Kevin De Bruyne - 2016/17 performances

[greasedupdeafguy]

Fern, Gundogan and Sergio will be the first three names on the teamsheet imo with kdb, silva,nolito,navas,sterling,kelechi and sane fighting for the other three places

 

[Delphacito]

If you line up our signings from last season and this season, there's no doubt that Kev is no.1 in Pep's request.

Any of you who thinks KDB is not a shoe-in to start is mad.

KDB and Aguero are the only players we have that will go straight in into Barca, Madrid, and Bayern's XI.

 

[Terra Passenger]

And did KdB play behind the striker so far? Not really. He himself described his current position as some sort of 'free 8 role'. And Gundogan's basically an '8'. You're right in that Dortmund played (possession-based) 4-2-3-1 with Gundogan as part of the double pivot, and of course we might see a change in formation once Ilkay is fit. Not that Pep uses the 4-2-3-1 too much, but he made some exceptions when he had to pick Vidal more often than not at Bayern as he's become very vital to his system.

I see KDB and Silva as CAMs in a 4141 with Gundogan in the pivot.

 

[Hungarian blue]

I see KDB and Silva as CAMs in a 4141 with Gundogan in the pivot.

I don't think this will hapen, though Pep is Pep. :)

It would mean Gundogan would drop back to the CBs like Xabi did at Bayern for Pep, and now Fernandinho does, which is unlikely in my opinion. I know Pep is not simulating his Barca side, but you would rather think of Gundogan as a 'new Xavi' than Busquets.

 

[Terra Passenger]

I don't think this will hapen, though Pep is Pep. :)

It would mean Gundogan would drop back to the CBs like Xabi did at Bayern for Pep, and now Fernandinho does, which is unlikely in my opinion. I know Pep is not simulating his Barca side, but you would rather think of Gundogan as a 'new Xavi' than Busquets.

We'll just have to wait and see I guess.

 

[BlueMedic]

This guy is class, people are worried he's not up to pace quite yet, which is fair as he's clearly not in top gear at the moment, yet he still has 2 amazing assists from his 3 appearances - that's what he brings, even in his poorest games he'll usually create a couple of golden chances for someone.

Can't see him ever being a Silva type player myself, who puts in extremely consistent quality performances game after game, with 90%+ pass accuracy & never loses the ball - he'll always be a higher risk higher reward type, he'll lose the ball more & make poorer decisions at times, but he'll be more productive in terms of goals/assists output.

Think it's a sign of how good the guy is people are worried after "only" getting 2 assists in 3 so far.

 

[Sergio Picasso Aguero]

Fern, Gundogan and Sergio will be the first three names on the teamsheet imo with kdb, silva,nolito,navas,sterling,kelechi and sane fighting for the other three places

When everyone is fit I think...

Bravo (No.1 keeper)
Kompany (Captain)
Aguero (Best striker)

...are the only guaranteed starters and the rest is up for grabs. Obviously there will be some higher up the pecking order such as: Gundogan, Silva, De Bruyne due to their superior quality but I don't think they're guaranteed because of the strength in depth with Fernandinho, Nolito, Sané and Sterling rivalling them for the same position.

 

[Zin 'messiah' Zimmer]

When everyone is fit I think...

Bravo (No.1 keeper)
Kompany (Captain)
Aguero (Best striker)

...are the only guaranteed starters and the rest is up for grabs. Obviously there will be some higher up the pecking order such as: Gundogan, Silva, De Bruyne due to their superior quality but I don't think they're guaranteed because of the strength in depth with Fernandinho, Nolito, Sané and Sterling rivalling them for the same position.

John stones likes this....

 

[Sergio Picasso Aguero]

John stones likes this....

Don't get me wrong I think he could be at the heart of our defence for the next decade and possibly even be a future captain. Don't think you can say he is guaranteed if everyone is fit which is what we're talking about. He would be in my first eleven though.

 

[domalino]

When everyone is fit I think...

Bravo (No.1 keeper)
Kompany (Captain)
Aguero (Best striker)

...are the only guaranteed starters and the rest is up for grabs. Obviously there will be some higher up the pecking order such as: Gundogan, Silva, De Bruyne due to their superior quality but I don't think they're guaranteed because of the strength in depth with Fernandinho, Nolito, Sané and Sterling rivalling them for the same position.

Kompany wont be a guaranteed starter, not under Guardiola. He'll never play enough games straight to warrant that tag - either he'll pick up an injury, or Pep will rotate him because he doesn't want to be caught out when VK does inevitably get injured.

Stones on the other hand will probably be indispensable to Pep by January.

 

[Sergio Picasso Aguero]

Kompany wont be a guaranteed starter, not under Guardiola.

If he's fit I think he would play him over Otamendi but I guess we'll have to wait and see how he responds to his latest injury.

 

[Zin 'messiah' Zimmer]

Don't get me wrong I think he could be at the heart of our defence for the next decade and possibly even be a future captain. Don't think you can say he is guaranteed if everyone is fit which is what we're talking about. He would be in my first eleven though.

I can indeed say that when fit, he starts... Pep won't mess with the back pairing unless he has to, that's usually enforced by injury..... Kompany will also be used sparingly due to the nature of the injuries, rightly so... If kompany starts another 30/40 games over the next 2 years, I'll be happy!!

 

[domalino]

If he's fit I think he would play him over Otamendi but I guess we'll have to wait and see how he responds to his latest injury.

Yeah but Pep doesn't want to be caught out when Kompany gets injured again, so he'll want Otamendi-Stones to be a very familiar partnership. Not to mention Vinny will always be getting treated carefully so he'll be rested every few games for the foreseeable future.

Otamendi has also settled into the Pep style very well, his passing was very good on Saturday, and without looking it up, I'd say he was on the ball more than anyone else.

 

[Sergio Picasso Aguero]

I can indeed say that when fit, he starts... Pep won't mess with the back pairing unless he has to, that's usually enforced by injury..... Kompany will also be used sparingly due to the nature of the injuries, rightly so... If kompany starts another 30/40 games over the next 2 years, I'll be happy!!

I agree that Stones will probably start due to his style of defending which Pep requires.

Yeah but Pep doesn't want to be caught out when Kompany gets injured again, so he'll want Otamendi-Stones to be a very familiar partnership. Not to mention Vinny will always be getting treated carefully so he'll be rested every few games for the foreseeable future.

If Kompany can no longer be relied on which I fear is probably the case then I think we'll sign another CB in the next year because although Stones and Otamendi will probably be the main partnership this season, I don't think Otamendi is the future. There must be a reason we were looking at Stones and Laporte.

 

[obliquerays]

People going on about the 4-1-4-1 not suiting Kev or where Gundo will fit into it when he returns etc, are thinking far too rigidly and not seeing the wood for the trees imo.

These are two special players, KdB is pretty much unique in world football in his capacity to see and execute decisive passes in the final third, he's like a killer fucking unicorn !
Gundo is a metronomic pass and move machine who can make any team run more smoothly, particularly in speeding up transition from back to front (which will obviously help Kev who is at his most lethal when breaking against a less 'set' defence)

Guardiola is not married to the two variations of 4-1-4-1 we've seen so far and quite frankly if he can't get the best out of a diamond like KdB, I'd expect him to adjust to a formation that does, or he's not the manager that I expected.

 

[Yarisken]

It's simple. Kev is the secret weapon op Pep. Last 3 games city was dominating and the ball was moving very fast upfront thx to Kun, Silva, Raheem, etc... so Kev was more in the back and more or less ingnored. When we play better and agressive teams there will be more space for Kev and we need the "killer" passes he delivers.
It's thx to Pep that Kev is in city. Kev crushed Bayern 2 times when Pep was there.

 

[sir baconface]

More than any other player, KDB can still deliver goodies when having a shit game.

 

[Ban-jani]

People going on about the 4-1-4-1 not suiting Kev or where Gundo will fit into it when he returns etc, are thinking far too rigidly and not seeing the wood for the trees imo.

These are two special players, KdB is pretty much unique in world football in his capacity to see and execute decisive passes in the final third, he's like a killer fucking unicorn !
Gundo is a metronomic pass and move machine who can make any team run more smoothly, particularly in speeding up transition from back to front (which will obviously help Kev who is at his most lethal when breaking against a less 'set' defence)

Guardiola is not married to the two variations of 4-1-4-1 we've seen so far and quite frankly if he can't get the best out of a diamond like KdB, I'd expect him to adjust to a formation that does, or he's not the manager that I expected.

Great post...Somebody that has an understanding of football.

 

[Terra Passenger]

People going on about the 4-1-4-1 not suiting Kev or where Gundo will fit into it when he returns etc, are thinking far too rigidly and not seeing the wood for the trees imo.

These are two special players, KdB is pretty much unique in world football in his capacity to see and execute decisive passes in the final third, he's like a killer fucking unicorn !
Gundo is a metronomic pass and move machine who can make any team run more smoothly, particularly in speeding up transition from back to front (which will obviously help Kev who is at his most lethal when breaking against a less 'set' defence)

Guardiola is not married to the two variations of 4-1-4-1 we've seen so far and quite frankly if he can't get the best out of a diamond like KdB, I'd expect him to adjust to a formation that does, or he's not the manager that I expected.

Pep is the brightest tactician in world football currently, IMO. He's creating new formations - or more accurately, new (or at least unseen in recent history) variants on existing formations to get the best out of his sides.

We've already played (arguably though his formations are fluid) a 4141 variant so far (morphs into a WM is fluid etc.)

And this formation is readily adaptable in order to feature our best 11 in the side:

Bravo
Fernandinho - Kompany - Stones - Kolarov
Gundogan
Sterling - Silva - KDB - Sane
Aguero

That's how I see us setting up by default with changes dictated by whom we face.

Pep's systems are very fluid though, shifting depending on who has the ball and where the ball is. It heavily stresses positional spacing to create advantages on offense and to facilitate shadow coverage (passing lane if you will) counter-pressing once the ball turns over. So his sides are often hard to characterize by some strict numerical sequence.

Moreover, Pep featured a plethora of systems while at Bayern.

Is he rigidly married to a 4141? Of course not. Will the 11 I've listed start every game if not injured? Of course not.

Will Pep strive to see his best staring 11 begin in every important game - hell yes! - "best" being the side that will most likely lead to victory given the current opposition, and not necessarily the same 11 each time.

I offer up the 4141 side listed above as a system which I think is likely to start *by default* against most sides. It features KDB, Silva, Aguero, and Gundogan - our most important players on offense/transition. IMO. Moreover, it sees Fernandinho in the side to leverage his stamina on defense and superb passing

I fully expect Pep to deviate from this system as he sees best.

And yes, this is a guess on my part. The master technician may well start a much better side/formation by default.

For the first time since I've been a City fan (became a fan back when Mancini first took the reigns), we have a supremely competent manager - tactically superb, with the ability to motivate and get the best out of every player in his side. I've never been more excited about the start of our season.

 

[Akai]

Stuart Brennan ‏@StuBrennanMEN 40m40 minutes ago
Pep on KDB: "He is a great player. Sometimes he will play inside, but I prefer him to play outside."

expect him to lose his place once Gundogan is fit and ready. Pep prefers Wide players with pace and skills. it's just my opinion.