Harsh judgment and failed England favour leave Phil Foden needing Man City reassurance

Phil Foden started both England matches during the international break but rather than forcing his way into Thomas Tuchel's squad, the Manchester City man may have done his cause more harm than good

Considering his relative shortage of game time for Manchester City in March, Thomas Tuchel probably thought he was doing Phil Foden a favour by starting him twice in England’s so-called Send-Off Series.

But by fielding Foden as a false nine against a very well-organised Japan, Tuchel was doing Manchester City’s attacking midfielder no favour at all.

In fact, the only significant ramification of Foden’s deployment as a central non-striker is that the 25-year-old veteran of three tournaments is now, arguably, the highest-profile player at risk of non-selection for the World Cup this summer.

As a reflection of public opinion, polls on social media and sports websites are not always the best barometers. But the majority of people who bothered with that sort of thing had Foden playing himself off the plane to the United States.

In a Sky Sports online poll, 80 percent of respondents said Foden should not be in England’s World Cup squad. Which is a harsh judgement.

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True, Foden had the fewest touches of any England starter during the game against Japan, but that was mainly because he was in an unsuitable position and the link-up with Cole Palmer, in the ten position, was never going to work.

True, Foden has not scored in his last 22 appearances for England, but other than Harry Kane, not many England players have.

True, he has been struggling for form over the last couple of months but you could argue the same can be said about Palmer and even about Morgan Rogers.

But there can be no doubting that Foden’s overall body of work since his Footballer of the Year season of 2023/24 means he is not the squad shoo-in you might have expected a year and a half ago.

That last England goal came in October 2023 and his last goal for City came in mid-December of last year. It should not be forgotten that Foden had a spell in late November and early December when he scored six times in five appearances, prompting Pep Guardiola to say he was ‘back’.

But Rayan Cherki has gone ahead of Foden in Pep’s pecking order, and judging by his demeanour for England over this past week, that has dented his confidence. When he did get on the ball against Uruguay and Japan, he was just that little bit hesitant. He just wanted that little bit of extra time to pick a pass.

“If we put offensive players on the pitch, we demand offensive actions, creativity, dribbling, shots and assists and we clearly didn’t have enough,” Tuchel said after the Japan defeat.

When Foden and Palmer were withdrawn just before the hour mark, England had failed to produce a single shot on target.

Tuchel likes Foden, he believes the City player can be a game-changer. And Tuchel will know he gave a player who is short of confidence a thankless task against Japan. This particular below-par display was as much down to the manager as it was to the player. This particular below-par display will not be held against him.

But there is now no doubting Foden needs the reassurance of a good end to the season with City.

Otherwise, Tuchel’s faith will be sorely tested when push comes to selection shove.