Although England won, last night’s match once again showed that Phil Foden still cannot find a suitable position for himself in the current England team’s set-up.

Perhaps there is no need for statistics, just watching the match live to see how out of rhythm Foden plays in England’s 4231 formation. Although the Manchester City player plays in the left position, he moves a lot, from the left wing to the middle, then runs higher to be on par with Harry Kane, and there are times when Foden even runs. deep in defense. However, because he runs so much, it feels like Foden doesn’t know what role he is playing.

In his statement after the match, Harry Kane emphasized that in the first half, he played higher and did not drop as deep as usual to attract defenders for Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden to run and find space. While Mr. Be plays very effectively in the middle of the field both in defense and attack, it is difficult to say that Foden can do the same. Harry Kane was often in a state of being starved for the ball in the first half when he only touched the ball twice, so when it came to the second half, the England captain had to drop deeper to get the ball and in theory, Foden and Saka were two. The highest kicker to receive the ball from Kane. However, while Bukayo Saka did this task well, Foden often “disappeared” (partly because Southgate dropped the squad low to counter-attack), so Foden really did not show his suitability to play on the wing. .

With a style of play that favors flank attacks with fast players like the current one, it is clear that Anthony Gordon or Eberechi Eze will be suitable to play the role of runners exploiting the space behind the opponent’s defense when Kane drops deep. than Foden. It also partly explains the fact that Southgate often favors Marcus Rashford when the Manchester United player is on the team because Rashford’s speed and strength-oriented direct kicking style is very suitable for the current English way of playing. . Foden is a classy player, but the problem of where to use him on the team is probably a really difficult question for Gareth Southgate in the upcoming matches.