The statistics speak a clear language: four of the last five games missed, only seven goals in this Premier League season. Phil Foden cannot build on his glossy performance from the previous season.
Phil Foden was again missing in the starting eleven when Manchester City competed against Aston Villa (2-1) on the last match day. In the last five league games, the English international was only used once – in the derby against Manchester United he was in the starting eleven, but had to get off the square with an ankle injury after 58 minutes.
This injury forced him to suspend in the following game against Crystal Palace. In the three other games against Leicester City, Everton and now Aston Villa, he stayed without a minute of use despite the recovered fitness and spent the entire 90 minutes on the bench.
Phil Foden has only been on the pitch once in the past five games of Manchester City
The bumpy start of the season
The numbers of the current season underline the dramatic drop in performance. Instead of 35 missions in the pre -season, Foden has only been on 25 league games so far, only 19 of them from the start. The gate yield dropped from impressive 19 to a meager seven hits and the game minutes were reduced from almost 2,900 to 1,691 minutes.
Particularly meaningful: his first goal in this Premier League season only scored on December 21st. After a short high in January, when he scored six goals in four games, things went downhill again.
And the problems started on the first match day. At the start against Chelsea, Foden was only substituted for the second half. In the following weeks he missed several games due to illness and physical complaints. This difficulties ran through the entire season like a thread.
The price of success?
An essential factor for Foden’s form crisis is likely to be the enormous stress of the past season. After an intensive season with Manchester City, in which he performed practically every important competition, the European Championship with the English national team followed, which only ended in the final against Spain. The short regeneration phase before the beginning of the new season apparently was not enough to completely recover body and mind.
In the 2023/24 season, Foden Manchester City led 19 goals to the fourth championship title in a row and was consequently elected to the best player in the Premier League. The offensive player from Stockport finally seemed to have risen into the ranks of the world -class players. But there is little to be felt from this high flight in the current season.
Coach Pep Guardiola provided another explanation after the derby against United himself: “Sometimes there is seasons in a long career in which you don’t perform your best performance.” The success coach continued: “Perhaps he was at the peak of his performance last season, considering that he was the best player in the Premier League.”
Tactical changes as the cause
Guardiola had indicated that the tactical changes after the violation of Erling Haaland had a negative impact on Foden’s deployment times. The Catalan coach decided to change the system, in which more players act in the central area and are used less classic wingers.
The situation continued to worsen. Even in the important duel against Aston Villa, which the Skyblues won, the young Mcatee received the preference in front of the established English international – a clear indication that Foden in the internal ranking has slipped significantly.
It remains questionable whether Foden can initiate a trend reversal in the four league games that are still outstanding. On Sunday, Manchester City is initially the important semi -finals in the FA Cup against Nottingham Forest – the last remaining chance of a trophy in this rather messed up season (from 5:30 p.m. in the live ticker).