Matthew Upson has said that one Manchester City player was disappointing in his latest international appearance.
With the 2023/24 season over, the focus for a lot of City players has now turned to the upcoming European Championship in Germany, which is set to officially kick off on Friday.
This week has seen several national sides in action in numerous friendly matches ahead of the upcoming tournament.
Now though, a pundit and former top-flight player has highlighted the recent performance of one particular City star who will be in action for his country in the Euros.
Matthew Upson disappointed by Phil Foden’s latest England performance
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live (via BBC Sport) towards the end of England’s 1-0 defeat to Iceland at Wembley Stadium last night, Upson had this to say about Phil Foden’s performance in the match.
He said: “Phil Foden has had a difficult evening. He’s given the ball away a lot and not really created much for England.”
Foden was disappointing in Iceland defeat
With the full 90 minutes under his belt in last night’s game, the midfielder had 65 touches of the ball in total but gave possession away 22 times, which is more than any other England player on the night.
Specifically, the 24-year-old misplaced 12 of the 51 passes he attempted, failing to accurately complete all four crosses he attempted and three of the four long passes he tried to make.
In addition to that, Foden failed to complete the one dribble he attempted and lost all four duels he was involved in as well as failing to make even one key pass.
This display ultimately earned the City star a rather underwhelming match rating of 6.6/10 from SofaScore, making him the lowest-rated England player.
Taking all of that on board, it’s easy to see why Upson was not impressed by what he saw from Foden on this occasion.
Moving forward, hopefully this will be a reality check for Foden and the rest of his England teammates ahead of the upcoming tournament and make them realise how much better they will need to be if they want to be successful in the Euros.