17 | Kevin De Bruyne - 2022/23 Performances

[John Wayne]

Both players turn games in our favour. Can’t be great all the time. Bayern’s midfield did a good job. Kev and Haaland did their job at the Etihad and again tonight when needed. Changed the tone of the last 25/30 min.

Absolutely extraordinary that anyone can have a go at De Bruyne on current form. He was good tonight, very composed and got us up the park.

 

[nellyonthewing]

Kev ,Rodri ,Gundogan ,Grealish all looked leggy and were subdued on the heavy pitch and against a pacy opposition. Expect RM to do the same.

 

[FantasyIreland]

Absolutely extraordinary that anyone can have a go at De Bruyne on current form. He was good tonight, very composed and got us up the park.

Yes,he got another assist,and that was a lovely weighted pass.....but overall he wasn't good,he was pretty poor in fact.

He looked so lethargic and slow and could not dominate the ball,often losing possession to a more agile and industrious opponent.Alongside Gundo,who also looked like he had concrete in his boots......the pairing struggled to get any grip or control of the ball.

 

[SebastianBlue]

Yes,he got another assist,and that was a lovely weighted pass.....but overall he wasn't good,he was pretty poor in fact.

He looked so lethargic and slow and could not dominate the ball,often losing possession to a more agile and industrious opponent.Alongside Gundo,who also looked like he had concrete in his boots......the pairing struggled to get any grip or control of the ball.

Think a lot of that was down to the bog they were playing on. Every step had to be calculated to within a 0.3 micron tolerance. Everyone struggled with it, even (and probably especially) Bayern players. It impacts everything from your push off step (which affects your power running), your touch, your dribbling (most of the midfield was cut up by halftime), your passing, even your vision, as you have to watch the ball all the way to your feet (unlike a decent pitch when you can just automatically extrapolate where it is going and scan the pitch before it gets to you). It delays everything when you have the ball. Defenders don’t have most of those issues as they charge the ball and/or players down (though, they were slipping everywhere, too, just ask Upamecano, Kimmich, Ake, and Akanji).

And anyone that has played football for any decent amount of time has run 8 km on a pitch like that and been absolutely knackered.

I wouldn’t use this match as a gauge of his ability or form.

After watching Tuchel’s post-match interview where he throws his grounds staff under the bus, I am not entirely sure it wasn’t his idea to make the pitch like that. It just backfired spectacularly and now he’s trying to deflect blame.

 

[John Wayne]

Think a lot of that was down to the bog they were playing on. Every step had to be calculated to within a 0.3 micron tolerance. Everyone struggled with it, even (and probably especially) Bayern players. It impacts everything from your push off step (which affects your power running), your touch, your dribbling (most of the midfield was cut up by halftime), your passing, even your vision, as you have to watch the ball all the way to your feet (unlike a decent pitch when you can just automatically extrapolate where it is going and scan the pitch before it gets to you). It delays everything when you have the ball. Defenders don’t have most of those issues as they charge the ball and/or players down (though, they were slipping everywhere, too, just ask Upamecano, Kimmich, Ake, and Akanji).

And anyone that has played football for any decent amount of time has run 8 km on a pitch like that and been absolutely knackered.

I wouldn’t use this match as a gauge of his ability or form.

After watching Tuchel’s post-match interview where he throws his grounds staff under the bus, I am not entirely sure it wasn’t his idea to make the pitch like that. It just backfired spectacularly and now he’s trying to deflect blame.

Well said mate, that pitch was sticky and I'm certain it played a part in Ake's injury. Both teams looked drained at the end. We were protecting a 3-0 lead, did people really expect us to camp in the opposition's half like we normally do?

I think people think that we're like some Broadway show where we can turn up every night and be spectacular.

Kev did a lot of pressing and off-the-ball work, whilst laying on a pass that effectively killed the tie. He showed me that he was willing to muck in and grind it out.

 

[kaz7]

Gobsmacked anyone can call him out again, just admit you do it unreasonably

 

[FantasyIreland]

Think a lot of that was down to the bog they were playing on. Every step had to be calculated to within a 0.3 micron tolerance. Everyone struggled with it, even (and probably especially) Bayern players. It impacts everything from your push off step (which affects your power running), your touch, your dribbling (most of the midfield was cut up by halftime), your passing, even your vision, as you have to watch the ball all the way to your feet (unlike a decent pitch when you can just automatically extrapolate where it is going and scan the pitch before it gets to you). It delays everything when you have the ball. Defenders don’t have most of those issues as they charge the ball and/or players down (though, they were slipping everywhere, too, just ask Upamecano, Kimmich, Ake, and Akanji).

And anyone that has played football for any decent amount of time has run 8 km on a pitch like that and been absolutely knackered.

I wouldn’t use this match as a gauge of his ability or form.

After watching Tuchel’s post-match interview where he throws his grounds staff under the bus, I am not entirely sure it wasn’t his idea to make the pitch like that. It just backfired spectacularly and now he’s trying to deflect blame.

Fair comment,the pitch was not great,and as no one was properly on their game then that may well have been a contributor.

However,i am not using last nights game as a guage.While his recent form has been much improved,even looking like the prime Kev on occasion,he has had many similar outings this season,and im not convinced when we are up against top quality,industry and pace.....he is still the force many on here claim.

The arrival of Bellingham,and maybe one other youthful type,will surely extend his longevity though and provide us with the much needed midfield energy to assist Rodri and bolster the squad.

 

[SebastianBlue]

 

[domalino]

He’s on 23 now.

 

[supercity88]

Fair comment,the pitch was not great,and as no one was properly on their game then that may well have been a contributor.

However,i am not using last nights game as a guage.While his recent form has been much improved,even looking like the prime Kev on occasion,he has had many similar outings this season,and im not convinced when we are up against top quality,industry and pace.....he is still the force many on here claim.

The arrival of Bellingham,and maybe one other youthful type,will surely extend his longevity though and provide us with the much needed midfield energy to assist Rodri and bolster the squad.

I don't think we can afford to have Gundogan centrally against Madrid based on his limited impact against Bayern. Now Phil is back I'd rather see him wide right and Bernardo in the middle. Gives us a bit more energy, which enables Kev to back off when he needs to.

His form improved quite simply by not trying to play a world class through ball every time he got the ball. As soon as he remembered he could just pass to a team mate next to him occasionally he got back into a rhythm and those assists came back. Kev's one of those players that tends to just have games where he is unplayable. He's a bit like Gerrard in that it's almost a backs to the wall mentality where he says to himself he's going to own the game. He runs after everything and just destroys the opposition. 3-0 up away at Munich on that pitch wasn't the game to do it. There are lessons we can take, but context is important. We had no need to do anything other than stop them scoring 3 times. We did it.