ENGLAND’S best footballer is Phil Foden.
It’s not even close.
He’s the most wondrously gifted player we’ve had since Paul “Gazza”; Gascoigne.
And he’s been proving it with dazzling performances, week in week out, for Manchester City in both the Premier League and Champions League.
Which all begs the question: why the hell didn’t manager Gareth Southgate bring him on in England’s World Cup match against the United States on Friday night?
As an equally bemused Wayne Rooney said: “If you have a talent like Foden, you simply have to play him.”;
Yet for some unfathomable reason, Southgate stubbornly refused to throw Foden into action despite England, so thrilling in the 6-2 rout of Iran, playing like the zombified patients in the Robert De Niro/Robin Williams movie Awakenings after the medication wears off.
Southgate’s explanation afterwards was almost as incomprehensible as his decision.
“We love Phil, he is a super player,”; he said.
So why leave him on the bench?
“We didn’t quite have that same zip,”; Southgate admitted.
So why not bring on the guy with the most zip?
Then came his inexplicable excuse.
“We didn’t feel it was right for Phil [to play] in the middle because he doesn’t play there for his club.”;
Sorry, what?
a) Foden has played down the middle for City on numerous occasions, and b) City boss Pep Guardiola said: “For Phil, responsibility is not a problem.
“Since day one going to bigger stages, bigger scenarios and important games, it’s not a problem. He loves to play. He can play in all five positions up front: winger on both sides, striker through the middle and in the pockets like an attacking midfielder.”;
Did Southgate not hear this assessment from the world’s top manager?
Or did he choose to ignore it?
Either way, he dropped the ball, and the result was a dismal performance and dire 0-0 draw.
Southgate’s been a very good England manager, but his instinctive timidity in the final cost us the Euros.
He would do well to heed Albert Einstein’s warning: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result.”;
You don’t win World Cups by keeping your best, most exciting player off the pitch.
Get a grip Gareth, take the safety pads off, and start Foden in every game for the rest of this tournament.
