Man City’s Guardiola raves about Foden: ‘Always he is there’،
LONDON — Pep Guardiola called Phil Foden an “outstanding” player after the midfielder's hat-trick inspired Manchester City to a 3-1 win over Brentford in west London on Monday, adding: “he's still there “.
City had appeared to be frustrated by Brentford after Neal Maupay gave the home side the lead in the 21st minute and goalkeeper Mark Flekken made numerous saves to deny the defending champions.
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But Foden equalized for City just before half-time before securing his side's three points with two more second-half goals to complete his hat-trick.
The win moved City to within two points of league leaders Liverpool after playing a game less than Klopp's side.
“We needed it [Foden’s performance] today,” Guardiola said at a press conference. “I think Phil is playing… the most [influential] season for the team in terms of goals, assists. How he played simple, how he can be more aggressive. He has the pleasure of scoring goals and the threat when he is close to their box. He is always there.
“So he’s an exceptional, exceptional player. He’s [young] and already has over 250 appearances for City, it shows the impact he has had since his arrival.”
Foden's hat-trick was the second he had scored in the Premier League – his first against Manchester United on October 2, 2022.
“I don’t know his limits,” Guardiola said. “He will decide. For him, football is the most important thing in his life. Of course, apart from his family and his children, it is the most important thing.
“It depends on him, but he likes it a lot. He loves playing football. When you see players like him playing in the street when you're little, you get that feeling of amateurism. [in the way he plays]”.
This match was also the first time in over five months that Guardiola was able to name both Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland in a starting XI since the opening weekend of the season.
De Bruyne has returned to full fitness in recent weeks after undergoing hamstring surgery, while Haaland made his first league start since December 6 after recovering from a foot injury, but he failed to mark his comeback with a goal.
“I can't imagine a striker from all over the world playing against Brentford surrounded by six players in a space of two or three meters, something like that. It's uncomfortable,” Guardiola said.
“I can't imagine that even the best, the best strikers in the world can survive in that. But being there helps the players in the second position to be more involved and [creates] more chances to score a goal.
“So thanks to the presence of Erling, Julian [Alvarez] and Kevin and Phil have more spaces. Without him it would be more difficult. So he helped us a lot today.”
Brentford were the only team to beat City home and away in the Premier League last season.
“They are so difficult [to play against]”, Guardiola said. “It's an incredible team. Set pieces, corners, free kicks, throw-ins, I've never seen a team better than this one.”
Towards the end of the match there was an incident between City defender Kyle Walker and Brentford striker Maupay which resulted in a short stoppage of play as the right-back spoke to referee Jarred Gillett.
Guardiola and Brenford boss Thomas Frank both refused to give further details of the incident when asked by reporters after the match.
