Yeah, Pep Guardiola, Phil Foden is awesome

You could write a fairly long novel made up just of quotes from Pep Guardiola on Phil Foden’s special talent.

Whenever he’s standing behind a microphone – whether after the game or before the game – the Manchester City boss seems to spend 90% of his time praising the youngster or defending his treatment of him and then make sure he knows he’s brilliant.

And yet no matter how many times he does that he cheats on us Everytime.

In every interview in which Guardiola is asked about Foden’s qualities, he puts him on toast thicker than your buttered father. He tells us how amazing he is, how good his attitude is, how hard he trains, how good he’s going to be – name him, he says it. And so we all sit with hearts full of joy, knowing that the young English starlet is in good hands.

Then BAM. A few days later, he was sitting next to Scott Carson, watching from the town bench before running off full time, still donning a bright orange replacement vest. It’s as if Guardiola walks away from his interviews with a sly smile on his face like some kind of evil villain.

Anyway, enough of this pantomime talk, the point is this – Foden is quite brilliant, we all know he has the potential to become one of the best midfielders in European football. Yet while we agree with Guardiola in the sense that he needs time to develop, the best way for him to do that is to play regular football – which he doesn’t do enough.

Ever since he started management, Guardiola has built this almost divine complex, so much so that whenever you think a player sucks but keeps choosing them, you sort of accept them and you you say, “of course, I don’t. understand football at the same level as Pep, he’s just better than me ”.

It may be, but we’re not backing down here. Football can be complicated by a lot of people, but the truth is it’s a very simple game, and the more you play it the better you become. It really isn’t rocket science.

Of course, there’s the ‘too soon’ argument, and that turned out to be the downfall of many players – but we’re not talking about a 16-year-old South American defender who has never played. at a senior football game. in his life and needs to adapt to his environment.

He’s a boy who is set to turn 21 in a few months, has two England goals under his belt, two Premier League winner’s medals and has already made 18 Champions League appearances – more than most. footballers are successful in a lifetime.

The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed a very weird pattern when it comes to Foden, but for those of you who haven’t spotted it yet, we’ll break it down as best we can – each time. he departures a football match, he plays very good and Manchester city seem to do the same. WHY IS HE EVER NAMED AS A SUBSTITUTE, PEP !?

The 20-year-old has made just six Premier League starts so far this season, with the campaign almost halfway there. To put this in context – and you may think it’s ridiculous to compare these two players, but really is not – Wayne Rooney had 86 Premier League starts to his name by the time he was Foden’s age, but the Manchester City man is only 18.

And anyone who thinks Foden is in a team with a lot more competition for places will do well to remember that Rooney had already been at Manchester United for two years at this point in his career – and everything was fine.

After praising Foden following City’s dismantling of Chelsea, Pep shocked many when he faced Foden from the start against Manchester United in their Carabao Cup semi-final on Wednesday night, with the youngster allowing the 90 minutes complete.

So this is it? Will he finally become the usual starting XI of the City that the country asks him to become? Or is Catalan Dick Dastardly just luring us into another trap before shattering our hopes with the next Premier League roster?

Oh, please start it at the beginning, Pep.