Shaun Wright-Phillips wants England to play with the shackles off in order to get the best out of Phil Foden, who has struggled to replicate his scintillating form for Manchester City at international level.
Foden has scored seven goals in all competitions at the time of writing, which included a hat-trick in a 6-3 derby day win over Manchester United.
Wright-Phillips believes it is Pep Guardiola’s tactical approach which allows Foden to shine and is encouraging Southgate to become more gung-ho to get the best out of the 22-year-old.
“If you look at the way City play, they control games. City are always on the front foot, whereas I don’t think England do play on the front foot and play more defensively,” he said in an exclusive interview with FourFourTwo.
“They will be happy springing counter-attacks, whereas with City, they want the ball all the time, control the game and dictate play to other teams.
“Sometimes I feel that England should let the attacking players flow and do what they do. We’ve sometimes got six defenders on the pitch, so to let four players express themselves would do no harm," Wright-Phillips added.
“I think England’s players should try to play the way they do in the Premier League. If the game is open, I would put money on us scoring a lot more goals than many other countries.
“It showed against Germany when they were 2-0 down, the players went for it and brought it back to 3-2 before drawing 3-3 in the end. It’s no mean feat to do that against Germany, so if they can do that against them, they can do it to anybody.”
The former Manchester City winger turned his attention to present-day matters at the Etihad and admits he isn’t too concerned about the prospect of Guardiola’s contract expiring, claiming it should have little impact on the team’s progress this season.
“It’s just like a player, in the sense that if one of them has the contract running out then you would look to renegotiate it. At the same time, you’re not going to rush it and you don’t want to rock the boat.
“Pep and the club have an understanding and both seem happy with each other. I’m not too worried about his contract running out because he’s been in this situation before in his time there. His focus is on winning things for Man City and the team are playing well. They’ll revisit that when the time comes.”
Wright-Phillips also heaped praise on Erling Haaland following his summer arrival from Borussia Dortmund, and cited the main differences between the Norwegian and former Chelsea teammate Didier Drogba.
“Drogba was about the hustle and bustle and was all over the pitch, but Haaland is all about scoring goals. He said before that he’d be happy only having five touches, scoring five goals and wouldn’t care about touching the ball again.
"If you watch him play, some of the goals he scores are incredible. Erling might not touch the ball for 45-50 minutes, but if you give him the ball in front of goal, then it will be in the back of the net.
"He doesn’t need to warm up into the game with chances. If they come and is in the positions he wants to be, then more times than not, they’re in the back of the net.”
Shaun Wright-Phillips chatted to FFT via Freebets.com
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