THE STOCKPORT INIESTA v THE STOURBRIDGE STEVIE G!
QUICK FEET
HISTORY was made in the Bundesliga in September when one 17-year-old set up another to score. Jude Bellingham got the ball out from under him and played a pass behind the back line into Giovanni Reyna. I like that side to Bellingham. For a big lad — he is 6ft 1in and growing — he has got quick feet. Against City, he used his left foot to control the ball, opened up his body then found the top corner with his right foot. Phil Foden is equally fabulous with his feet, if not better. His exceptional first touch and close control gives him that edge over opponents. Both of these guys can manoeuvre and manipulate the ball brilliantly and they will only get better over time.
CREATIVITY
IN TERMS of goals per game, Foden is scoring 0.4 compared to Bellingham’s 0.1. In assists, it is 0.3 v 0.2. In chances created, it is 2.7 v 0.8. So there is no question that Foden is the more creative right now. He graduated from the Pep Guardiola school of creativity. He trains alongside the best in the business in Kevin De Bruyne and always looks forward. Foden is always moving and defenders cannot rest because of that. Bellingham is improving in this department. In the last 10 days alone he saw a first-leg strike wrongly disallowed against City, scored his first in the Bundesliga against Stuttgart and fired a superb second-leg goal against City. At 17, he has got plenty of time to catch up on Foden’s per-game numbers.
DEFENSIVE NOUS
HERE is a super stat for you: no one in the Champions League this season has made more tackles than Bellingham. There is a tenacious side to this young man. He tackles, he intercepts, he recovers and recycles the ball. He has got that defensive nous, as we saw with his goal-line clearance against Riyad Mahrez. But that is not to say Foden does not bother doing any of this. If you do not graft, you do not get in Guardiola’s team. Part of City’s philosophy is to win the ball back once you lose it. On that note, here is another statistic: nobody in the Champions League this season has won possession in the final third more often than Foden. It is not that the 20-year-old isn’t defensively minded — just that most of that work is done higher up the pitch.
SPATIAL AWARENESS
CITY’S players rotate and pick up pockets of space like it is second nature. Foden never shies away from asking for the ball — and neither does Bellingham. On Saturday against Stuttgart he drifted into the space between the defensive and midfield lines, called for the ball and from a central position bagged his first Bundesliga goal. Then the same thing happened against City on Wednesday night. It is good for a teenager to have that awareness. He will continue to work at it, I’m sure. If you can read situations earlier than others, then you will always give yourself an extra edge.
FRAME
BOTH are built perfectly to do what they do. I would not say Foden is physical and you are unlikely to see the 5ft 7in midfielder shoulder barge a defender into the advertising boards. But he has got balance and he can ride a challenge well. Bellingham, who has got the athletic build to go box-to-box, has had the best of both worlds. He grew up in the Championship, where he learned to be physical. Now he is in the Bundesliga, where he is honing his technical skills. When asked recently where his experienced demeanour on the field came from, Bellingham answered: ‘Confidence.’ If I was doing what he was doing at 17, I would be confident, too. ENGLAND are blessed to have this talent coming through. Whether Gareth Southgate decides they are worthy of starting at the Euros remains to be seen. But many caps await. If they are works in progress, I cannot wait to see the finished products. If Foden is the ‘Stockport Iniesta’, then Bellingham might become known as the ‘Stourbridge Stevie G’.