Phil Foden’s four words to Gareth Southgate after being subbed as a sub against Italy
Phil Foden approached Gareth Southgate after being substituted as a substitute and expressed his full comprehension of the situation.
Foden had only played for 12 minutes as a substitute in the 69th minute before being replaced after Luke Shaw received a red card, as Southgate aimed to strengthen the defense.
Despite this, Foden did not become upset or uncooperative, and instead provided reassurance to his manager, which saved Southgate from having a difficult conversation.
England boss Southgate said: “No, he came up to me and said ‘I know, I get it’ – he knew exactly what we needed to do.
“You obviously don’t want to do that but we needed to get the full-back on and we felt the change of the shape with them having to play around us but with enough bodies to deal with crosses but with wing-backs to stop those crosses was the right way to get around that.”
Due to a scarcity of opportunities, Phil Foden, who is 22 years old, has frequently found it challenging to replicate the level of play he displays for Manchester City when playing for England.
However, there is a possibility that Foden will have an opportunity to demonstrate his abilities on Sunday in the game against Ukraine, as Gareth Southgate may once again make adjustments to his starting line-up.
Gareth Southgate praised his midfield trio of Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham, and Kalvin Phillips against the likes of Champions League champion Jorginho and Italy’s talisman Marco Verratti.
England boss Southgate said: “Yeah, Declan had a top performance level in midfield. I thought he, Kalvin and Jude, and given the experience level of the other team, were excellent.
“We managed to put good pressure onto them. There were a lot of periods where that was a very good team performance and a lot of moments when the midfield had to do the basics of winning second balls and then you’re on the attack and it’s an ugly phase. But it was really important in the context of the game.”
Gareth Southgate has stated that England has once again demonstrated their ability to challenge the top teams. The team began their Euro qualifying group with a remarkable victory over Italy, their first since 1961.
This triumph has given them a strong foundation for the rest of the campaign, as they have overcome their most difficult obstacle. Southgate believes that this achievement will enhance the team’s confidence.
England boss Southgate said: “One of the questions for all of us is ‘can we go away to the top teams and get that result?’ And we’ve shown that we can.
“There’s more evidence for them – and two different sides that they had to show as well, by the way, they only had to show the second because we couldn’t get the first right. In the first half, I thought we played really well, used the ball really well, we looked dangerous. Second half we had to show resilience.
“We got ourselves into that problem, but we had to show a lot of resilience and character and coming away from home you’re going to have spells where you’re going to have to do that.”
Phil Foden’s four words to Gareth Southgate after being subbed as a sub against Italy
