Amid all the hullabaloo over the return of Yaya Toure – Guardiola’s persona non grata following cold warfare with Turkish agent Dimitri Seluk along with the ever-curtailed renaissance of captain Vincent Kompany battling injuries and physical niggles, Kevin De Bruyne is often overlooked at Manchester City, and almost disregarded in a fledgling baby blue dream team.
It was no different on Saturday in South London against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park. By City’s standards this was a mundane opponent, one to be dispatched with minimal efforts, another semi-unpleasant obstacle in a hardened Premier League season. Guardiola rotated, with six changes to his side that had drawn 1-1 away to Middlesbrough. Bacary Sagna, Nicolas Otamendi and Vincent Kompany came into defense at the expense of Pablo Zabaleta, John Stones and Gael Clichy respectively. Toure was dropped into the midfield, while Raheem Sterling and Nolito flanked Aguero.
After 37 minutes, Kompany had to be replaced after a hefty collision with his own keeper Claudio Bravo. The bulky captain cursed – his career has become a stop-and-start cortege of injuries.Two minutes later, Toure netted the first goal after an incisive double pass with Nolito. De Bruyne had set up the attack. The Belgian had a decent game. He provided crosses and played with urgency after Connor Wickham’s deserved 66th minute equaliser for the hosts. Earlier on, Aguero’s glancing attempt off a pin-point De Bruyne assist merited a goal.
A man for all positions
But De Bruyne’s position, next to Toure in a four man midfield, was more instructive than his match day form. From a tactical point of view, the Belgian has been Guardiola’s poker player, who has utilised his versatility and dynamism to a full extent.
At Genk, in Belgium, his coach Frank Vercauteren said that De Bruyne could function as a “[No.] 6, 7, 8, 10 or 11”. De Bruyne had spells at both Werder Bremen and VW Wolfsburg. There, he enjoyed his breakout success season with ten goals, 21 assists and the Bundesliga’s Player of the Year Award, a fine vindication for his unceremonious exit from Chelsea led by Jose Mourinho. This summer City purchased the midfielder for £55 million.
Ever since the 1-3 away victory at Swansea, Guardiola has been tinkering with De Bruyne’s position. His integration at City was perturbed by Ilker Gundogan, who returned from injury. City’s No. 17 played in different positions in his next seven games. In between, hamstring and calf injuries plagued De Bruyne and City’s winning streak came abruptly to an end.
At the Nou Camp against Barcelona in the Champions League, Guardiola omitted Aguero. The Belgian deputised as striker. Later, he dropped deeper to shore up the midfield and even strayed to the right. Ultimately, after Bravo’s red card and the substitution of Nolito, De Bruyne played on the left wing. Guardiola’s experiment backfired. Both City and the Spaniard were vilified for a feeble performance.
In the return leg, Barcelona carved open the hosts with a lightening-quick counter attack and a neat finish by Lionel Messi in the 21th minute. Catalan-inflicted carnage seemed inevitable, but after Gundogan’s goal, Guardiola switched De Bruyne, who had barely touched a ball inside the first 30 minutes, to a central position. If still somewhat subdued in the first half, he orchestrated City to an imperious 3-1 victory in the second half.
The backroom engine
Together with his team, De Bruyne pressed Barcelona very high after the restart. With a delightful free-kick, the midfielder scored. He then supplied Gundogan with a second goal, which sucked the life out Barcelona. De Bruyne registered 24 successful passes of 26, of which 22 were on Barcelona territory. The match had been a demonstration of the full ambit of De Bruyne’s skills – genuine two-footedness, pace, strength, dynamism and tactical excellence, with his contributions in the final 40 metres instrumental. De Bruyne had been the irresistible cog of the team.
At his national team, De Bruyne is gradually taking on that role as well. He is no longer playing in the shadow of Chelsea’s Eden Hazard. In the 3-4-3 formation of Belgium’s new coach Roberto Martinez, De Bruyne occupies a central role, one that allows him to dictate the play and set the pace.
Against Palace, De Bruyne was City’s most dangerous player on the ball, picking out the right passes in the second half. His corner kick allowed Toure to score the winner, with Palace’s poor marking exposed. It was De Bruyne’s 20th assist in a City shirt. The Ivorian ran away in celebration, taking the plaudits and getting the headlines, but, as is often the case at City, the understated, debonair Belgian was at the heart of the team’s success.
