Central for City... central to England
Foden’s becoming a leader and Southgate must play him next to Bellingham at this summer’s Euros
Process has to be one of the most frustrating nouns in english football’s vernacular but it best describes Phil Foden. To arrive at this point, Manchester city plotted the route. A couple of dead ends along the way but that’s the process after all.
The Foden struggling for minutes, sitting forlornly on the bench, felt like a bygone era on Monday when he danced off to one corner of the Gtech, match ball in hand, revelling in a second senior hat-trick after turning a tricky away game in city’s favour. His goal celebration, firing a gun at the away end, came after team-mates dubbed him ‘sniper’ in training.
A long time, too, since the clamour for a loan — or something more permanent — away from Pep Guardiola. or when Foden looked close to breaking down when asked about his lack of chances, shouldering the burden of expectation without tangible opportunities to alleviate it.
Back then, city sources appealed for perspective by pointing towards two Barcelona legends as reference points — Andres Iniesta and Xavi — and how many matches they appeared in during their formative years. The numbers between Foden and those two were actually pretty close, which came as a slight surprise.
They aren’t any more. Brentford marked a 251st appearance for the lad they call the stockport Iniesta. When Iniesta and Xavi turned 24, they had 226 and 225 respectively under their belts. Foden is 24 at the end of May.
There could be as many as 27 games still to play in city’s season. While not an exact science as a comparison, somewhere touching 300 appearances before the start of next season is a huge jump from Barca’s heartbeat under Guardiola at the same juncture in their careers.
At 680, Alan oakes holds city’s appearance record. It would take something disastrous for Foden not to eventually eclipse that. While one-club men are rare these days, even when everyone was after him on loan, Foden wasn’t interested. He learned to put his trust in the manager and that has paid off, with just the 14 major trophies in his cabinet already.
The kid Txiki Begiristain told Guardiola all about on his first day in the job, eight years ago, is now earmarked as someone who can ultimately take over Kevin De Bruyne’s responsibilities by the boss. Guardiola is now talking about Foden ‘leading’ the team in the future. These are not phrases the catalan throws around without thinking.
Guardiola knows that he has always had an impact on matches in terms of goals and assists — 124 now — but over the the past months, an injury-free Foden is controlling them.
He’s more adept at slowing attacks down, evidenced with an assist for rodri against Burnley last week when he waited and waited for the right pass. His little touches while surveying the scene around him resemble those of Ilkay Gundogan and David silva.
We’re in the next stage of Foden’s development, the one where it is impossible for Gareth southgate not to plonk him in the middle of the pitch next to Jude Bellingham. Foden is the most technically gifted englishman in the Premier League and deserves a central role at the european championship.
city might have used him as a rudimentary left winger at Brentford but most of his night was spent within the width of the 18- yard box. central to city, central to england.
A turning point came just before christmas, when the concession of possession and a desire to rectify that mistake saw Foden gift crystal Palace a stoppagetime penalty to earn a point. Foden was distraught, Guardiola told him he needed to learn.
‘since then, the two great games at the club World cup, then he was unbelievable at everton… his impact has been more than decisive,’ Guardiola said. ‘He’s a more mature player.’
It was noticeable at Brentford how clued in he was to defensive duties. And the way he bawled at ederson for a dodgy pass to him in a dangerous position. He doesn’t mind telling senior guys the score and often directs traffic in a way De Bruyne always has.
‘I’ve been getting goals and assists playing more centrally — that’s one of the reasons why,’ Foden said. ‘It’s important for me to be an attacker. The team need to rely on players like me to find a solution. I want to be that player.
‘It would help if I played one position and learned it every game but I’m a person who adapts. I’m just enjoying playing in the middle and that’s where I see myself playing the best football.’
Guardiola has remarked on the importance of Foden keeping his private life settled and recent displays suggest he is content off the pitch. His son, ronnie, stayed up to watch at home on TV.
Maybe he was in bed when Foden did TV duties after picking up a third player- of-the-match award since christmas.
recently he joked with colleagues that he wanted to rack them up before erling Haaland’s return, but it turns out that not even the big Norwegian could steal the limelight this week.
ASLATE grey sky above Nottingham, a trace of rain and, at the city’s ice rink this week, a reminder that grief is a long, drawn-out business, remorselessly bleak when time has elapsed and the rest of the world is busy getting on with life.
It is 100 days since adam Johnson, a member of the Nottingham Panthers ice hockey team, died of injuries sustained in an incident on the rink against sheffield steelers and a floral shrine created in the immediate aftermath has given way to a more modest, permanent reminder. It is a smart plaque, fixed to the rink’s exterior wall last week, bearing the young american’s name and shirt number. ‘Forever our 47.’
You only needed to have tracked the Panthers’ progress in the 10 weeks or so since they returned to competition to sense the effect that 29- year- old Johnson’s death has had on a team who must now have very different perspective on the significance of sport.
the Panthers are accustomed to being in the upper reaches of British ice hockey’s elite league. they finished fourth in the play-offs last year, fourth in the league in 2022 and had started this season on another high, with six straight wins in October. since Johnson’s death, they have lost 20 of their 24 fixtures.
The Christmas ‘derby’ matches home and away against the steelers are generally the league’s most keenly anticipated. Nottingham lost the first, on their own rink, 5-1 on Boxing Day and lost 4-0 in south Yorkshire the following day. they are bottom of the table. steelers are top.
PERHAPS it is the years of immersion in a football culture which create an expectation of negativity in Nottingham towards the steelers and their Canadian player, Matt Petgrave, whose blade connected so horrifically with Johnson’s neck. there is none to be found, though.
Ice hockey does not appear to consider this tragedy to be something for which guilt must be apportioned. ‘What can I say to you?’ says a mother buying Panthers tickets for her children. ‘We were there that night and it will always be with us. every time we see a game. that’s all.’
In the broader ice hockey community, others have something more robust to say about one of the possible consequences of the challenge that took Johnson’s life. In November, south Yorkshire Police arrested and bailed a man, whom they have not named, on suspicion of manslaughter as part of their investigation into the incident. the prospect of a criminal charge hangs heavy across the sport.
an investigation of inviolable rigour is necessary, of course. It is the least Johnson’s family are owed. But a charge of what would be ‘ involuntary manslaughter’ — an unlawful killing in which there is no intention to kill or to cause grievous bodily harm — would, one former coach tells me, be ‘a policing of our game which would change every player’s approach to it. You have to ask where does that lead for us? You would face the same consequences every time you stepped on n to a rink with competitive intent.’
The grainy footage of the incident which took Johnson’s life, now shared millions of times, is unremittingly grim when viewed in the full knowledge of what is about to come.
Johnson advances down the left of the rink, with the puck. Petgrave moves rapidly to intercept. another Panthers player cuts across his path. Petgrave seems to tumble forwards, left heel high. as he falls, Johnson moves into his path.
some of those I have spoken to take a dim view of Petgrave’s actions in the moment that took Johnson’s life. One vastly experienced former player sees a departure from the most sacrosanct rule, embedded in ice hockey culture: that all players must have control of their skates. Petgrave’s position as the two players came together ‘ just does not look natural,’ he says. But he does not see that as something criminally negligent. ‘Of course, there is no way he is deliberately trying to put a skate there,’ he says.
lawyers are reluctant to discuss this, with that police investigation ongoing, but the test for criminal liability is, out of necessity, extremely high. Wearing deliberately extra sharpened boots, or purposefully attempting to inflict injury might meet the test, one legal expert suggests. It has been hard to see any such pre-calculation.
there is little legal precedent to help us with this, though the case of a Kent amateur footballer convicted in 2003 of grievous bodily harm after snapping an opponent’s leg may be significant. the Court of appeal overturned the conviction on the grounds that in competing, you are accepting a an element of risk r that you might be injured. in
‘It is surprising that there is so little authoritative guidance from appellate courts as to the legal position in this situation,’ the appeal Court judges wrote in that h case. Indeed so. But why, 100 days on, is an individual n still waiting to see se if he is going to be charged ch with manslaughter te and face possible jail?
the t mother at the Nottingham tin ice rink expresses a aw wish that players might now become better protected, though that is taking time.
although all the players competing when Nottingham’s Panthers met Coventry Blaze before Christmas were wearing neck protectors, that protective equipment is still not mandatory in the division. Nor in the Nhl, where just two or three players from Johnson’s old team, Pittsburgh Penguins, were wearing protectors in one recent game. they, of all teams, might have set an example.
taking the lesson and heeding the warning from that night of unspeakable horror in sheffield is what matters, not apportioning some kind of criminal guilt. If those still poring over events can come to see that, then there would be a crumb of comfort to take.