‘A real enigma’ – Stuart Pearce defends Gareth Southgate’s Phil Foden decision but Tony Cascarino ‘surprised’ at England omission

Stuart Pearce has defended Gareth Southgate over his decision not to bring in Phil Foden against USA.

The Manchester City star was left on the bench in the 0-0 World Cup draw but Tony Cascarino wondered why the 22-year-old wasn’t in the starting line-up.

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The Three Lions were held to a stalemate against their Group B opponents on Friday night in an uninspiring performance in Qatar.

Southgate opted to make just three changes from a possible five, with Foden an unused substitute despite their late search for a goal.

However, speaking exclusively to talkSPORTformer England international Pearce understands why Southgate failed to bring in the attacking midfielder.

He said: “Either you put [Jack] Grealish in the field or you put Foden in the field on that left side, their two most favored positions I would say.

“He has the problem on the right side with [Bukayo] Saka, who I don’t think had much of an impact in the game, their left-back was arguably one of their best weapons, moving forward and complementing everything [Christian] Pulisic was doing right in front of him.

“You’re thinking ‘well, if I put Foden on the right side, is Phil perfectly suited for follow-up? [Antonee] Robinson back, his energy and pace and all that play? It’s a real hard riddle for him, so I can totally understand why he ended up not doing what he does.

However, Cascarino believes Foden needs more World Cup minutes to fulfill his potential: “Phil Foden is a great player, am I surprised he was left out of England’s starting line-up? Yes because I think Phil Foden is a quality player.

“He didn’t have the best of the Euros, he never really started this tournament, but you need Phil Foden to go there.

“When he starts at Man City he is devastating and he can score a lot of goals and he can cause problems. He found himself in and out of that England team.

England remain top of Group B after two games and any positive result against Wales on Tuesday will see them through to the knockout stages.

It remains to be seen if Foden will get the chance to play against the Dragons, although Southgate may choose to make changes to his squad after the performance he saw against USA.

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