17 | Kevin De Bruyne - 2022/23 Performances

[sh249]

Thought he looked great first game back - sharp, lean, man on a mission after the WC. But he’s been shockingly bad in the last few - can’t move his feet, getting harried off the ball way too easily, misplacing simple passes.
And yet much of the time, he’s also the only player who ever does look like creating anything.

 

[simon23]

For who? Our wide men create as much as Rodri does. Bernie creates nothing. Almost everything we create comes from the feet of KDB.

Rodri

bernardo Foden

Mahrez Haalnd Grealish

Or

rodri

Bernardo Grealish

Mahrez Haaland foden

You could also add alvarez into those line ups

At any other point this would never be a discussion but he has dropped off so much at present in terms of his physicality ...of course he still has magic in his boots but look at how many times he is misplacing a pass, losing possession when he is running with the ball and then worst of all NOT recovering to try and get the bal back...There were several times today that he lost possession and just walked

 

[OrigamiNinja]

Rodri

bernardo Foden

Mahrez Haalnd Grealish

Or

rodri

Bernardo Grealish

Mahrez Haaland foden

You could also add alvarez into those line ups

At any other point this would never be a discussion but he has dropped off so much at present in terms of his physicality ...of course he still has magic in his boots but look at how many times he is misplacing a pass, losing possession when he is running with the ball and then worst of all NOT recovering to try and get the bal back...There were several times today that he lost possession and just walked

I’m not disputing that KDB is out of form, but all you have done there is replace him with other players who see plenty of game time and more often than not create nothing.

I haven’t checked the stats, but I would be very surprised if all of those mentioned, have more assists combined than KDB…this season, last 12 months, whatever timeframe. This team is currently struggling to create/score goals, I’m not sure how removing the most creative player in the Prem is going to change that.

 

[chris85mcfc]

Thought he looked great first game back - sharp, lean, man on a mission after the WC. But he’s been shockingly bad in the last few - can’t move his feet, getting harried off the ball way too easily, misplacing simple passes.
And yet much of the time, he’s also the only player who ever does look like creating anything.

Agree with all that you're saying, but the reason he is the only one that looks like creating, is because we become a one man team attacking wise when he plays

Take him out the team then you might see a bit more fluidity in our play going forward

Ultimately we lack pace and legs in the midfield. Players have stopped showing for the ball in an attacking sense, which is a nightmare when you've got Ake and Akanji at the back desperately looking for a pass

 

[PragueBlue]

Agree with all that you're saying, but the reason he is the only one that looks like creating, is because we become a one man team attacking wise when he plays

Take him out the team then you might see a bit more fluidity in our play going forward

Ultimately we lack pace and legs in the midfield. Players have stopped showing for the ball in an attacking sense, which is a nightmare when you've got Ake and Akanji at the back desperately looking for a pass

I'd agree with that. I'd also add that other players have always stepped up with goals and assists when he's been out injured. I remember Gundiogan and Bernardo having their best spells when KDB was injured and they played in a midfield 3 with Rodri.

 

[simon23]

I’m not disputing that KDB is out of form, but all you have done there is replace him with other players who see plenty of game time and more often than not create nothing.

I haven’t checked that stats, but I would be very surprised if all of those mentioned, have more assists combined than KDB…this season, last 12 months, whatever timeframe. This team is currently struggling to create/score goals, I’m not sure how removing the most creative player in the Prem is going to change that.

I agree that NONE of the midfield is playing well...Foden v.poor as well

KDB at the start of the season was an assist machine for Haaland but something has changed in his game.....and he is playing overall very poorly...he can come up with the odd moment like he did today but over all the midfield is hugely struggling with him in it due to his inablity to maintain possession, press, tackle and recover the ball when lost

It could be a coincidence but the only game where we have looked like our passing best was the 4-0 vs Chelsea....and KDB was an unused sub in that game.. If you go back and watch that and the energy we had in that game and the passing was more like what we have seen in past seasons.....

 

[ninjamonkey]

They did a man marking job on him knowing we've heaped all of our ability to create on his shoulders. Thought he played fairly well to get himself free when he could which got us the goal and moved into spaces that left gaps elsewhere when he couldn't get on it, it's then on others to expose those gaps.

This is what happens when you give one cog in the machine too much importance. It's not his fault we cannot create anything without him. Peps system is wrong and everybody is suffering because of it.

 

[footballmanager]

needs to hit the bench, put foden or even alvarez next to haaland for a game or two

 

[SleepingBlueTiger]

I have bit different opinion to those wanting to bench him.

He isn't in top form but he is absolutely needed in this team. I'd rather take De Bruyne who wastes 4 passes and creates a dangerous moment with the 5th than any of our other midfielders who have 95%+ pass completion with around 100 passes a game but create 1 chance once every 5 games with all those passes.

Part of this is coaching and instructions from manager but we got enough control in the team, we need decisiveness even if it leads to possession losses.

 

[PragueBlue]

This is what happens when you give one cog in the machine too much importance. It's not his fault we cannot create anything without him. Peps system is wrong and everybody is suffering because of it.

We can and we have. We recently won 4-0 at Chelsea without him and we haven't had a drop off in results (over the seasons) when he's been out injured.