Sam Allardyce has highlighted what Gareth Southgate is doing wrong with Manchester City star Phil Foden.
The Three Lions have played one game in the current European Championship where they beat Serbia 1-0 with a headed goal from Jude Bellingham.
Out of the three City players in the England squad – Foden, John Stones and Kyle Walker – all three of them completed the full 90 minutes on Sunday.
Ahead of England’s next game of the group stage against Denmark on Thursday, who has experience managing the Three Lions and numerous top-flight clubs, has pinpointed one thing he thinks Southgate is doing incorrectly when it comes to utilising Foden, in particular.
Sam Allardyce says Phil Foden can’t replicate his Man City form in Gareth Southgate’s England team
Assessing the win over Serbia in a recent edition of the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, Allardyce had this to say about Foden and his role as a left-winger in this particular game.
He said: “I think that, as you know, I love Phil Foden, I’ve watched him at Man City a lot, and I truly believe that he had to be restricted in his role because he didn’t do what he did at Man City, where he will start on the left and pop up in the centre-midfield, and he’ll pop up centre-forward, he’ll pop up back on the left again, back in centre-midfield.
“He would rotate his position if that’s the right word for you. And it seemed that he was just, made to stick just to the left-hand side, and that was it, up and down, left-hand side, up and down.
“When you see Phil Foden at his best, he picks up a ball and then starts running with it, and then can beat three or four players.
“He can beat as many players as he wants, but he finds his freedom at Man City, and he can’t seem to find, unless that’s restricted, he can’t seem to find the same freedom when he plays for England.
“I truly believe, as you well know, that he’s better off more in a central role than a wide left anyway, and it suited him better at Man City.
“He can play there and play there very effectively, but what he’s done this season for Man City in the midfield role in [a] three has been outstanding, and that’s where I’d like to see him.”
Foden is not suited to a wide-left role in this England team
Allardyce isn’t the only pundit to recently urge Southgate to use the City star in a central role, as Gabby Agbonlahor said earlier this week that Foden would be much better suited to a central role rather than out wide.
Looking back over his most recent season at the Etihad Stadium, the 24-year-old featured in just 10 of the 53 games he appeared in as a left-winger.
Even though he scored three goals and delivered four assists across those 10 games in a left-wing role, the Englishman found the back of the net 13 times in 15 appearances as an attacking-midfielder.
Unsurprisingly, Foden said on the official Man City website that he massively enjoys playing in a central role and hopes to continue playing there in the future.
It would therefore be safe to assume that he would prefer to play a similar role for England, especially since he proved himself to be so effective in that position for City.
