Welcome to Manchester Kevin De Bruyne

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Re: Welcome to Manchester Kevin De Bruyne

Postby phips » Tue Apr 24, 2018 2:53 am

Kevin De Bruyne may have missed out on the PFA player of the year award but he has been the star man in Manchester City's Premier League title win and will be awaiting England at the World Cup in Russia this summer.

Belgium boss Roberto Martinez joined his assistant Thierry Henry on Monday Night Football to discuss De Bruyne's strengths, how they plan to use him for the national team and just why he is so hard to stop…

"Average players complicate the game," said Henry. "Great players simplify it.

"He does that all the time, understanding space and distance. And you do not want him on the ball when he can put his head up and pick a pass. That awareness that he has is second to none. There is a thought process behind everything that he does."

SPACE

It seems that much of Kevin De Bruyne's thoughts are focused around that search for space. "It's the way he opens a line of pass and the distance that he gets from opposition players that makes it so difficult to stop him," added Martinez. "It allows him always to create space for others.

"It isn't a case of playing in a position. He plays around space. And if you give space to someone like Kevin De Bruyne, he will pick a long pass or a short pass. That is why, in the national team, he is someone who can play in different positions."

EVOLUTION

De Bruyne was used further forward earlier in his career, either as a number 10 or on the flanks, but it is in a central role in a 3-4-3 formation that he is expected to line up for Belgium at the World Cup, as Martinez explains.

"We have seen a big evolution," said the Spaniard. "We have seen him more in a central role where he can pick the long pass. Sometimes you need to use players who are in good moments of form and think about how you are going to put them together.

"When you have got a Kevin who can play deep it allows you to have five players in front who can be his targets. That is the way I see him, different to any playmaker. With the precision of his long pass he can give you real width or he can play the pass internally."

PLAYMAKER

De Bruyne is Belgium's playmaker, but with a twist. "He is a modern playmaker," explained Martinez. "Playmakers they used to need two seconds on the ball. They almost needed the tempo of the game to stop for them to find that pass.

"I think what Kevin De Bruyne gives you, you would not find in another playmaker around the world, which has that dynamism in his play that allows you to do things at real pace. It is that ability to execute and be dynamic with your play and be dynamic around the pitch."

INTENSITY

While De Bruyne's passing range is reminiscent of the iconic playmakers of recent history, such as Andrea Pirlo, it is this dynamism - and what Martinez calls his "intensity off the ball" as well as on it - that allows him to fit seamlessly into a high-tempo team.

In fact, he is the one who encourages this style - something that Henry identified by pointing out an example in Manchester City's game against Swansea in which De Bruyne worked hard to cut out a forward pass. "He didn't have to go," said Henry.

"You would not have been upset if he didn't go. But when you see a player like De Bruyne doing that, arguably your best player in the team, what it does is that it's contagious. If he does it, I'd better do it, because he does a lot on the ball but he also does a lot off the ball."

UNSTOPPABLE?

All of which helps to explain why De Bruyne is the key man for Belgium. "We get a lot of advantage from getting him on the ball," admitted Martinez. "Systems very much depend on the teams you play but it is a system that has worked for us very well in qualification."

So while Martinez can count on the talents of Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku among others, does that mean that stopping De Bruyne means stopping Belgium? Would it hurt them if he was stifled? "The same way that it would hurt Manchester City," said Martinez.

"If you are trying to stop one player that should create the space in other areas of the pitch. You can almost counter-play. We have different options and have found ourselves in different situations away from home. It is about being flexible and appreciating the space."

And nobody does that better than Kevin De Bruyne.
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/11344409/kevin-de-bruynes-genius-roberto-martinez-and-thierry-henry-explain
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Re: Welcome to Manchester Kevin De Bruyne

Postby aaron bond » Tue Apr 24, 2018 5:01 am

Belgium have a lot of great players. They should be aiming to win the World Cup.

Unfortunately for them they have a manager not quite up to standard. It’s a shame as they risk wasting a great generation of players.
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Re: Welcome to Manchester Kevin De Bruyne

Postby Hazy2 » Sun Apr 29, 2018 2:37 pm

The officials in the Premier League are officially SHITE !
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Re: Welcome to Manchester Kevin De Bruyne

Postby Saul Goodman » Sat May 18, 2019 5:29 pm

I cannot wait for next season to finally get a full run of matches from De Bruyne. In 20 short minutes he reminded everyone why he's a top 5 player in the league.
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Re: Welcome to Manchester Kevin De Bruyne

Postby Saul Goodman » Thu Sep 12, 2019 1:21 pm

Kevin De Bruyne's return to fitness is already giving Manchester City a new dimension thanks to his trademark ability to exploit the 'half spaces', writes Adam Bate. The Belgium midfielder is making the best better...

Kevin De Bruyne became the first player to register a hat-trick of assists in a single Euro 2020 qualifier during Belgium's 4-0 win away to Scotland. It took him only 32 minutes. That is eight assists already this season for club and country. He has only played six games. After a relatively quiet campaign last time out, De Bruyne is back and nobody seems to be able to cope.

That the midfielder started only 11 Premier League games for Manchester City last season did not prove a problem for Pep Guardiola's side. The coach found alternative solutions with City winning their last nine without him. Bernardo Silva moved inside for six of them, while Ilkay Gundogan played in a more advanced role away to Everton and Manchester United.

And yet, remarkable as it might seem given their absurdly-high standards, De Bruyne still offers something more. That has been apparent already. With him back doing his thing in that right-inside channel - an area that might reasonably now be known as the De Bruyne zone - City have once again added to their formidable range of ways they can hurt teams.

Against Tottenham, De Bruyne delivered the cross from this zone for Raheem Sterling's opening goal. Spurs might have been able to get away with standing off any other player in that position but he punished them, whipping in a ball that cut the defenders out of the game and sparking a debate about where he ranks among the game's greatest crossers.

"He was unplayable," Gary Neville told Sky Sports. "It took me back to playing with the best crosser of the ball I played with, David Beckham. De Bruyne is repeating the level of quality and precision from that inside-right channel that Beckham produced for United and that is not something I thought I would see again in the Premier League for a long time."

De Bruyne is not an obvious candidate given that he is not a natural winger. As can be seen from his shot-assist map so far this season, not one of his deliveries into the box have come from the touch-line or even close to it. Instead, De Bruyne crosses - or, to be more accurate, passes - the ball in from a much more dangerous area. He is the master of the half space.

The half space has long been a staple of coaching courses with Guardiola regarded as one of its greatest exponents. The City coach is even known to divide the pitch into zones on the training ground and place huge emphasis on this area of the field. The half spaces offer greater possibilities than the flanks but more freedom than the congested central zones.

Getting his team on the ball in this area is one of Guardiola's key ideas. "Firstly, we look wide," he has explained. "It is impossible when teams are defending deep to be narrow." But this width often comes from the wide forwards, opening up space between the full-back and the centre-back to be exploited by underlapping full-backs or advanced midfielders.

Nobody does this as well as De Bruyne. Crucially, he does it in more ways than one. The second goal against Tottenham saw him dart in behind to set up Sergio Aguero. Against Brighton, he made a run off his team-mate to break free of the back line before picking out Aguero with a square pass - the striker doing the rest inside the box to score.

De Bruyne has the running ability of a full-back but greater quality when he gets in these positions. He has the playmaking ability of David Silva but greater pace with which to get there. Guardiola has even cited this as one of the reasons for a slight change of approach since his Barcelona days. "When we have players like … Kevin De Bruyne we attack more the spaces."

Sometimes, of course, there is not that space in behind in which to operate. "When teams are defending deep there are not so many metres to attack them," Guardiola has explained. It is a problem that has stifled some of City's rivals with Manchester United, in particular, lacking the quality to pick out that killer pass when faced with a packed defence.

City still find a way and De Bruyne's opening assist from the half space against Spurs was an example of that extra dimension that he brings. The ability to hurt teams in two different ways from the half space gives him - and City - the edge. Give him space to run into and he will take advantage. Back off and give him time to pick his spot and he is just as devastating.

De Bruyne has created 16 chances so far this season, the most by any player in the Premier League. He has five assists in the competition so far. Silva has four. Nobody else in the Premier League has more than two. It owes much to the quality of the team in which they are playing in, of course, and also to the finishing ability of Manchester City's forwards.

But it also reflects how they have mastered what would once have been seen as a peculiar position - that role as 'free eights' within Guardiola's system. Not quite forwards but able to find space behind the opposition midfield nevertheless. "The intention is to play from the back and then scroll it to me and David, so we can be five against four," says De Bruyne.

Norwich are the team that will be facing that challenge on Saturday. It is not obvious how they will be able to cope with it any better than Scotland did in Glasgow. Attempt to defend with a higher line or with the full-backs pushed on and De Bruyne will expect to break through. Defend too deep and Norwich risk giving him too much freedom there instead.

"I think it's getting to a point now where you cannot allow De Bruyne into this space on the right," said Neville. "You have to deal with the threat, which is De Bruyne. He is that good from that position. Teams have to stop him by defending a bit unconventionally." The problem of De Bruyne and the half space is now well known. The search for a solution continues.

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11679/11806750/kevin-de-bruyne-and-the-half-space-manchester-city8217s-key-weapon
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Re: Welcome to Manchester Kevin De Bruyne

Postby Saul Goodman » Sat Sep 21, 2019 3:54 pm

That was a sublime performance even if Watford were relegation-worthy. I just wish he'd scored that 9th.
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Re: Welcome to Manchester Kevin De Bruyne

Postby PeterParker » Sat Sep 21, 2019 3:55 pm

I think he might be decent also.
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Re: Welcome to Manchester Kevin De Bruyne

Postby Mase » Sat Sep 21, 2019 4:13 pm

Long live King Kev
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Re: Welcome to Manchester Kevin De Bruyne

Postby Blue Jam » Sat Sep 21, 2019 5:55 pm

Kev for captain.
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Re: Welcome to Manchester Kevin De Bruyne

Postby PrezIke » Mon Dec 30, 2019 3:49 am

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Re: Welcome to Manchester Kevin De Bruyne

Postby sheblue » Mon Dec 30, 2019 7:20 am

PrezIke wrote:



Really does make you wonder. How did we do it last season without him.
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Re: Welcome to Manchester Kevin De Bruyne

Postby Slim » Mon Dec 30, 2019 7:36 am

I thought for long periods he looked either exhausted or disinterested. But I know that inspite of that, he has the class to turn a game in a second, which he did again.

Seems like with him it's not a matter of will he/won't he, it's just a matter of when.
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