Kevin De Bruyne created eight goals last season to help lead Manchester City to the title and earn himself the Premier League player of the year trophy for the second time. This season he has nine assists already but his consistent genius is drifting under the radar thanks to the headline figures plunderer-in-chief Erling Haaland is racking up.
The Belgian’s delivery and eye-of-the-needle passes are a threat for any defence; he is able to create angles with the ball that few can dream of, producing passes before opponents can react. It helps that 27-goal Haaland has arrived to get on the end of whipped crosses and through-balls, making De Bruyne’s life a little easier when he takes the briefest of looks to see where his teammates are whenever the ball lands at his feet in the opposition half. Haaland volleying, jabbing and heading home passes from De Bruyne has become a regular sight. In the Manchester derby at the Etihad, the pair combined twice, ensuring United will be fearful of them at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Riyad Mahrez and Bernardo Silva are yet to peak this season. Grealish and Mahrez have been the preferred options on the wings in recent months, a combination Pep Guardiola has turned to for key matches and moments. The wide players have been rotated frequently, whereas De Bruyne has started 16 of City’s 17 league matches.
Silva has five league assists, Grealish and Foden three each, and Mahrez one (the same as the goalkeeper Ederson). Although these statistics look below par, they are not far off their numbers last season, and Silva has already surpassed his four. Where there is a problem is City’s second-most assists last season came jointly from the departed Gabriel Jesus and João Cancelo, who has one this campaign. Pep Guardiola wants more from certain squad members, especially going into a critical stage of the season.
“All I can do is to tell my players the reality in good and bad moments,” he said. “I have more experience than them. Not at playing football, but at analysing what happens, I’m better than them. I’m the only person to tell them the truth. Put everyone in the team individually in front of their own mirrors to look at themselves. Sometimes not saying anything, they see my face, they know exactly the situation.”
De Bruyne has made 18 ‘big chances’, from which a player can reasonably be expected to score; second in terms of this metric at City is Haaland on eight. Newcastle’s Kieran Trippier is second overall in the Premier League, five behind De Bruyne, an indicator of the Belgian’s creativity. Bruno Fernandes and Martin Ødegaard, who play in comparable positions to De Bruyne, have 11 and 10 respectively, and they are having fine seasons.
De Bruyne has looked tired at times in recent months, especially during Belgium’s World Cup demise. He has played more than 50 games in each of the past three seasons, and 27 already this campaign. Intelligence has been integral to De Bruyne’s game for years; he knows that at 31 his marauding runs cannot be as frequent or effective and he needs help from others.
De Bruyne’s brilliance has helped keep United in the shadows since he moved to England but the gap appears to be closing since Erik ten Hag’s arrival at Old Trafford. Guardiola, asked whether United were title challengers, said: “When I see the way United are playing, why not? Their playing is good. It is nice for us. The challenge to prove ourselves again, if we are able to do it.”
A key reason behind United’s improvement is the arrival from Real Madrid of Casemiro, a player brought in to create a barrier in front of the defence with his experience and a little cynical know-how. The Brazilian faced City numerous times in the Champions League with Madrid and often struggled against De Bruyne. City have won three of the clubs’ four most recent meetings, Madrid’s victory coming in last season’s dramatic injury-time turnaround, by which time De Bruyne had been replaced and Casemiro arguably should have been sent off. De Bruyne will be unconcerned about facing him again.
Haaland has become the man to fear for City’s opponents but Casemiro and his colleagues will be aiming to stop their rivals at source, which is still the ever-evolving De Bruyne. He would, however, be grateful for a little help from his friends.
