#17 | Kevin De Bruyne - 2020/21 Performances

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

The problem last night was that Pep picked the wrong team.

That was part of it, but honestly only part. And apart from not picking Sterling, thus allowing him to put in Fern in DM position, thus allowing Gundo to play further up, I don't really see what other team he would have picked.
No, really, right from the first minutes, Chelsea looked hungrier all over the pitch. They wanted it more through the ninety minutes. I was astonished myself to see it. I started off really, really tense, and then gradually became less so as the match went on. Kev himself looked hungry enough but he just had no solutions to Chelsea's organisation. He always gives all of himself on the pitch, and any claim to the contrary is just mindless.

 

[Mr HJ]

And someone actually suggested he was cowardly for coming off.

Fuck me.

Yeah I read that - some people really don't have a clue. It was a terrible body check. In Rugby league (where players carry on with limbs falling off!) they always send a player off if he changes direction and makes direct contact with an opponent's head. Rudiger knew what he was doing and feigned his own injury to make sure he didn't get in trouble.

I'll go further and say if Kev has been still on at the end when they were stretched he would have created at least one golden chance for us so I just don't get those saying he was either poor or weak for going off - even at 50% Kev will always give us a chance to get a goal.

 

[Damanino]

I think KDB as a creator and he needs to create. He can do 20 assist per league season if he has a focal point upfront which we have not had.

Let him focus on creating chances while.

Get fucking Haaland and feed him like crazy. and if defences work that out and isolate him lets hit them with the false 9 system again, mix it up during games too.

 

[domalino]

He has looked exhausted all season. Everything has seemed like hard work, even when he did the kind of things that only he could do, it fel like he was really having to dig deep for it when in seasons gone by it was effortlessly on tap.


He desperately needs a break IMO. He needs a summer off to recharge and recover. I can't see him missing the Euros but if it were up to me I'd tell him to go away and come back in September. Forget preseason in July, forget 2 league games in August, just go and come back a fortnight before the CL group stage starts.

We saw with Alexis Sanchez that no matter how good you are, if you go years without a proper summer break it will ruin you when you get to 30.

 

[Jamo Mcfc]

Rewatched the highlights of the game, and Jesus that challenge from rudiger was bad.

For all the nonsense reds we see nowadays for slight touches on the shin, that challenge last night epitimised a dangerous challenge for me, he had no intention of winning the ball but stepped across and barged into kev full force shoulder to face.

Not making excuses as with how we played last night we didn’t deserve anything out of the game but on the flip side we didn’t get any luck, think rudiger could’ve been sent off and I’ve not seen any definitive angles but it looked like a handball from
James too.

What’s done is done now I guess, just wish kev a speedy recovery

 

[domalino]

Rewatched the highlights of the game, and Jesus that challenge from rudiger was bad.

For all the nonsense reds we see nowadays for slight touches on the shin, that challenge last night epitimised a dangerous challenge for me, he had no intention of winning the ball but stepped across and barged into kev full force shoulder to face.

Not making excuses as with how we played last night we didn’t deserve anything out of the game but on the flip side we didn’t get any luck, think rudiger could’ve been sent off and I’ve not seen any definitive angles but it looked like a handball from
James too.

What’s done is done now I guess, just wish kev a speedy recovery

It would be a straight red in rugby. Shoulder to the head, not even a debate.

Football has a lot of problems with it's rules at the moment. There are things which aren't punished at all as much as they should be. Pushing people in the air or undercutting them like Kane does is a serious foul in most sports because it's really dangerous. Football doesn't care. Then there's this weird disparity that if someone is on the break, pulling their shirt is treated the same way as just scything them down from behind. One is not dangerous at all, the other risks serious injury but both get yellows.

Goalkeepers can't be touched at all by outfield players, to the point where they can drop the ball after jumping into someone standing still, and they get a foul. That's ridiculous.

We all know the handball rule is a mess. Offside no longer does what it was supposed to.

Lots of progressive reform is needed, but because of corruption at FIFA and UEFA, the general public seems to have adopted a Neanderthal "all change is bad, football peaked in 1990" attitude that is stopping the game from modernising and making it worse every year.

 

[IBlue]

It would be a straight red in rugby. Shoulder to the head, not even a debate.

Football has a lot of problems with it's rules at the moment. There are things which aren't punished at all as much as they should be. Pushing people in the air or undercutting them like Kane does is a serious foul in most sports because it's really dangerous. Football doesn't care. Then there's this weird disparity that if someone is on the break, pulling their shirt is treated the same way as just scything them down from behind. One is not dangerous at all, the other risks serious injury but both get yellows.

Goalkeepers can't be touched at all by outfield players, to the point where they can drop the ball after jumping into someone standing still, and they get a foul. That's ridiculous.

We all know the handball rule is a mess. Offside no longer does what it was supposed to.

Lots of progressive reform is needed, but because of corruption at FIFA and UEFA, the general public seems to have adopted a Neanderthal "all change is bad, football peaked in 1990" attitude that is stopping the game from modernising and making it worse every year.

Said the same at the time, the ref even issued a yellow so he recognised the offence, no less serious but a more dangerous challenge than a broken leg challenge, especially given the spotlight now on head injuries

 

[Yarisken]

It was on purpose but I don't think Rudiger would ever have thought it would be this bad.
I hope he apologizes.

 

[PrezIke]

So should he have played on?

 

[Jamo Mcfc]

It would be a straight red in rugby. Shoulder to the head, not even a debate.

Football has a lot of problems with it's rules at the moment. There are things which aren't punished at all as much as they should be. Pushing people in the air or undercutting them like Kane does is a serious foul in most sports because it's really dangerous. Football doesn't care. Then there's this weird disparity that if someone is on the break, pulling their shirt is treated the same way as just scything them down from behind. One is not dangerous at all, the other risks serious injury but both get yellows.

Goalkeepers can't be touched at all by outfield players, to the point where they can drop the ball after jumping into someone standing still, and they get a foul. That's ridiculous.

We all know the handball rule is a mess. Offside no longer does what it was supposed to.

Lots of progressive reform is needed, but because of corruption at FIFA and UEFA, the general public seems to have adopted a Neanderthal "all change is bad, football peaked in 1990" attitude that is stopping the game from modernising and making it worse every year.

Nail on the head there.
For years the rules have been toyed and messed around with, but there’s been no real change, nothing much comes to mind that I think has changed for the better.

I think the rules need a massive reform, the best thing they could do would be to keep a few key principles but just re write the rule book, start afresh because the current rules are in a right state, there so many changes to be made and new rules that need to come in.

the Rudiger challenge last night was A blatant dangerous foul but yet I’ve not really seen much at all said about it. Theres such caution and impetuous surrounding head injuries nowadays but yet the only rule that seems to have been introduced is that players have to be checked over properly and go off. But they’ve not done anything to try to stop and penalise these sorts of challenges ( that happen all the time) this situation also remind me about the mane kick on Ederson a few years back, that was a shocking tackle, and had his foot been an inch or so more to the right, could’ve not only potentially have ended Eddies career but impacted the rest of his life, but there was outrage everywhere after the game that mane was off. there seems to be a weird phenomenon in football where a foul or challenge can only be dangerous if it’s bellow waist height.

as you say there’s so much more that needs changing, for the good of the sport and the safety of players; i also think making these structural alterations could improve the value of VAR too, the rules, rulemakers referees and officials are the reason that’s such a mess.
But we all now how corrupt, arrogant and blindingly oblivious those are at the top of the game so I can only see it getting worse still unfortunately.