Troy Deeney has highlighted one Manchester City player he thought was better than Phil Foden against Aston Villa.
The 23-year-old scored his second-hat-trick of the season in Wednesday’s 4-1 win over the Villans to help his side take a step closer to potentially regaining the Premier League title.
Despite that, one pundit and former top-flight player has picked another City player that he thinks delivered a top-class performance in midweek.
Deeney says another Man City player was better than Foden against Villa
Speaking on talkSPORT, Deeney had this to say about Rodri’s performance against Villa.
He said: “For me, Rodri just looked a level above. I said it on co-commentary yesterday, he looked, you know when you watch a game of football and you go ‘he’s the best player,’ he just stands out.
“Everything he does is clean, no loose passes, he was always in the right place. But he dictated with and without the ball how City player and he was so good.
“Obviously, Foden was a disgrace the way he put it in the top corner, his reaction after losing the ball, he was fantastic but Rodri was just that level above, closely by Foden.
Rodri had 116 touches of the ball in total before being replaced by Matheus Nunes in the 75th minute, which is more than any other City player had, backing up Deeney’s point about him dictating the game.
In addition to scoring City’s first goal of the game against Unai Emery’s side, the Spaniard assisted Foden’s second goal and managed to have two shots on target.
From a defensive point of view, the 27-year-old made two tackles, one clearance and won five of the nine duels he was involved in.
In terms of his overall performances across the league campaign, Rodri has earned himself a season rating of 7.62/10 from WhoScored, making him the highest-rated player in the City squad.
Even though Foden scored a hat-trick against Villa, the fact that Deeney chose to highlight Rodri’s performance shows how impressive he was.
