Pep Guardiola is not bothered by Phil Foden failing to find Erling Haaland in the box in recent matches.
Foden passed up a golden opportunity to square the ball for a Haaland tap-in against Bournemouth before a less obvious opportunity against Newcastle. He shot both times instead and, having failed to beat the goalkeeper, has attracted the ire of some fans online for his decisions.
Pointing out that he expects the England star to score plenty of goals in the attack, Guardiola pointed to a similar incident last season when Foden could have passed the ball but instead rifled the ball past Alisson Becker to earn City a 2-2 draw at Anfield that ultimately helped them beat Liverpool to the title. However, he also reflected that the 22-year-old and his teammates are not used to having a No.9 in their thoughts when they take decisions.
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"The two similar actions, remember when we play in Anfield, the 2-2, the pass from Kevin or Gabriel I think it was, he shot at the goal and scored, it was a quite similar action," said Guardiola. "But in that moment maybe he feel we don’t play with a proper, proper striker, but now we know, in that situation that Erling is always there - Julian as well - and he will realise that.
"He can shoot because Phil is going to score a lot of goals in that position, and I want that, but now he will know and he will review the images and he will see that in that position, always Erling is there. The second goal at Camp Nou with the overlap from Joao, we had two or three players (in the box) and Cole was there (to score), and Erling is always there, it’s his biggest talent. It’s a question of time, like I’ve said many times, to know each other and see it."
Another matter of time is Foden's position. The youngster was heralded as the next David Silva as he came through the City academy but has been preferred as a forward by Guardiola in the absence of a natural striker and stayed on the wing against Barcelona in midweek while Cole Palmer played through the middle.
Guardiola does not want to take away the 'unique' ability that Foden has, although he would like the player to learn when to change tempo if he is to become one of the best players in the world.
"I don’t want him to lose this gear, this pace that is unique, but at the same time in the final third… when you have the right decision with this gear it’s amazing, but sometimes when the decision making is not perfect you have to reduce your gear to make better decisions," he said.. "So it’s a question of time, he’s incredibly young, incredible energy, and he’s a key player, an important player for us in many, many things.
"He can play right now even in the middle. He played there I think in all his academy career, but now we need him more up front, firstly because his sense of goal is incredible, but I think he can adapt perfectly to the position of Kevin or Gundo or Bernardo without a problem.
"The biggest players in every situation and every single action they take the right decision, depending on where are your mates, what are the movements of the opposition, the position that you have. That’s why it’s not PlayStation where you [as a manager] guide what they do, they have to decide in the right moment.
"The biggest players always are the ones who decide perfectly in every action."
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