Foden hands Pep a problem to enjoy

CITY might just have solved their No.9 conundrum.

The problem is, Phil Foden’s brilliant display as a false nine in the Blues’ Brugge cruise in the Champions League means his growing fan club may not get to see him as often destroying full-backs as a winger, or laying waste to defences with precision mortar-shell passes from a central playmaker role.

On the plus side, Foden displayed both of those qualities when asked by Pep Guardiola to take up the central striking cudgel that has been handed to half a dozen players this season with varying degrees of success.

Foden played centrally against Burnley at the weekend, before being switched with Raheem Sterling at halftime, and he also played there, in a sacrificial way, as City won at Chelsea before the international break.

He was good in both games, but not great. But this is a kid who learns as he plays, and in a scintillating first 45 minutes on Tuesday he almost perfected the art of the false nine.

He is a nightmare for central defenders and holding midfielders.

Get tight, and he is liable to take the ball on the half-turn and leave you standing. Stand off, and he has the space to pick a pass - and his execution is outstanding.

Guardiola wanted Harry Kane in the summer, partly for his goal output. But the City boss has also been impressed with the way the Tottenham icon brings other players in to the game.

Like Foden did in Brugge, Kane drops deep, tempting centre-backs to follow him, and he has the physicality and the ability to hold the ball and then split the defence, finding players who exploit the space that his movement has created. Foden was doing exactly that to inspire City’s comfortable win his chipped pass for Joao Cancelo’s opening goal was sensational, and he repeatedly peeled off the defenders and slotted diagonal passes for Jack Grealish on the left.

Foden was so good it will be tempting for Guardiola to play him there again - but he is good wherever he plays at the moment.

He was a left winger when he destroyed James Milner at Anfield, and a classic, deep-lying, long-passing playmaker, finding runners like a quarterback, when he played for England. And in the 2020 Carabao Cup final he played as a right winger. He is a pure footballer, with the attributes to win you games wherever you play him.