Pep: Foden almost ready for De Bruyne's centre stage

KEVIN De Bruyne watched from the bench at Elland Road as Phil Foden was finally given the chance to show he is now the anointed, natural successor to the peerless Belgian.

Manchester City's Gabriel Jesus, right, celebrates with Manchester City's Phil Foden after scoring his side's third goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Leeds United and Manchester City at Elland Road in Leeds, England, Saturday, April 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Rui Vieira)

KEVIN De Bruyne watched from the bench at Elland Road as Phil Foden was finally given the chance to show Pep Guardiola and Manchester City supporters that he is now the anointed, natural successor to the peerless Belgian.

City manager Pep Guardiola rested the 30-year-old, ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League visit to Real Madrid, and, in a re-shuffled formation, played Foden, nine years his junior, in a central midfield, playmaking role.

The tactic worked. To devastating effect. Foden had a hand in the opening three goals, for Rodri, Nathan Ake and Gabriel Jesus, and City negotiated what appeared, on paper, the biggest potential banana skin among their remaining domestic fixtures.

And Foden confirmed a hunch Guardiola felt when he saw Foden for the first time, as a 16-year-old academy player; that central midfield will eventually be the best position for the kid known throughout football as “the Stockport Iniesta.” 

“I think he can play in all five positions up front - wingers both sides, striker and attacking midfielder in the pockets,” said Guardiola.

“He can play all of them. With time, he will be more capable of playing in the positions in the middle. He still does all actions at high speed and sometimes you have to have some pause.

“Now, he has the energy of youth and maybe winger suits him better a little bit right now but I'm pretty sure, because when I started to see him in the academy at 15-16, he played the position of Kevin and he played really good.

“All the actions are so, so quick. I always talk about David Silva, sometimes he slowed the rhythm to increase the rhythm and Phil's rhythm is always high.

“It's good because it's aggressive and we need it, but sometimes he needs a little more in that position but that is only a question of time, not that he cannot do it because he can do it without a problem.” 

David Silva is a similarly high bar for Foden to aim but the growing body of work suggests it is realistic - not that Guardiola can see the England International replacing De Bruyne just yet on set-piece duties, despite Foden setting up the first two goals at Elland Road with a free-kick and corner.

“When Kevin is there, Kevin is the taker,” laughed Guardiola. “But it's good for Phil.

“He is so young, hopefully he can be here for the rest of his life and is a guy with an outswinger or inswinger with a left foot.

“Let me tell you a secret; the secret of set pieces is about the taker. With a good taker, you have a chance. You can make movements to the near post or far post but it doesn't matter because the taker is the most important thing.

“Today Phil, especially in the first goal was fantastic at putting the ball in the right position and with the runners - Nathan, Rodri, Ayme (Laporte), Ruben (Dias) - we have weapons.

“Phil has responsibility since day one, he has performed on the biggest stages and important scenarios in important games. He loves to play and you see what he does in bad moments. Phil is not a problem.” 

With Fernandinho adding a late fourth for City and Guardiola’s players reporting a clean bill of health, apart from a slight “niggle” for Ake, the evening could hardly have gone better for the leaders ahead of Wednesday’s European tie; particularly in the way they negotiated a white-hot atmosphere at Elland Road.

“It's definitely better to travel there after winning today,” said Guardiola. “We have scored a lot of goals since our FA Cup defeat to Liverpool - three goals, five goals, four goals, three goals, four goals again - it is a lot and it is the only chance that we have to go through. We have to score goals in the Bernabeu.” 

Leeds’ ambitions are more grounded, with survival the only target, made more difficult by Burnley’s resurgence and the confirmation on Sunday that Stuart Dallas broke his leg against City and faces a “lengthy period” on the sidelines.

The 31-year-old Northern Ireland international suffered the break in a 50-50 challenge with Jack Grealish.

LEEDS (5–4-1): Meslier 6; Dallas 5 (James 45, 6), Ayling 7, Koch 6, Struijk 6, Firpo 5 (Gelhardt 62, 6); Raphinha 7, Phillips 8, Klich 6, Harrison 7; Rodrigo 6 (Greenwood 82).

Substitutes (not used): Klaesson, Llorente, Bate, Cresswell, Shackleton.

MAN CITY (4-2-3-1): Ederson 6; Cancelo 6, Dias 7, Laporte 7, Ake 7 (Zinchenko 59, 6); Rodri 7 (Fernandinho 82), Gundogan 6; Grealish 5, Foden 9 (Silva 79, 6), Sterling 8; Jesus 7.

Substitutes (not used): Steffen, De Bruyne, Mahrez, Egan-Riley, Mbete, McAtee.

Referee: P Tierney 5