17 | Kevin De Bruyne - 2023/24

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Here are some stats for thought re: Kev this season.

Kev ranks 4th for total xAG (10.5; 0.3 off the three tied for first: Salah, Son, Fernandes) in the league, even though everyone else in the top 10 played 2-3x as many minutes. Mohammad Salah, who played twice as many minutes, is 2nd. Phil is 10th with 8.4 xAG. xAG is in some ways a better determinate of creative contribution than assists, as it partially factors in chances created (largely in his control) but not converted (largely out of his control).

Kev ranks 1st in xAG Per 90 (0.85), doubling 2nd placed Mohammad Salah’s haul (0.42).

To further support how insane these xAG stats are, though, he actually lead the league by some distance in Assists Per 90 (0.74), including players that got an assist or two over very few minutes. Pedro Neto and Jacob Murphy, of all players, are joint 2nd with 0.53 (quite the drop from Kev), with the Newcastle man having nearly the same exact minutes played.

For further context, of players that have more than 2,000 minutes in the ranking (around twice as many as Kev), Brennan Johnson is 5th (0.43), Trippier and Harvey Elliot are joint 7th (0.40), and Cole Palmer and James Maddison, who both had essentially twice the minutes, are joint 10th (0.38, or nearly half the Assists Per 90).

Based on his Per 90 stats, if Kev had played as many minutes as Ollie Watkins, the eventually winner of the PL Playmaker of the Season for 2023/2024 with 13 assist, the Ginger Prince would have absolutely left everyone else in his dust, doubling the Villa strikers total and smashing the all-time single season assists record. He could have even had a dip mid season and still nicked the record.

I am fairly sure that if one were to go back in time and calculate the Assists Per 90 from all previous league seasons, his productivity this season would be in the top five. He’s lead the Assists Per 90 table 5 of the 9 seasons since he joined, and was second for 2 of the other 4.

If we look at Goals + Assists Per 90 he is 4th (1.03), behind Cole Palmer (1.14; that drops well below Kev if you exclude penalties for a fair comparison), Michael Olise (1.13), and his partner in attacking crime, the Striking Viking (1.13), who also apparently disappointed this season.

Only Salah (1.18) and Erling (1.17) have a higher xG+xAG Per 90, with Kev managing 1.03.

By-the-by, Doku—which many felt underperformed over the course of the full season—is 4th for Assists Per 90 (0.45).

There is a strong argument for this actually being Kev’s most productive season, even though he didn’t play as many minutes.
 
I think he should be our Doku next season. We really need a world-class MF + Foden + Rodri to be our starting 11 with Grealish and Doku on the wings.

Father time gets us all, but he is still an incredible footballer when he is in the zone. If he accepts the Doku role, he can easily give us 2-3 more great seasons.
 
He still comes up with assists and the odd goal but he's very rarely having good games these days.. it's all, and that's why you never sub Kev when he cuts ball across for Erling to tap-in after stinking the stadium out for 70 mins prior.. need more from him in big games these days
 
Jonas.shaffer said:
I've said he and Rodri haven't been on it for weeks. Of course, since we were winning and KDB was getting G/As, I was being called this, that, and the other, but he looked like a complete shell of himself today, even more so than in past weeks.
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You have been cal!ed out because you kept posting his goals and assists didnt matter , grow the fuck up
 
kaz7 said:
You have been cal!ed out because you kept posting his goals and assists didnt matter , grow the fuck up
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Of course, they matter, but I can look past a stat sheet and at a performance as a whole. Maybe that's a bit too much for your pee-sized brain to do.
 
Cobra said:
He’s been awful for weeks, and you can almost guarantee he’ll get injured at the Euros
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I agree, I wouldn't say his performance today was a surprise to me being honest.
It looks like hes struggling to get round the pitch either in fear of injury or because he cant physically do what his brain wants to anymore. Hes become so sloppy on the ball in general and his impact on games has become less and less. I think the euros has been in the back of his mind for the last month... he needs to sack belgium off after it if he has any ambition to prolong his city career
 
Approaching mid 30s, long-time out, hamstring surgeries etc. Its really unrealistic to expect him to be the player he was before.



Of course he's capable of moments of quality and will be as long as he's not shot to bits because he's that talented, but really now i think it's just moments. I don't think he can play at a high level on a consistent basis anymore. He was the best of his generation at what he does but age and/or injuries gets them all in the end and he's clearly on the decline. Anyone that doesn't think so is in denial.

If he does stay, I expect to see more and more of him on the bench and just used to try and impact games. We need some fresh legs as regular starters, plus Phil can step up.
 
First time I’ve said this but kdb now needs to be gradually phased out as he looks shot atm and he will be off if come August with the euros coming up aswell . Phil foden is the heir apparent .
 
No chance he's accepting a backup role or off the bench like some are suggesting. Maybe Pep will tell him that but then he will be gone to Saudi by the end of the summer.
 


Doesn't seem to have that fire up his arse like he used to. Age remains undefeated.
 
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