Kevin de Bruyne

Surprised no thread about him  but at the moment best midfielder in the world.

was a bit quiet last season when he came back after the injury.. but yea the season before that he definitely was the best midfielder, and he might very well be making a claim for that title again.

I'd only rate messi, CR7 and Neymar ahead of him the last few years or so. Fantastic player

being the best midfielder in the word in september is about one of the most meaningless titles ever lol

Mr Nick09 wrote:being the best midfielder in the word in september is about one of the most meaningless titles ever lol

I know I said this season but these last 3-4 seasons hes been consistent and top player. He's been among the best midfielders.

He would b flop of the season under Solskjaer

Very good player. But he's not really a midfielder. He's more of a 10.

Best midfielder in the world and he's a top 5 player in the world too.

sportsczy wrote:Very good player. But he's not really a midfielder. He's more of a 10.

He's a 10 but he's been playing as a CM since 2016 and has been great at doing so. It's not even just City, at Belgium he alternates between playing in a pivot or playing behind Lukaku along with Hazard in a 3-4-2-1.

At the WC, I thought Belgium played with a midfield of Dembele - Fellaini - Witsel with DeBruyne - Hazard - Lukaku as the forwards.  In fact, I'm sure they did.

Pep has his own style... but it seems to me that DeBruyne takes an advanced role while 2 of Fernandinho, Rodri and Gundogan manage the middle of the park.  But it's a bit moot there since the line gaps are narrow.

At the WC he was playing as a DM alongside Witsel until the Brazil match where Martinez moved KDB further to give Belgium more defensive solidarity and give KDB himself more offensive freedom. Look at the lineups and rewatch the highlights, in all the group stage matches he was a DM. When Belgium was losing against Japan, KDB was moved further and he played as an AM for the rest of the tournament.

I just looked at Belgium's recent lineups in friendlies and he's been alternating between playing in a defensive midfield two, or an attacking midfield two.

Also, yeah I agree that at City Pep likes his CM's occupying higher positions, but believe me when I tell you KDB is usually the deeper CM. In fact, when City press or play off the ball it was Silva who was closer to Aguero and KDB was closer to Fernandinho. In the big matches, Pep tends to move more to a 4-2-3-1, and if Gundogan isn't starting, De Bruyne was always the one playing closer to Fernandinho's line rather than Silva.

So yeah I think it's more than fair to classify him as a CM nowadays IMO.

I'll take your word for it. I don't watch City much so I don't know there... and i only watched Belgium in the WC and against France. It always looked to me that Hazard attacked from the left and DeBruyne from the right.

sportsczy wrote:At the WC, I thought Belgium played with a midfield of Dembele - Fellaini - Witsel with DeBruyne - Hazard - Lukaku as the forwards.  In fact, I'm sure they did.

Pep has his own style... but it seems to me that DeBruyne takes an advanced role while 2 of Fernandinho, Rodri and Gundogan manage the middle of the park.  But it's a bit moot there since the line gaps are narrow.

That's my impression as well. Against Everton, he played much closer to Jesus than to Gundogan or Rodri.
He is an AM/10 who drops to the RW and makes a lot of runs behind the LB and LCB to receive passes from either Walker or Mahrez/Bernardo Silva (depending on who City's winger is). Thats also how he racks up his assists. Through crosses from wide right. Probably best crosser in the game right now. Not sure about him as a CM as he takes far too many risks with his passing.

His underlapping runs in the right channel are something else. That pattern of play wasn't spammed until Bernardo became the starting RW.

I don't think there's a more robotic move in football. City played that same move like 100 times against Spurs and it kept working.

It's almost impossible to defend that move when you're playing with a 4-man defense. If City's playing with a left-footed RW and are up against a team playing 4 at the back it's almost guaranteed De Bruyne will bag an assist.

Hes been amongst the best for many few years now Its just injuries kept him out a few times, but whenever hes been fit and playing he has been class. He can do everything. If he can even fine tune further his precision he will be unstoppable.

Winter is Coming wrote:Surprised no thread about him  but at the moment best midfielder in the world.

What?

Here is the official De Bruyne Thread

www.goallegacy.net/t38476p475-de-bruyne-is-the-worst-80meur-player-out-there

Let's stick to that one

Yeah, merge the threads