Kyle Walker has urged Phil Foden to produce the performance level he showed at Everton last night on a regular basis.
The England midfielder scored a brilliant equaliser as City hit back from 1-0 down to win 3-1 at Goodison Park and close the gap to Premier League leaders Liverpool to five points with a game in hand.
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Foden, 23, has been used in a more central role this season following the departure of Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne’s long-term injury.
And while he has thrived, England team-mate Walker wants to see him hit his best levels week in, week out.
He said: “You can see it in his performances, but I’m not patting him on the back.
“He needs to keep doing what he’s doing because I think the sky is the limit for him.
“Resting on a couple of good games is not going to put you in that calibre of the best footballers in the world. He’s got the potential, he needs to make sure the drive is still there, he keeps concentrating, keeps putting in the performances that he is doing.”
A phenomenal strike from @PhilFoden to spark the comeback! 💥🤯 pic.twitter.com/0Jb0J9YPay
— Manchester City (@ManCity) December 28, 2023
City last week claimed the FIFA Club World Cup, completing the full set of trophies available under Pep Guardiola, but Walker says all focus is now on attempting to replicate last season’s treble triumph.
He added: “It was good to go and finally tick the Club World Cup off the list last week.
“It’s important now to draw a line under it and it’s a big end to the season when we’re in the competitions we want to fight for again.”
City’s win at Goodison was just their second in their last seven Premier League games, although Walker feels the performances merited better.
“We’ve been playing well, but this game is about winning and we weren’t doing that,” he said.
“Wolves away, they played a better game than us, Aston Villa away, they played a better game than us. The other games we’ve dropped points or lost games, I don’t feel they played a better game than us.
“Arsenal is like a chess game when you play them, but definitely not the Liverpool and Tottenham games. I thought we played really well and deserved more than a point out of those games.
“But that’s football and in the Premier League you can never let your guard down, you’ve got to keep going until the last minute.”
