IAN LADYMAN: Fabulous Phil Foden proved he can be England’s wide man – but the Man City star must battle Bukayo Saka and Jack Grealish for a starting role under Gareth Southgate

• England cruised to a 3-1 victory over Scotland in their friendly at Hampden Park
• Phil Foden scored the first while Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane were on target
• Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport’s podcast It’s All Kicking Off! 

At half-time of a game England had dominated with ridiculous ease, Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden walked off the field together. 

First there was an arm round the shoulder from the taller man. Then there was one of those clasped handshakes that tennis players tend to give at the net. Brothers in arms for England. For the next ten years or more hopefully.

They are different players, these two, and Bellingham, the younger man, looks and feels further ahead in terms of his development at international level. He is only 20 and before this game had only scored a single goal for his country.

But such is his talent and the confidence given him by his move to Real Madrid, he already looks ready to own every single football field he ever walks on to. 

At times here, he was far too skilful, purposeful and powerful for any of the players in blue who desperately bustled around him. By full-time, he had a goal, an assist and went to stand before the England supporters like a footballer more than aware of his own standing, his own majesty.

Jude Bellingham (left) and Phil Foden (right) inspired England to a superb 3-1 win over Scotland

The Manchester City star bagged England’s opener in the first half with a well-taken finish

Foden, by way of contrast, is still finding his way. The Manchester City player does not yet have a permanent home in Southgate’s team. 

Technically, he is probably the most gifted player England have produced for a long time. But if he is to make himself a first and automatic pick for his manager then there is work yet to do. 

He has played 27 times for his country but has only five full 90 minute games among those appearances. Here, he was withdrawn with 20 minutes left once Harry Maguire’s calamitous own goal had breathed interest in this contest from nowhere.

It is harder for Foden to dominate and control a game the way Bellingham does. The Real Madrid player is a number ten. When England control possession as they did here, his imposing frame sits at the heart of just about everything Southgate’s team do.

Foden’s impact must come from wider. Southgate said before this game that he does not see the 23-year-old playing centrally. He does not do it for his club, Southgate said pointedly. 

Gareth Southgate has made it clear that he does not see Foden playing centrally for England

Bukayo Saka (left) and Jack Grealish (right, for Man City) are also fighting for a wide spot

Is he ever really on the ball enough for England? Probably not. But if he is to be denied a role in the middle of the field then the challenge is to make his impacts meaningful when they do arrive.

A look at the half-time statistics played in to the hands of those who think Southgate is too cautious. Scotland, the home team, had managed just 32 per cent of the possession. The sum total of their graft had been two badly conceded goals and not a single shot of their own.

With this in mind, it’s debatable whether England needed two holding players – Declan Rice and Kalvin Phillips – on the field. There was, it could be argued, room for another more attack minded player. 

But Southgate has been in the job too long to change now and he has a record of results behind him to lend credence to his methods.

Foden was initially slow in to the game. Nominally playing on the right side of England’s attacking three, Foden’s role was slightly more nuanced than that. 

As his club team-mate Kyle Walker fired across goal, Foden netted with a one-touch finish

Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford also looked sharp on the left wing for the Three Lions

Occasionally tucking in to assist in central areas and to allow his full-back Kyle Walker space to fly down the wing on the overlap, he did have licence to roam to a degree.

Foden’s goal – his fourth for England – was a welcome one and seemed to spark him in to life. Walker’s delivery across goal looked like a shot but his club mate reacted sharply to turn the ball in. 

From that point on, Foden ran more freely and instinctively, turning up on the right to assist in the build up to Bellingham’s goal that came on the back of a rare misstep from Scotland’s captain Andrew Robertson.

England’s group of attacking players do carry genuine threat. The possibilities going forward would appear to be endless. The conundrum for Southgate is how to harness them. 

Marcus Rashford was dynamic here, too. Lightening quick at times down the left, he passed the ball well also. Once such slide rule ball to release Bellingham in the first half was as good as anything we saw all night. Then there is Jack Grealish – not in this squad because of injury – and Bukayo Saka and Raheem Sterling. 

This is the competition facing Foden as he looks to write his name across the international game in the way we presumed he would when he first emerged from City’s academy.

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Several fans want more from Foden in an England shirt – but Southgate seemed happy with his contribution at Hampden Park on Tuesday as the Three Lions won the special heritage friendly

It will always be tempting to want more from him and indeed for him. He is such a beautifully natural footballer when his blood his up. 

His performance against Newcastle when playing centrally for City on the second weekend of the Premier League season is yet to be bettered by anybody. It is performances like that one that develop the thirst for more.

But this is not Manchester. It’s England and things are done differently here. At full-time, as England shared victory with their supporters, Foden felt another arm on his shoulder, this time from Southgate’s assistant Steve Holland. A squeeze and then a pat on the back. 

The message seemed to be that this had been a job well done. This is what Southgate and his staff want from Foden, even if some of us will always wonder if it could be done a little differently.

IT’S ALL KICKING OFF! 

It’s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.

It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.

 

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