It’s not an exaggeration to state that Kevin De Bruyne is the best midfielder, even the best player, in the English Premier League. De Bruyne has complete abilities as an attacking midfielder, from playing vision, range of passes, long-distance shots, crosses, to the ability to press. Physically, he is not a slow moving midfielder. He has a stature of 181 centimeters with good strength.
De Bruyne is usually installed in a 4-3-3 formation carried by Pep Guardiola as a midfielder, in front of Rodrigo and level with David Silva. In that position, he and Silva were both the motor of City’s attack. When installed with Silva, he will alternate with Silva to stab the opponent’s defense. Sometimes, De Bruyne will get closer to Rodri to pick up the ball, while Silva is in a higher position, and vice versa.
When helping attack, De Bruyne was more often on the right side. He makes beautiful combination games with Riyad Mahrez or Bernardo Silva and Kyle Walker or Joao Cancelo. This happens because David Silva is more dangerous if he helps the left side of City because he is more dominant with his left foot so he can release dangerous passes from the left side.
All of these things seem to be the norm for City’s game under Pep. But an interesting thing actually happened when David Silva didn’t play. Pep will usually change formation to 4-2-3-1 with Rodri and Gundogan as the double pivot and De Bruyne playing the role of “Player No. 10”.
De Bruyne was like an awakened lion. In that position, De Bruyne is given more freedom and he doesn’t have to go down to pick up the ball. He can wait for the ball in the opponent’s area and immediately provide bait or release long-distance kicks. In six appearances with Rodri and Gundogan this season, he has scored two goals and five assists. De Bruyne can also be freer in determining the direction of penetration. The ability of his right and left feet is both good, so he can do anything from both sides.
When he is given the role, life will be more difficult for the opponents facing De Bruyne, especially the midfielder. Not only technical, De Bruyne’s ability is also good tactically. He knows where he must position himself according to the position of the opponent. An example is when City’s right wing, who acts as an inverted winger, Mahrez or Bernardo, is dribbling the ball in and making the opponent’s left-back get out of position and leave space. De Bruyne often fills that space and he can throw in a dangerous cross from the right wing.
The recent example last season if De Bruyne is not taped whether he is holding or not holding the ball is the game against Arsenal which ended in a 3-0 win for City. He recorded one assist and two goals. The assist he gave to Raheem Sterling when he was stabbing the opponent’s defense from the left and fired a cross with his left foot.
He scored the first goal when no one was watching so he could easily pass Gabriel Jesus cross with incredible technique. The second goal he scored was in a situation where he managed to get a pass between Arsenal’s midfield and back and found shooting space because Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Calum Chambers did not communicate as to who closed De Bruyne’s firing space. The three contributions came from the collaboration between De Bruyne who was given more freedom and an unprepared opponent. City also looks easy to pierce Arsenal’s defense because of the lack of defensive contributions from the four Arsenal attackers. Leaving the six defenders against City attackers is not the best option that can be taken.
De Bruyne himself revealed his analysis of the difficulties facing Arsenal. “Their attackers pressed but when we got through they four of them didn’t help Arsenal’s defense. “They are always on top, except for Martinelli who is down a little bit so we always have space in the whole area and I think it’s difficult for the six defenders to control that because you can come from anywhere,” said De Bruyne.
The option to give De Bruyne more freedom can be an alternative for Pep. Especially when facing opponents who apply high pressing but are easily penetrated from the City defense, making De Bruyne’s task easier. Interestingly, Silva’s contract will expire at the end of this season and it is not certain whether he will renew his contract or not. This tactical option can Pep try occasionally and be refined this season, before it may become a new grip next season.
It will be exciting to see how Kevin De Bruyne will impact the performance of Manchester City in the upcoming season of 2020/2021. Will he be best player of EPL again? Let’s wait and see.
ASL
