How good has Phil Foden been for Manchester City this season?

A breath off fresh air…

Transcript

00:00 Michael, moving on to Man City, there's one man at the moment who is on absolute fire.

00:05 I mean, Phil Foden, let's just give him a mention.

00:08 I mean, eight goals, seven assists for Manchester City.

00:12 I mean, firstly, what have you made of his spell this season and how mature he's looked?

00:18 And secondly, how much of a sort of bit of pressure it takes off the likes of De Bruyne and Haaland?

00:25 And how pleased will Guardiola be with him this season?

00:29 Yeah, it's a good point that, you know, so much of the talk is always about Haaland

00:33 and De Bruyne, especially coming back from injury, that you forget that in the midst of that,

00:37 they have some fantastic players. I mean, Alvarez, Silva, and you, of course,

00:42 have mentioned Foden, who was fantastic in the 3-1 win against Brentford, of course, getting a hat-trick.

00:47 And look, Foden's form has been superb this season. He's played every single Premier League match,

00:52 started all bar two. I mean, those games were against Bournemouth and Sheffield United as well,

00:56 which, I mean, no disrespect, they're not the biggest games of the season.

00:59 But he's been brilliant, Foden. And he's playing, obviously, a bit more central,

01:02 although he did technically play it wide against Brentford and kind of cut inside.

01:06 But I think he's really enjoying playing those central areas in that attacking role.

01:10 I think he's enjoyed as well, probably a little bit this season, the fact that with De Bruyne

01:14 and Haaland out, a lot of the responsibility has fallen on him and Alvarez. And he's really

01:18 enjoyed that. And I mean, I think Guardiola said yesterday that, along the lines of he's in the

01:22 best form that he's had, he's in the best kind of run of performances he's ever had at Man City.

01:27 And I would certainly agree with that. Foden's been around for so long, you forget just how

01:33 young he is. I mean, still only 23. I mean, he's won, what, four Premier League titles,

01:38 five, I can't remember off the top of my head. But he is such an important player for City.

01:44 And I mean, Guardiola was talking yesterday about how he's a player for the future,

01:48 for when Silva and De Bruyne leave this club. And you can already see him slowly maturing into that

01:53 player. But his range of pass, the thing I always admire about Foden is he gets the ball,

01:59 and within a split second, he's done something, he's made an action. He's never a type of player

02:05 who puts his foot in the ball and slow things down. It's so quick, so rapid. And I think in

02:09 those attacking areas, especially when City so often face, you know, really deep defences,

02:15 that his quick reactions and ability to make fast decisions, he can be pivotal to that split

02:21 second advantage over a defender. And as I say, I just think he's been absolutely fantastically.

02:26 And from his perspective, and from City's perspective, you know, long may it continue.