Phil Foden can prove Gareth Southgate wrong at Man City before next England squad

For so long Gareth Southgate was the breath of fresh air as England boss. The man who did things differently, made hard decisions and crucially actually made England good. You can't get much more different than that.

But as they say, you either die the hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain and now Southgate is falling into the familiar pitfalls that ensnared so many of his predecessors. Having favourites and sticking loyally with them despite performances no longer warranting it, pushing excellent central players into wide positions and hitting back when he's criticised for it.

The September international break has seemed more heated and controversial than most with Southgate having to bat against a torrent of questions regarding the selections of Harry Maguire, Kalvin Phillips and Jordan Henderson let alone starting them and then there was his explanation as to why Manchester City star Phil Foden was selected on the wing rather than in the middle.

You've no doubt seen his lengthy reasoning, which does have some credence but also has some significant holes which were made even bigger when his starting XI for the Scotland game was actually announced. Yes, Foden has mostly played as a winger over the last three seasons but he was brought on to replace Kevin De Bruyne in the Champions League final and shone on the biggest stage. He is being selected centrally more and more and was scintillating there against Newcastle, even if 'his start position was wide on the right.'

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The notion that Pep Guardiola selects him out wide so he must be better there kind of ignores the fact he has had much steeper competition in