Phil Foden has candidly addressed the team’s underwhelming performances at Euro 2024

England forward Phil Foden has candidly addressed the team’s underwhelming performances at Euro 2024, expressing that the players “need to take some of the blame” and voicing his sympathy for under-pressure manager Gareth Southgate. Despite England’s advancement to the knockout stages after topping their group and edging past Slovakia in extra time, their style of play has faced criticism, raising questions about team selection and tactics.

“The players have got to take some of the blame,” said Foden. “There has to be some leaders to get together and find out a solution to why it is not working. There is only so much the manager can do. He sets you up in a system and tells you how to press. If it is not going like that, you have to [work it out].”

As England prepares for their quarter-final clash against Switzerland on Saturday (17:00 BST), the Manchester City star acknowledged the pressure on Southgate: “I feel sorry for Gareth. In training, he has been telling us to press and be high up on the pitch and I feel like sometimes, it has to come from the players. We have to be leaders. In games, we could have got together a little bit more and worked out a solution. So yes, we have spoken about it more. If it happens again in a game, we can get together and find a solution, see where it is going wrong and adapt our press.”

Foden, who was named the Premier League’s Player of the Season and the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year for the 2023-24 campaign, has yet to find the back of the net at Euro 2024. Despite his impressive club form, he has struggled to replicate it on the international stage in Germany.

“I’ve not been the best player in the Premier League to come here and not show it,” the 24-year-old admitted. “[But] every game I’m moving little steps forward and, hopefully, I can put in good performances for England. That’s always been my aim to show it for the national team. The first game was very quiet; in terms of how the game went, I didn’t have much going forward for myself. The next games after that I grew. I came close a few times and I was offside [when seeming to score] in the last game [against Slovakia]. Against Denmark, I hit the post. My performances have improved a lot and if [the efforts] go in, no one’s saying anything.”

Addressing the criticism that his tendency to drift inside from the left clashes with midfielder Jude Bellingham’s positioning, Foden disagreed: “I don’t agree with that; I feel we do work good together. It’s just the way the games have gone sometimes and the way football works, but I feel like in the last game we did build on it really well, in terms of keeping the ball. We piled pressure on at the end and it can hopefully click together.”

As England prepares for their crucial quarter-final match, Foden’s words underscore a collective responsibility and a resolve to improve, reflecting the team’s commitment to overcoming challenges and delivering for their fans.

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