Phil Foden has gone to sh*t along with Newcastle and Aston Villa pairs

There have been some worrying losses of form from those who were brilliant in 2023/24; the PFA awards winner is chief among them.

This time last year we were talking about Marcus Rashford but now it’s this six…

Phil Foden (Manchester City)
“I’m not concerned at all about how far it is (a return to top form) because I know when he is fine, he will get it. He’s a natural talent, he will get it,” said Pep Guardiola on October 25. But since then, Foden has started five Premier League games and produced nary a goal nor an assist. He was rotten against Tottenham and then somehow even worse against Liverpool, ‘earning’ a place in our worst XI of the weekend.

We have talked about Manchester City putting up one of the worst title defences in history, but it’s nothing compared to the fall off a cliff from Foden as he ‘defends’ his PFA title. That gong is likely to go to the extraordinary Mo Salah this season. Maybe it’s the fear of a Foden-like collapse (from 19 Premier League goals to zero so far in 2024/25) that’s stopping them offering him that new, lucrative contract.

Anthony Gordon (Newcastle United)
There’s little doubt that Gordon wanted to join Liverpool (he’s a fan) this summer and the framework of a £75m transfer was established, though Newcastle were always very reluctant to sell one of their three biggest assets. In the end he stayed (he had no choice) and signed a long-term contract that rewarded his 11-goal, 10-assist season with vast rewards.

The problem is that he has largely been sh*t since. His body language has been about as impressive as his output (two goals, one assist), with his productivity going down in almost all departments. There has been talk of his non-involvement at Euro 2024 being a major factor in his poor start to the season, but it seems more likely that it’s a good old-fashioned case of ‘look at what you could have won’.

Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa)
The best goalkeeper in the world (apparently) is one of the worst goalkeepers in the Premier League this season.

The statistics show that his exploits saved Villa almost seven goals last season; this season he has cost them three goals and the season is only 13 games old. Meanwhile. the eyes show that he is dropping bollocks the like of which we have never seen before.

It couldn’t happen to a nicer fella.

Lucas Paqueta (West Ham)
To be fair, it must be difficult to “play football like he’s dancing on the Copacabana” (h/t Vladimir Coufal) when you are facing a possible ban from football for spot-fixing.

Paqueta has been sloppy and sullen this season, with the 5-2 defeat to Arsenal a particular low, prompting him to be dropped for the second time. That would have been unthinkable in 23/24, when he claimed six Premier League assists in a team hardly known for its creativity.

“He’s almost like a liability at times when you haven’t got the ball,” said Alan Pardew as he compared him to Hatem Ben Arfa, who “could do things with the ball at a top, top level” and had “unbelievable talent [but] he literally had zero defensive qualities in him”.

Alexander Isak (Newcastle United)
“He’s (Isak) building momentum into his season and has scored some big goals of late for us,” said Eddie Howe on November 25. “His general performances, I think, have continued to improve.”

Newcastle then played West Ham and Isak – according to one Newcastle fan site, at least -‘disappeared’ after an early ‘goal’ was disallowed.

The bare numbers are that Isak is scoring goals at roughly half the pace of last season. But here’s the really worrying aspect of that drop: He is taking more shots. So that suggests a) poor shot selection and b) poor aim; he his hitting the target with just 31.3% of his shots compared to 50% last season.

Newcastle did well to keep Gordon and Isak this summer, but it might have been sensible to take the money on offer for at least one. Because they have both gone a little bit to sh*t.

Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa)
In the whole of last season, Watkins missed 22 Opta-Defined Big Chances, putting him fourth on a list behind Erling Haaland, Darwin Nunez and Nicolas Jackson. This season – which is just 13 games old – has seen him miss 13 Big Chances already. That, maths fans, is one per game.

He’s actually scoring goals at pretty much exactly the same rate as last season but he’s actually getting better chances, while his all-round play has taken a massive dive. There are growing calls for Jhon Duran to finally be given a Premier League start, but Unai Emery is clearly reluctant while Watkins is still scoring goals.

“He needed time to get fit and confident again like last year,” said Unai Emery last month. It’s fair to say that it’s an ongoing process.