"I love that you try to defend him." Cesc Fabregas refused to accept Micah Richards' excuses for Phil Foden's underwhelming England performance against Serbia.

The Manchester City midfielder came into the game after the best season of his career for his club and is expected to play a huge role for the Three Lions at Euro 2024.

Against Serbia, however, Foden played poorly and was on the edge of proceedings as Jude Bellingham scored the only goal in a 1-0 win.

On the BBC, Richards said that the onus should be on England manager Gareth Southgate to find a solution that brings the best out of the midfielder.

Fabregas, however, believes that Foden needs to

"The big talking point for me tonight was Phil Foden," Richards said.

"I think the first 20 minutes he got into some really good positions. We need to find a way to get the best out of him.

"He wasn't involved. At Manchester City, we obviously know it's choreographed with the system, and the movements, and all those sorts of things...

"But it makes me sad when I see a player of this quality just in and out of games."

Fabregas, however, interjected.

The former Spain midfielder who won Euro 2008, the World Cup in 2010 and Euro 2012 with Spain, disagreed with Richards'.

Fabregas said that the issue was not that England needed to find a way to bring Foden into the game, but that Foden needed to find a way to make more of an impact on the match.

"The way we see Jude [Bellingham] getting the ball, imposing himself, he [Foden] owes us this class. He needs to do that himself," the former Arsenal midfielder said.

"A player of this class, this level and this talent doesn't even need to be told by the coach what to do.

"He needs to want it more than the rest and today it showed that Jude is a little bit above him in this regard and he needs to get this personality back."

You can watch the clip below.

Euro 2024 Day Four: All the major action and talking points

Roy Keane singles out the one England player who will stop them from winning Euros

Erik ten Hag gives brutal assessment of Gareth Southgate's managerial style following narrow England win

WATCH: Liverpool BOTTLED the title race | Who will win the Premier League?