Kevin De Bruyne - 2017/18 performances

[Gaylord du Bois]

2 assists and a goal by the end of the game. That and a bunch of gorgeous balls.

 

[Project]

He’s scored a few goals this season very similar to this. Lays the ball off on a counter and then stops his run to create space for the return pass, with a free shot at goal.

 

[FlemishDuck]

He’s scored a few goals this season very similar to this. Lays the ball off on a counter and then stops his run to create space for the return pass, with a free shot at goal.

Its the normal thing to do i think when you have a 3 vs 2 with wingers or strikers and a central playmaker. The leftover defenders have to cover the strikers/wingers which leaves the playmaker free.

 

[taleofbluehalves]

He’s scored a few goals this season very similar to this. Lays the ball off on a counter and then stops his run to create space for the return pass, with a free shot at goal.

Such a great player. Simple move that does teams time and again. Love him to roll the ball under the wall and in against Liverpool or Utd.

 

[Wonderboy Z]

After a few quiet weeks on his part at City yesterday's performance gave me goosebumps. He is going to singlehandely do what many in Belgium don't consider possible: turn Belgium into a fearless and most importantly winning side. His performance yesterday in the middle of the park was sublime, especially that entire second half. His influence on the game was total. It is hard to put into words what impact he's having on the Belgium side in all areas, from mentality to tactics. Hazard may be our captain, but the game is played by Kevin when he is on the field with the other 10 players following his lead. My hopeful prediction is Zidane-esque. Ok, it was 'only a friendly against Saudi Arabia', but I don't think I need to convince anyone here that Kev is the kind of player that can do it anytime, anywhere. He shows up on the big occasions so I have no doubt he can reproduce this kind of performance in this kind of role when it matters. If he's fit at the World Cup, I now realistically believe that we can win it with this Belgium side.

Both the coach and Romelu emphasized the same in their interviews. They lauded Kevin's performance above all others, even though Lukaku was quick to throw in some other names after realising that it's generally not done to single out performances from individual players post-match. They just couldn't help themselves stressing the kind of impact he's having on the team.

 

[FlemishDuck]

I think Martinez found the problem and yesterday's formation seemed to solve a lot of issues of the past. The trick was pulling KDB even deeper in the Deep lying playmaker position but allowing him the roaming to make killer balls forward or finish it from outside the box. Somewhat similar to city but starting even deeper, certaintly good for starting counters.

The thing as opposed to City is that Belgium has a difference in quality compared to city on the wings and the midfield. In the midfield we don't have the likes of David Silva or Fern, City with such players will tend to build play in the middle and distribute to fast wingers or striker. Otoh we have guys on the wings like Hazard and Mertens who are something of a step above compared to Sane and Sterling (mostly experience) and who are rather good at making play which they often do for their respective teams.

I think in the past it was something of an issue in the past that we had too many players wanting to make play arround the attacking midfield area, Martinez has to take into account the skill of Hazard and Mertens just aswell and i'm prefectly fine with the idea to have Hazard and Mertens make play up front as the sort of forward playmakers on the wing while KDB innitially sits deeper. This focusses our wingers more to either service Lukaku or to play it back centrally to an upcomming midfielder like KDB while keeping the thrat wide and making it hard for the opposition to mark.

It looks rather elgant even when rather simple. It seems more about leaving space and responsabillety to the world class players so thye can shine in their own right rather than needing to addapt to the style of another.

 

[JacksonJones]

His first goal for Belgium in nearly 2 years

 

[Deleted member 81382]

He’s scored a few goals this season very similar to this. Lays the ball off on a counter and then stops his run to create space for the return pass, with a free shot at goal.

Sums up Kev imo. He does the simple things very well and makes football look easy without showing off.

 

[ozfunghi]

After a few quiet weeks on his part at City yesterday's performance gave me goosebumps. He is going to singlehandely do what many in Belgium don't consider possible: turn Belgium into a fearless and most importantly winning side. His performance yesterday in the middle of the park was sublime, especially that entire second half. His influence on the game was total. It is hard to put into words what impact he's having on the Belgium side in all areas, from mentality to tactics. Hazard may be our captain, but the game is played by Kevin when he is on the field with the other 10 players following his lead. My hopeful prediction is Zidane-esque. Ok, it was 'only a friendly against Saudi Arabia', but I don't think I need to convince anyone here that Kev is the kind of player that can do it anytime, anywhere. He shows up on the big occasions so I have no doubt he can reproduce this kind of performance in this kind of role when it matters. If he's fit at the World Cup, I now realistically believe that we can win it with this Belgium side.

Both the coach and Romelu emphasized the same in their interviews. They lauded Kevin's performance above all others, even though Lukaku was quick to throw in some other names after realising that it's generally not done to single out performances from individual players post-match. They just couldn't help themselves stressing the kind of impact he's having on the team.

Kevin has always been important for Belgium. In the qualifiers 4 years ago, he was even more influential on the pitch than he was the past qualifying campagne, when he often went missing. But the difference is, that since last year, since playing for City under Pep, his status off the field has grown exponentially. He's being regarded as one of the best, if not the best, midfielder in Europe. He's not afraid to say what's on his mind, being outspoken about the team and about what is not going like it should. The same is happening to Lukaku. He's shown maturity at United, he's one of the few that works his ass off in that team, and who speaks his mind. This might be the big difference with 2 and 4 years ago under Wilmots. These guys are taking over the lead, and the rest will follow. In the past, only Courtois spoke his mind whenever things went sideways, and what he said was usually countered by the laissez-faire and nonchalant attitude from Hazard, Witsel and to a lesser extend, Kompany. But Kevin and Rom are winners, so is Courtois. Now the rest of the team listens to these guys, and not idiots like Witsel who moved to China and didn't seem to mind losing the quarter finals in the Euro's from Wales (remember his tweet: /749179628485509120) when the road to the finals was wide open.

They seem to realize, it's now or never (with Kompany, Vermaelen, Vertonghen, Mertens, Dembélé... in their 30s and no successors for defense in sight). I'm hoping for a mentallity shift.

 

[Andrew___K]