Gareth Southgate praises ‘unsexy’ Phil Foden after holding crunch talks with England players following Serbia criticism

GARETH SOUTHGATE defended Phil Foden by hailing the under-fire England star’s ‘unsexy’ graft.

Boss Southgate held a team meeting to help Three Lions players deal with criticism with Foden targeted after Sunday’s 1-0 win over Serbia.

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Foden, crowned Prem Player of the Season, had a quiet game but ran further than any of his team-mates and is set to be in an unchanged team against Denmark on Thursday night.

Southgate said: “Without Phil’s contribution without the ball — and I know that’s not the sexy bit — I don’t think we win against Serbia.

“Phil did an incredible job for the team. Others grabbed the attention, but the way he worked for the team – he defended spaces with real intelligence.

“He has set an incredibly high bar at Manchester City, where he knows exactly where every player is going to be every time he picks the ball up.

“With us, we’re always having to adapt to different team-mates.”
Foden, who has four goals in 35 England caps, put in a huge shift in Gelsenkirchen — covering 13.2km on the pitch.

But TV pundits Ian Wright was among those who gave Foden stick for not ‘getting into the game.’

Asked about the criticism ahead of the game in Frankfurt, Southgate added: “I have to make sure I can guide them through that, let them understand it and recognise it’s the reality of our world but that we shouldn’t be thrown off track by it.

“This is a different world to the one you experience at clubs. The players recognise that. We talked with them about it.

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“It’s very rare at their club they’d win a game and experience what they’ve experienced over the last couple of days.”

Kyle Walker has told his Manchester City team-mate to “rise up on big occasions” by firing the Three Lions to Euros glory.

He believes Foden should not be judged on one disappointing performance.

City skipper Walker said: “The manager had a brief talk with us (on Tuesday night). All eyes are on us boys over here representing our country.

“Phil is a great character. This is just another little thing he has to overcome when there is so much pressure on him now after such a great season – big players have to rise up on big occasions.

“I don’t think one game defines a player. It’s a season or a tournament that defines a player.

“There is going to be massive scrutiny on certain performances but we came away from the Serbia game with three points on the board, a clean sheet and in a good stead for this game against Denmark.”