Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has demanded more from Manchester City star Phil Foden if he wants to start for the club.
The England ace has been consigned to the bench in most games for Manchester City, and has been struggling to break into the team’s starting lineup.
Meanwhile, another England star and record midefield signing from Aston Villa Jack Grealish has been used regularly by Pep Guardiola and has been in top shape for the team.
This poses a challenge for Phil Foden, who plays same role. Pep Guardiola is not hiding it when it comes to how he chooses his starting lineup.
The Premier League champions are blessed with enough depth to weather any opposition in the Premier League. One would have envisaged that the former Barcelona manager will have to square up with the challenge of selecting his starting lineup.
But Guardiola has his novelty way of getting the job done without settling for a limbo on who to start, and who not to start.
The City manager said he uses players’ body language on the training pitch to decide who starts in his star-studded cast. How the player performs in training is a key factor on who makes his starting lineup.
His tactical plan against an opponent is also another factor determining who makes the starting lineup.
However, the latter is less significant compared to the former. Pep Guardiola rarely start Phil Foden and Jack Grealish, but he deployed both midfielders in the game against Manchester United, and has since switch the nomenclature, leaving Foden on the bench in most games than Grealish.
Foden was phenomenal for Manchester City in their first 10 Premier League games. He started every one of the first 10 league games of City’s campaign, up until the team suffered their first defeat of the season against struggling Liverpool in October.
But he has been in the first XI for just one of the six Premier League matches since then before Liverpool lost to Brentford.
Foden watched from the bench as Manchester City stumbled, dropping 2 points against Everton in their chase of league leaders Arsenal.
He was subbed on late into the game, but his presence made little or no difference.
While Pep Guardiola commended his versatility on the pitch, he said he uses his intuition to determine who starts or not based on performance in training sessions.
“Phil can play in one thousand positions”, the coach said.
“But I see something on the pitch, in the training sessions, and I use my intuition to use Jack in these games because he gives us extra passes.”
He added Phil Foden fits well into the team when they go vertical helping him combine perfectly with Grealish.
“Phil is better when (the game is) more vertical. Both can play together and combine”, the coach noted.
“The way we played against Leeds, knowing their defence was completely different, was really good.
Pep commended Phil Foden for his performances in the last three games against Liverpool, Leeds, and Everton although coming on as a late sub in the games.
“The way we’ve played in the last three games is one of the best since I’ve been here”, he added.
“And Phil made a fantastic contribution from the bench.”
Speaking on how he chooses his starting eleven in Manchester City, the former Bayern Munich manager said;
“Lately, as I get older, I mainly look at the body language. In the training sessions and everything.
“You cannot play good when the body language is not correct.”
He added the player’s mood plays a big role in his choice of players.
“Sometimes you choose the players for how happy they are, if they are there.
“That is one of the main decisions with choosing the line-up, because with the skills, I know how good they are.
“The body language depends on them and sometimes they are not good and it is more difficult.”
Manchester City are now seven points away from Arsenal who are aiming for their first Premier League title since 2003/04 season.
They will face a uphill task in their next game as they travel to take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
