WHILE flat Earthers doggedly insist that Pep Guardiola wouldn’t be where he is today without Lionel Messi, the rest of us acknowledge that few managers have more successfully and consistently implemented a template for collective brilliance. “The cause has to be greater than the individual,” the Catalan once said, and this has been emphatically evidenced time and again at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City, where stars can shine but only within the framework of their manager’s masterpiece. The methodology of the team is everything.
This explains how City still managed to accrue an astonishing 98 points last season despite losing their finest creative talent in Kevin De Bruyne for 156 days through a cruel succession of injuries. This is why an EFL Cup line-up featuring squad players and teenagers is a mirror image of the first team give or take a stray pass or two.
Yet increasingly this season, we are witnessing a tilting to this long established balance of power that has previously placed organised collaboration over individual artistry and where once players such as Kevin de Bruyne were turned to for inspiration only – to add flourishes and completion to the masterplan – now they are being relied on to get City over the line.
This was witnessed once again at the weekend against Chelsea, where the Belgian may have notably faded in the second half but in the opening 45 minutes bossed proceedings sufficiently to secure the home side three precious points. Had it not been for De Bruyne, a title long-shot would now be a distant dream and how rarely during Guardiola’s tenure in England has the first five words in this sentence been used to describe a victory, except perhaps when referring to Sergio Aguero’s prolificacy. Recently though, having to look to one player to take on the mantle and make the difference is starting to become a regular occurrence.
This in itself is no bad thing. We only need recall the glory days of Manchester United and the huge influence carried by Eric Cantona while at the risk of contradicting this article’s opening statement, there were of course times when Guardiola’s amazing Barcelona heavily leant on Messi to get them through a lean spell.
It happens and in City’s case it is happening because there is a limit to which even a formidable and perfectly designed team can fully function and presently City’s is being stretched through all manner of reasons. The losses of Aymeric Laporte and Leroy Sane have been substantial, so too the loss of David and Bernardo Silva’s ingenuity via wear and tear and form. Just as damaging, but less easy to quantify, is the small percentage of inattentiveness that has inevitably infiltrated the squad after meeting extraordinary demands on a weekly basis for two years and more.
Kevin De Bruyne this season for Belgium and Man City:
19 games: 5 goals, 16 assists
On fire…. pic.twitter.com/tcj65keaKA
— Josc (@JoscMCFC) November 20, 2019
The legitimacy of these explanations lessens concern, while the temporary nature of them means it is nowhere near the top of City fans’ conversational agenda. What really has us almost blasé however is that the man being entrusted to come to the fore, and haul his team through games, and be the Blues’ Cantona or Messi or whichever special individual you care to put up for comparison, is Kevin De Bruyne. Assuming he stays fit, we’re in very safe hands.
The 28-year-old has returned this year as sublime as he was before his lengthy lay-off but as a noticeably different player. Each pass still has the care and attention of someone you just know makes the perfect risotto. Each driving run from midfield still has that familiar lollop that tricks the brain into believing he will be caught until the nearest opponent is outstripped for pace. Elsewhere though, there is an economy and efficiency to his scheming that is in contrast to the exhibition fare we’ve been treated to in the past.
Now, in the final third he gets the ball and whips it into a dangerous area; typically with an arcing accurately that astounds. There is no messing around. No one-twos to improve the angle. Now, when stationed deeper he similarly executes at the earliest juncture should a forward pass be on.
Before we get to the results of these alterations, let’s pause for a moment and consider how they came to be. De Bruyne is an avowed student of the game who was left devastated at having to sit out a bulk of a season. Unquestionably he spent his down-time analysing every detail of his game, peeling away the irrelevancies; pinpointing exactly how and where he can be most effective. Pep would heartily approve.
And what has been produced from that homework is little short of outstanding. In 2016-17 – a vintage year – De Bruyne registered 19 Premier League assists from 38 games. From 12 fixtures so far he has already racked up nine. That’s damn close to half the amount in a third of the time.
Concerning his recent proclivity to create from deep we find an identical ratio. 2016-17 brought 83 accurate long balls. So far he has managed 41, with two thirds of the campaign still to play.
It is impossible not to love the extravagant De Bruyne, he of the blind reverse through-balls and sweeping cross-field searches but City no longer have the luxury of enjoying such luxuries. Not for the time being at least. What they need is the superstar they have: a highly efficient and highly functional influencer to decide games and be the difference.
A player to rely on. A player to hang a title on.
