#17 | Kevin De Bruyne - 2021/22 Performances

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domalino said:
The weirdest thing about KDB is that he used to the most deadly player in the world on the counterattack. He had the pace to get up there, he had inch perfect passing and always timed it perfectly, and he was a lethal finisher.

Now...when we break and the ball goes to him I know the move is over. He's slow, his passing sends players out wide or is behind them and if he makes it to the box he can't score.

I just don't understand it.
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there is a reason for this. it has got to do with his position on the pitch and the runners he has. if you see before he used to be a bit deeper and the runners he used to have were on the opposite side with mostly on their natural foot instead of inverted like we have now. so the issues surrounding KDB are more complicated that it seems
 
Mark Noble ran past him like he wasn't there at one point.. It's approaching, if not already, a big time concern imo.
 
domalino said:
The weirdest thing about KDB is that he used to the most deadly player in the world on the counterattack. He had the pace to get up there, he had inch perfect passing and always timed it perfectly, and he was a lethal finisher.

Now...when we break and the ball goes to him I know the move is over. He's slow, his passing sends players out wide or is behind them and if he makes it to the box he can't score.

I just don't understand it.
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Me neither. He attempted to punch a pass through to Gundogan today when he would have been in on goal that he used to make effortlessly. They just don’t come off any more, they are misdirected, the angle will be wrong, they send players away from where they can cause the most danger. His passes used to go right through the heart of teams, now he only seems capable of passing around them. It’s all too wide to be threatening.
 
MeatHunterrr said:
If a midfielder is past his best at 30 these days then something has gone horribly wrong somewhere.
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He’s had three knee ligament injuries, three hamstring injuries, and three ankle injuries in the last 5 years. And they only cover about half of his injuries.

That’s a hell of a lot of battering his body has taken. Each injury will take games out of a player’s body long term.

I was saying the same about Kane the other day. At 28, Kane looks like a 38 year old in the final season of his career, he plays like an old man. I reckon 60s fat Puskas was a better player than this season’s Kane. I’m fucking over the moon we never signed him, he’s done!

As a comparison to the way bodies hold up to injury as players age:
Agüero has missed 74 games through injury in the last 5 years
de Bruyne has missed 63 games through injury in the last 5 years
Kane has missed 56 games through injury in the last 5 years

Lewandowski has missed 25 games through injury in his entire career
Salah has missed 15 games through injury in his entire career

Not saying de Bruyne can’t regain his form because I definitely just think it’s a shape thing, he’s well out of shape. Get that back and we’ll get the right de Bruyne back. But I don’t think I he’ll be playing into his late 30s. Nor will Kun or Kane… Lewandowski and Salah will be though.
 
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domalino said:
His passing is part of the problem.

As the passer, you can force the recipient to play a certain way. You pass into feet, or ahead of them to space, you can force them wide or make them bend their run in behind. You can speed the move up or slow it down based on the pass.

These guys are making runs non stop and the passer chooses which ones to take on.

You've got the cart before the horse. His passing is why our counters especially are just dead. And against Brighton when he didn't play, our counter was back to being incredible.
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no i don't believe so. if you are a winger on the natural side you can hit the ball a bit forward or ahead of the runner from the other side of the pitch so the can run in a stride and the just have to cut it back to someone or even to KDB when he makes his way onto the pitch from deeper. now if you have inverted wingers that is simply not possible to take it on the stride, they will always try to come towards the ball and KDB simply can only play it to the feet and he does not like that at all.

you cannot as a passer simply force them to go wide. then again the move will slow down. KDB always like to increase the pace of the game so he is right now simply not having the chance to increase the pace. he is overdoing his passes as he is unable to do what he normally does. another problem right now is that he is moved away from his natural deeper position not sure why pep is doing that, we can use his long range passing in a game like this.
 
He needs to be rested, over using him could shorten his elite career given that he is also injury prone.
 
His form and fitness are a concern. Far too many stray passes and those lung busting runs on the counter attack seem like a distant memory. Sad to see him in such poor form, I fear the numerous injuries he has had over the years maybe beginning to take it's toll.
 
He’s been terrible this year. His injury/treatment during the summer with Belgium has clearly left its mark. Cheers guys!
 
MeatHunterrr said:
If a midfielder is past his best at 30 these days then something has gone horribly wrong somewhere.
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Yeah, it'd be all the injuries. I don't think he is done fwiw, but i can see how he could be theoretically. Playing through an awful lot of pain at times apparently.
 
Playing through the use of pain relieving injections has clearly taken it's toll.

Don't think he'll be match fit until Christmas at this rate.
 
sh249 said:
Painful to watch him at the moment.

On form/performances, don’t think he makes a best XI right now.
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I agree and said the same a week ago. People will make excuses, and there may be some merit, but on current form (and fitness) he doesn’t make our first 11. It’s also not limited to this season. I don’t think the latter stages of last season were much better.

He’s signed one hefty contract (385k per week based on reports) - a lot of money for a player with his injury record and the wrong side of 30. Maybe the club felt he had been paid “unders” in earlier seasons with us.

I really do hope that he can recover some of his form/fitness, because we are going to need him.
 
He shouldn't start in this form, and is smart enough to take it on the chin and work at it. He did a good with his contract negotiations anyway.
 
He is clearly in a bad form. His 1st half was the worst of the season so far. Still, he is a starter for me above Gundogsn(who was nothing special today either), but right now he is one of the weak links of our stater XI.

Anyway, I want the best KDB for January-June, not now.
 
Surprised he started against West Ham , a bit early to be writing him off as a has been , every player is entitled to have a period of poor form , he's only 29 and will be back to his best and tearing the opposition apart soon enough.
He has set such a high standard that even an average KDB effects games with goals and assists , as long as he is back to his best at the business end of the season we have a few players to fill the void in the meantime. Panic not.
 
Scottyboi said:
Starting to look like Gerrard on his last legs at Liverpool.
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They’re very similar players - reputations built exclusively on being impactful in the final third, but unable to control the tempo of a game or play at anything other than full pelt, and as a result when their legs begin to go their always-there flaws are starting to be exposed. Gerrard was a better big game player though.

Id begin the process of phasing Grealish into that central midfield position now.
 
Mike N said:
He’s been terrible this year. His injury/treatment during the summer with Belgium has clearly left its mark. Cheers guys!
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Playing that semi v Italy with painkillers was criminal. Has not been right since.
That c*nt Martinez should be shot, couldn't care less about player welfare. Now we're paying the price.


www.manchesterworld.uk

Kevin de Bruyne regrets playing through pain barrier as City affected

De Bruyne took two painkilling injections for an ankle injury which hampered his return to Man City in pre-season
www.manchesterworld.uk www.manchesterworld.uk
 
Long Slow Goodbye said:
They’re very similar players - reputations built exclusively on being impactful in the final third, but unable to control the tempo of a game or play at anything other than full pelt, and as a result when their legs begin to go their always-there flaws are starting to be exposed. Gerrard was a better big game player though.

Id begin the process of phasing Grealish into that central midfield position now.
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Yep very physical role hard to play like that into your 30s once the injuries add up will have to adapt his game abit.
 
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