Gary Lineker insisted that one Manchester City player really ‘came to life’ in his latest appearance at Euro 2024.
England booked their place in the semi-finals on Saturday night, beating Switzerland on penalties.
Manuel Akanji was the unfortunate player to miss for the Swiss, with Jordan Pickford saving well down to his left. He was then consoled by his City teammates, which was good to see.
England still played poorly against Switzerland. But they did show good character to get back into the contest after Breel Embolo scored on 75 minutes.
Gareth Southgate’s side will need to be much improved against the Netherlands in the semi-final, and one man who will hopefully really shine is Phil Foden.
It has been a tricky past few weeks for the Premier League Player of the Season, but Gary Lineker has defended the Manchester City star and saw some good signs against the Swiss.
Gary Lineker encouraged by latest Phil Foden display for England against Switzerland
Foden has arguably been the most talked about England player while the Euros have been going on.
The City number 47 went into the tournament in the form of his life having had the best season of his career.
The £225,000-a-week star was central to City’s Premier League title-winning campaign, but in Germany, it hasn’t quite happened for him. He has been nowhere near as bad as some people have made out.
But undoubtedly, Foden’s club form has not translated to the national team.
The environment is obviously much different, but people expected a lot more from the 24-year-old.
But Foden has received backing from BBC host Gary Lineker, who liked his performance against Switzerland as a central player alongside Jude Bellingham. He said on the Rest Is Football: “Foden, I thought, came to life because he is so good as a 10.
“He can take the ball on the half turn, particularly in the first half, I thought he was probably one of the key players.”
Foden better against Switzerland
Undoubtedly, Foden was a lot better against Switzerland in a central role than out wide against the other nations.
He is much more comfortable in the middle, where he can find pockets of space and take the ball on the half-turn and drive.
England were still quite poor as a collective. But Switzerland are the best team England have faced so far and were always going to pose a big challenge. The Telegraph noted that Foden ‘ran his socks off’ against the Swiss, and hopefully he will now score or assist against the Netherlands.
It would be amazing to see him finally come to the fore for England in a huge game. Bellingham, Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka have all delivered big moments so far and the City maestro will be absolutely determined to get in on the action before the tournament is out.