Pep Guardiola has identified a positional change as the central reason behind Phil Foden\u2019s recent resurgence. The manager says the academy graduate has prospered since operating as a central No. 10, allowing him to exploit the spaces close to goal and express what Guardiola called his \u201cunique\u201d talent.<\/p>\n
Foden has produced two goals and two assists in his last four matches. That revival stands in contrast to the end of the 2024\u201325 domestic campaign, when he managed just one assist across his final 18 appearances.<\/p>\n
Finally fully fit again, Guardiola attributes the improvement to positioning as much as physical recovery. \u201cClose to the box I think he plays in the pockets perfectly,\u201d the City boss mused following the midweek cup win. \u201cWhen he plays a little bit free and close to the box, he can do something that is unique, we know that. When Phil plays in that position behind the strikers, he\u2019s a real threat.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen already with Phil [these last] few games. When the team play better, when every player makes his potential…but it\u2019s not just today. The game against Arsenal, [Manchester] United, Napoli, he was really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Guardiola pointed to a specific moment from the European clash at the Etihad when Foden\u2019s pass released Erling Haaland and forced Napoli\u2019s Giovanni Di Lorenzo into a rash lunge in the 21st minute. The match saw Antonio Conte make the notable decision to remove Kevin De Bruyne and cut short his Manchester City reunion.<\/p>\n
De Bruyne\u2019s summer exit has created space for another creator and Foden acknowledged the opportunity. \u201cWith the likes of Kev going, someone needs to step up and create more chances and hopefully I can be that man and I think I\u2019ve showed that,\u201d he told the club\u2019s website last week.<\/p>\n
Foden\u2019s finest run came in 2023\u201324 when he was crowned Premier League Player of the Year while operating through the centre. He conceded that fitness issues affected him last season. \u201cA lot of players played with a lot of niggles and last year, I picked up a lot that I had to play with and it\u2019s not an excuse why I wasn\u2019t at my best, but it was a full team problem,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Guardiola credits Phil Foden’s return to form to a central No.10 role and renewed fitness. It works.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3076,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[238,969],"tags":[1047,1019],"class_list":["post-3077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-city","category-premier-league","tag-champions-league","tag-creative-players"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}