Sat Nov 26, 2022 10:27 am
Carragher: Baffling Foden remained on the bench
A number of notable pundits have voiced their frustration over Gareth Southgate's decision not to play Phil Foden in England's bore draw with the USA.
Foden is arguably England's most creative player and, with the game calling out for a creative force, Southgate refused to bring on the Manchester City star and instead opted for the likes of Jordan Henderson, Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish.
And former Liverpool defender turned sharp-tongued pundit Carragher wrote on Twitter: "It was baffling that he remained on the bench when the game was crying out for his creativity. If you had told me before the tournament that Foden would only feature for 19 minutes of the first two World Cup games, my initial thought would be he must be injured... He is too much of a special talent."
Gary Lineker tweeted: "Interesting substitutions." He later added: "Poor performance from England, but that happens at a World Cup at some stage. The big question, even with such a talented bunch, is whether the manager can change things positively with his tactics and substitutions when it’s not working."
Michael Owen, meanwhile said: "Astonishing that we've used 14 players so far, yet our most talented player is still sat on the bench."
During the coverage, Gary Neville said on ITV: "I’ve got lot of respect for Gareth and what he’s achieved - he’s achieved the most since Alf Ramsey. But we’ve got a couple of talents sat on the bench in the form of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Foden who are capable of opening up the game.
"Alexander-Arnold has some of the best deliveries you’ll ever see from full-back and on that right side when Rashford came on, he had Henderson and (Kieran) Trippier so he was blocked from getting that delivery in. I think those two coming off the bench is a little bit disappointing, if you’re trying to win the game, they’re world class talents."
Southgate defended the decision after the match, saying: "We thought it was the right thing to keep the team from the start and then the wide players we went with Jack and Marcus ahead of Phil on the changes.
"We thought Jack would keep the ball well for us and get us up the pitch and Marcus' speed we also thought would be a threat coming into that last part of the game."