In recent weeks, Manchester City player Phil Foden has fallen down the pecking order under Pep Guardiola.

Phil Foden isn’t unfamiliar with the bench.

It’s where he spent a lot of his formative years at Manchester City. While there was a whirlwind of calls for him to leave on loan or get more minutes, Pep Guardiola steadfastly repelled them all. Even when the shrieking criticism got to the stage of the manager being accused of squandering a generational talent, still he did not budge.

The best place for Foden was right here under his tutelage, training day in and day out alongside David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero. There’s nothing he could learn getting seven shades kicked out of him in the Championship or having a nice time in the Netherlands that he couldn’t pick up in Manchester.

Guardiola was patient and deliberate as he carefully nurtured Foden from the scrawny livewire to a player who on his day can be the best player in the country’s best team. Foden’s talents were already clear when he had hardly turned 16 but he was named on the bench just once in the Blues boss’ first season.

The next year came a debut, two starts in the Champions League, and a few Premier League cameos. 328 minutes in total, not an awful lot but the excitement over his talents were already bubbling over.

The following season came his first goal as well as six more and a dramatic increase in minutes, up to 1,107. Then even the next season Guardiola still didn’t pull the trigger. Playing time and matches increased again but it was still a rarity if he started in the biggest games. Yet, it was blindingly obvious that Guardiola had managed him to perfection. City had a world-class player.

Then came 2020/21. 50 games. 16 goals. 10 assists. Nearly double the number of minutes to 3,374. Foden was finally getting the action that has been clamoured for since 2017. Last season continued in a similar vein, Foden being mesmerising all over the field and fulfilling all the wildest expectations that had been hoisted upon him.

The bench has always been there. Not many can escape Guardiola’s unpredictable rotation policy but more often than not over the last two years Foden has been starting games. Now that has changed.

The season started like any other. Foden started the first 10 league matches and though not at his best still had six goals including a hat-trick against Manchester United to his name. But things have gone awry since the defeat to Liverpool. In 13 games, Foden has started just three matches: two losses and a win against Chelsea in which the goal came from his replacement.

He is out of the team and it’s hard to see how he comes back in on a consistent basis. Jack Grealish and Riyad Mahrez were City’s best performers during a difficult run of form and remain so as the team appear to have come through it. Grealish especially has stepped up to the plate in recent weeks with gutsy, hard-working displays and he got the crucial goal against Arsenal.

While rotation is inevitable, Guardiola tends to remain settled on a ‘strongest team’ unless those in it give him a reason to make a more permanent change. At present both City’s wide men have hit hot streaks and are delivering when it matters most. It’s hard to see Foden wrestling his way back in any time soon.

The bench may not be unfamiliar but the new position he finds himself in certainly is. Since he firmly established himself in the side he has never been out of it, but now he will have to face up to the challenge and be ready for when his next chance arrives.

source: www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk