Qatar 2022: Fans who want Foden against Wales ignore his modest form in England shirt

With the score goalless and England struggling to perform in their second game at a major tournament, clamouring fans watched with relief as Gareth Southgate reached out to release the proverbial handbrake.

Step up, Jack Grealish. Tasked with yielding a winner against Scotland in the penultimate group game of Euro 2020, he was the populist choice, the maverick meant to make the difference — and yet he made little impact. Few considered the player replaced: Phil Foden.

While he was far from alone in struggling to inspire Southgate’s side, Foden had failed to grasp the game in the same way as the man whose bleach-blond hair he had copied.

England are constantly in search of the 21st-century Paul Gascoigne, but when the results reflect remarkable progress in such limited time, why not trust in the man making the decisions? Form has always been important to Southgate. But he has also hinted that performances in an England shirt trump what he witnesses during the domestic season.

Foden has scored eight times for Manchester City this campaign, been in blistering form alongside Erling Haaland, and is widely supported. Roy Keane questioned why he didn’t feature against the USA. So too did Gary Neville, who described him as a generational talent. In these pages, Wayne Rooney wrote that Foden is technically the best player in England’s squad and described his remaining on the bench as strange.

But here’s the nub of the question: when has Foden been England’s standout player in a big game? You could point to only two goals in 19 appearances for his country, against Iceland in 2020, a couple of months after being sent home from Reykjavik for flouting Covid-19 rules by sneaking two women into the team hotel. Or you could highlight the World Cup qualifier versus Andorra, when he orchestrated the show against the team ranked 156th in the world.

The idea of an England 2.0 formed that night, of Southgate seasoning his side with the gifted generation of Foden and Jadon Sancho, whose style brought a Brazilian flavour to England’s successful structure. But why change a winning formula when it matters?

Foden featured for 158 minutes during the Euros and didn’t register a goal or assist. Southgate leant towards the more conservative approach in attack, with Mason Mount offering the preferred blend of creative quality and defensive discipline that complements the front line.

Mount presses like few others in that position. This has yielded results that make Southgate the most successful England coach since Alf Ramsey, a penalty shoot-out from immortality. He has followed Pep Guardiola’s pattern at City by viewing Foden as a wide player, which would mean dropping Raheem Sterling or Bukayo Saka, whose performances have improved in spite of criticism.

Southgate has called this World Cup “the tournament of noise” and he will aim to block it out. He will look at the big picture, the approach that got him here. England didn’t land in Doha without a plan. Changing that now would be like standing on the first tee at Augusta on Masters Saturday with your name high on the leaderboard and deciding to alter your swing. Save it for the range.

It would be a waste not to utilise Foden’s talents, but he is only 22 years old. If this does prove to be Southgate’s final tournament, then his successor would surely aim to unleash the potential of players like Foden and Trent Alexander-Arnold, and build an England who can thrive in the post-Harry Kane era. For now Southgate does still intend to use Foden during this World Cup and it’s possible that happens on Tuesday against Wales, with England all but qualified.

“We love Phil and think he is a super player,” Southgate said after the draw with the USA. “Maybe things could have been different but that was the decision we made on the night.”

He is a manager who tends to get them right. Prioritising victory over giving players game time is at the top of the list, but Southgate knows what Foden offers, even though his England career has not run smoothly. Just like Grealish’s cameo against Scotland, the clamouring may well stop once Foden enters the field.