get why United fans want to back their guy, it’s totally natural and maybe Greenwood will indeed end up being the better player. But people need to stop with the ‘it’s not close’ nonsense, that just smacks of blinkered bias.

Agree to some extent. My one significant point in favour of Mason would be that if you swap their teams for the duration of the games they have played, the output would look very different. It’s only this season that Utd can match City’s goal scoring chances created and Mason has been in & out of the side. You put Mason in the current City side, I genuinely think he can hit 30-40 goals.

For the record, I prefer Mason. I am offocourse biased. I would be curious to see how Foden does for England - I have a feeling that Pep makes players look better than they actually are.

 

[Chipper]

Now it’s entirely possible that Foden has played many more minutes for City to get his goals than Mason has for United. I also get why United fans want to back their guy, it’s totally natural and maybe Greenwood will indeed end up end up being the better player. But people need to stop with the ‘it’s not close’ nonsense, that just smacks of blinkered bias.

Foden has actually played fewer minutes, at least in the Premier League. Also didn't have the benefit of playing in the Europa League.

Premier League only:

	Greenwood
Season	Minutes	Goals	Minutes per goal
20/21	977	1	977
19/20	1313	10	131.3
18/19	116	0	N/A
Total	2406	11	218.73
	Foden
20/21	1026	5	205.2
19/20	893	5	178.6
18/19	330	1	330
17/18	45	0	N/A
Total	2294	11	208.55