AAt many points during the opening minutes of this game, it might have appeared to a casual observer that Phil Foden was walking onto the pitch with a trainer. Maybe some forgiving older relative, standing close, but not quite so close, dutifully giving chase, ready to let him show off his sparkling footwork like some tired dad in the park on a Sunday morning Same as scrolling on your phone.
As a result, United’s back-up left-back Victor Lindelof did his best to track and pursue in what was ultimately a neck-breaking one-sided 3-4, but didn’t particularly hinder City’s outstanding attacker. 1 victory. It’s a thankless security detail. Even with United’s deep midfield, Lindelof doesn’t have the physicality to stop this mid-season version of Foden, he’s just a different style guy who moves too quickly and has tendons set to a different degree nasal sound.
Perhaps Erik ten Hag might have acted earlier and done more to cover up a close duel. But Lindelof was still alone in the 56th minute. Although present, he was not fully involved. Foden took the ball from Rodri and was slightly farther inside. The space began to open up and became too much, allowing Foden to Den has time to produce. In the most tense moment, the perfect arcing lob shot into the top corner of the ball, hitting a beautiful flat ball directly from the best hitting point. It was a display of extremely hard-honed skill and finesse, accomplished in the tightest of spaces, trailing 1-0 and at a time when City were struggling somewhat against the deep swamp defense of United’s back nine.
Marcus Rashford gave United the lead in the eighth minute with his only real contribution to the game; a beautiful, pure, beautiful, angry strike into the same top corner. After this, United defended for 50 minutes like a bunch of trench infantry and whiskey infantry from the last days of the Western Front.
United give up shots more often than other teams. The plan, it seemed, was to prevent this from happening, to throw bodies into the breach and build a red line with willing flesh and blood, with ten Haigs allowing United to field seven defenders in their starting outfield ten. Scott McTominay is the top scorer in this Manchester United eleven. It’s March now. For a long time, it seemed to be working. The ball was kicked in, bounced back and hit the thigh, shoulder and back. However, Foden went on to win the game from another angle.
Ten Hag moved Diogo Dalot to the left after the equalizer in an attempt to suppress Foden’s influence. Guardiola responded immediately, wearing tight gray slacks and a priestly black turtleneck, twirling his arms on the sidelines like a man operating an invisible clothes iron at breakneck speed.
Foden moved to the left and from there the second goal arrived, scored by some good angles from Kevin De Bruyne and Julian Alvarez and a diagonal run from Foden. He had enough time, even though he was surrounded by so many people, to take two more steps and easily slot the ball past Andre Onana into the far corner.
Erling Haaland scored another goal towards the end and the game collapsed slightly. But this is Foden’s day. By the end, he had 9 shots, 2 goals, 116 touches, and a passing accuracy of 95%. His directness and his ability to play an edge in this team are what stand out. Foden leads Manchester City on Sunday. He has scored 11 goals and provided five assists in the past 14 games.
He’s such an interesting character here these days, almost something retro. This is a strong Manchester City team. Even De Bruyne has the unit status, the thickness, to run his way but also through you, like a sparkling rugby league centrepiece.
Newsletter Promotion Post
At the Etihad Stadium, with only Foden and Bernardo Silva in City’s starting XI, there was talk of Guardiola’s long legacy of small, technical, ultra-technical midfielders, the technical dwarf template. Thirteen years ago, Guardiola won the Champions League at Wembley with a team that seemed to be the template for his football, a skinny super-technical man, a pressing dog, a football that kept recycling Xavier game.
Last season’s Triple Crown winner has the strength and physical advantage. While one sometimes wonders whether City’s usual technical underwhelming came into Sunday’s game, whether it’s really always the best use of resources for John Stones to have the ball in midfield on a day like this. Foden was born to play in those tight spaces and he changed everything. He’s still only 23, skating so smoothly, and already starting to dribble more to the limit of his abilities.
Gareth Southgate is watching the game at the Etihad Stadium. There is a feeling that England’s current first-choice four could feature the coveted Foden on the left, Bukayo Saka on the right and Jude Bellingham behind Harry Kane. After years of hype, it’s pretty good, almost, in fact, true tournament-level good.
