Player Topic: Kevin De Bruyne (2015/16)

[Dax777]

Maybe you just missed what they didn't show on the TV? Twice in the first half Zabba was left with an extra man because Kev hadn't filled in. After that he was much better and as the game went on and we dominated, meaning he didn't have to concentrate on defensive work, he got well into his stride.
Overall it was a decent shift from him but it was far from perfect.

Never claimed he was perfect. But hate lazy analysis. What you just described up there talliies with worth I watched. But go through the thread and compare your response to some of the prior comments, you'd think his contributions were limited to those few instances.

Analysis of a players contribution should include both the good and bad. And then a conclusion on the balance of the 2. He hustle around a lot, formed a part of a group pressure on the right on a few good occasion. Made some intelligent passes. His assist was actually a thing of beauty. Silvaesque if I may say so. Both Aguero and Silva were behind 2 defenders and the passing game was non existent so he softly pushes the ball into the open space, trusting that Aguero will react quicker to the ball. It was more intelligent than it got credit for.

On the whole, an average game. As he turned out the poorest of our 4 mids. But that's coz the 2 in the middle played outstanding football and Silva eventually got involved in 3 of the 4 goals

But a bad game it was not! And his effort without the ball was quite commendable.

 

[FanchesterCity]

Pass completion too - it can be so misleading. If you pass sideways all game, your stats will look great.
However, if you try to play creative passes, or attempt to break quickly and as a result have more passes go astray, your stats will look worse. De Bryne is playing in a lot of crosses, and many won't reach the target, but that's football.

 

[Phil1]

Never claimed he was perfect. But hate lazy analysis. What you just described up there talliies with worth I watched. But go through the thread and compare your response to some of the prior comments, you'd think his contributions were limited to those few instances.

Analysis of a players contribution should include both the good and bad. And then a conclusion on the balance of the 2. He hustle around a lot, formed a part of a group pressure on the right on a few good occasion. Made some intelligent passes. His assist was actually a thing of beauty. Silvaesque if I may say so. Both Aguero and Silva were behind 2 defenders and the passing game was non existent so he softly pushes the ball into the open space, trusting that Aguero will react quicker to the ball. It was more intelligent than it got credit for.

On the whole, an average game. As he turned out the poorest of our 4 mids. But that's coz the 2 in the middle played outstanding football and Silva eventually got involved in 3 of the 4 goals

But a bad game it was not! And his effort without the ball was quite commendable.

I don't disagree with any of that really. The only reason I mentioned the earlier lapses was because I remember going off my head as they came shortly after we'd nearly gifted them the lead. I thought at that point it was gonna be another one of those days but fortunately we finally grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and ended up winning well.

 

[Dax777]

I don't disagree with any of that really. The only reason I mentioned the earlier lapses was because I remember going off my head as they came shortly after we'd nearly gifted them the lead. I thought at that point it was gonna be another one of those days but fortunately we finally grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and ended up winning well.

I know some have made fun of me for saying this earlier, I really thought we had a better game against Everton.

Further more I thought the manager was fantastic with his lineup and subs. Granted, I'd have given Sterling some minutes myself. But Kolarov's injury might have scuppered that.

 

[K-Bo]

I agree, he's definitely a different kind of player, maybe rougher around the edges but I think I can live with that. I think the pass the ball until death style we've had for the past few years had grown stale and we didn't need another player who could do that, we needed a player who could provide something different, and what I really like about de bruyne is that you still get stats and product off of him when he is playing poorly, which he has been for 3/4 games. When silva, Navas or Nasri were in poor form, they do not retain their productivity in the same way. That's an asset we didn't have before

 

[OB1]

Pass completion too - it can be so misleading. If you pass sideways all game, your stats will look great.
However, if you try to play creative passes, or attempt to break quickly and as a result have more passes go astray, your stats will look worse. De Bryne is playing in a lot of crosses, and many won't reach the target, but that's football.

Crosses don't get included in pass completion stats and you cannot blame trying to be creative for some of the godawful passes he makes, one late on had elicited complaints from not just me. It's a part of his game that he has to improve.

 

[FanchesterCity]

Crosses don't get included in pass completion stats and you cannot blame trying to be creative for some of the godawful passes he makes, one late on had elicited complaints from not just me. It's a part of his game that he has to improve.

According to OPTA, crosses count as passes:
http://optasports.com/news-area/blog-optas-event-definitions.aspx

However, you're correct, for some reason it says they aren't usually counted in pass completion stats, but get their own set of stats instead.

Still, I'll stand by my assertion that you can get some impressive pass completion stats whilst doing nothing progressive with the ball, and some poor stats from being creative.

 

[Dax777]

According to OPTA, crosses count as passes:
http://optasports.com/news-area/blog-optas-event-definitions.aspx

However, you're correct, for some reason it says they aren't usually counted in pass completion stats, but get their own set of stats instead.

Still, I'll stand by my assertion that you can get some impressive pass completion stats whilst doing nothing progressive with the ball, and some poor stats from being creative.

DeBryune pass completion rates are a mix of taking risks and making silly errors. His silly errors have been fewer and farther apart of late, but the narrative hasn't caught up yet. So folks still accuse him of being overly error prone.

Give it time, the narrative often eventually catches up.

 

[Shaelumstash]

DeBryune pass completion rates are a mix of taking risks and making silly errors. His silly errors have been fewer and farther apart of late, but the narrative hasn't caught up yet. So folks still accuse him of being overly error prone.

Give it time, the narrative often eventually catches up.

Using the word "narrative" a lot - Check
Going against the grain on almost every point of discussion - Check

Have you got another username on here by any chance mate? ;-)

I agree with you that he wasn't too bad today, but was the worst of the 4 midfielders.

As everyone agrees, he takes risks, plays direct and it's inevitable that he is going to lose possession quite a bit because of that. It may go some way to explaining his possession stats being so low compared with our other players.

However, being at the game, I've never once seen anyone complain about him losing the ball when he's tried an early direct ball. Maybe other match going blues could elaborate whether they've ever experiences this?

The thing people complain about at the game, including the elderly gentleman who sits in front of me (who probably doesn't know what possession stats are) complain about is him giving away the ball when attempting a simple ten yard pass. These are often square passes or backwards passes, so the "direct" and "creative" explanation doesn't really fit the "narrative".

I just think it's a concentration thing with him. He's clearly got the technique to play those passes to feet, but it maybe doesn't come as naturally to him. He's improving that aspect of his game, but has a lot of room for improving it further.

 

[Dax777]

Using the word "narrative" a lot - Check
Going against the grain on almost every point of discussion - Check

Have you got another username on here by any chance mate? ;-)

I agree with you that he wasn't too bad today, but was the worst of the 4 midfielders.

As everyone agrees, he takes risks, plays direct and it's inevitable that he is going to lose possession quite a bit because of that. It may go some way to explaining his possession stats being so low compared with our other players.

However, being at the game, I've never once seen anyone complain about him losing the ball when he's tried an early direct ball. Maybe other match going blues could elaborate whether they've ever experiences this?

The thing people complain about at the game, including the elderly gentleman who sits in front of me (who probably doesn't know what possession stats are) complain about is him giving away the ball when attempting a simple ten yard pass. These are often square passes or backwards passes, so the "direct" and "creative" explanation doesn't really fit the "narrative".

I just think it's a concentration thing with him. He's clearly got the technique to play those passes to feet, but it maybe doesn't come as naturally to him. He's improving that aspect of his game, but has a lot of room for improving it further.

I think the other one is just 'Dax' I think. Lost my password to that account, so i mostly use 777 now. Why?

By the way, did you just write a long post that attempts to mask the fact you agree with me? :p

Better watch it, you don't wanna get accused of being a contrairian Wum.