How good is Kevin De Bruyne?

Up there with Scholes, Keane as best mid to play in the PL (may be the best). Obviously his game is nothing like Keane though.

Best midfielder in the world currently.
 
harms said:
I think he means the opposite — that Gerrard played with worse teammates hence he is better than Keane by that logic (highlighting the shortcomings of this logical fallacy).

Although Gerrard was covered by good players in a way — that Alonso - Mascherano base really allowed him to flourish without worrying too much about his lack of positional discipline.
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Exactly my point. Shades of "can he do it on a wet windy Wednesday night at Stoke", while conveniently assuming players in worse situations would magically be able to step up with zero evidence backing it up
 
Skills said:
How would people compare him to Ozil in just the following 2 categories:

- Vision
- Passing ability
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Ozil is a bit more imaginative passer than KDB. IMO, Ozil has a bit better vision on the pitch. Ozil is operated higher than KDB. He prefers more short passes near the final-third area than KDB. IMO, Ozil is a bit more unpredictable than KDB( debatable). Ozil is also a better passer at the tight space and the through ball( short passing). Ozil is also a better 1-Touch passer too.

On the other side, KDB has a better technique. He has more arsenal in his passes. He could do almost every type of pass, short, long, or crosses. KDB has better precision and accuracy compared to Ozil. His weight of passes is damn near the perfect level. KDB's passes are also faster than Ozil's passes. KDB operates a bit lower than Ozil( he's a hybrid between 8/10). So, he has a lot more long passes and crosses( especially from the right side) than Ozil.

Better vision: I give it to Ozil.
Better Passing ability: KDB, because he has better precision, and accuracy and could do any type of pass at the highest level.





You will see both prefer different techniques and descriptions.
 
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In the conversation for the PL best ever midfielder in my opinion, alongside the usual suspects. I do worry about replacing him but very much enjoying watching him every week. He’s ridiculously entertaining.
 
Probably the most underrated midfielder in the fact that people don't understand how good he really is since the performances have all come in a City machine that many grew tired of. Therefore he doesn't have that "legacy aura" that many lesser midfielders of past teams have. But chuck on a highlight reel of this guy and it rivals anything your favorite all time midfielders could ever put together. Total package of a midfielder and remarkably versatile in how you can use him.

I'm still embarrassed that our own fans wanted to have the argument of Bruno v. KdB just because Bruno had some nice stats his first year.
 
His skillset is absolutely ridiculous. His football IQ is outstanding, as is his passing, crossing, shooting, dribbling, running, pressing. He can do it all in a manner that is pretty much unrivalled.

Purely based on that he’s one of the best midfielders of all time. Also his performance levels during league seasons are extremely consistent, he’s far from a ”what if” player.

Then again, playing for City & Belgium and repeatedly failing to deliver something special on the decisive moments of the most prestigious cup competitions will hurt his legacy severely. It’s not like he has to do it all by himself, but without winning anything other than bunch of domestic titles with an oil club, he’s never gonna get the recognition he deserves.
 
Does anyone else think he's really starting to regress as a footballer? I think he plays poorly a lot and gets away with it or goes under the radar because he'll play a nice pass or give an assist.
 
Nah still an incredible incredible footballer, probably top 5 in the world.

Gets away with poor games more than any other footballer on earth though, helps being boring personality-wise and non-flashy on the pitch. Remember that POTS he won a few years back? Got no criticism for his awful performances at the World Cup either. Any other top footballer and pundits are falling over themselves to bring them down. Again, he's absolutely world class and I don't think he's slowing down yet. Just very coddled.
 
ValenciasDrilledCrosses said:
Nah still an incredible incredible footballer, probably top 5 in the world.

Gets away with poor games more than any other footballer on earth though, helps being boring personality-wise and non-flashy on the pitch. Remember that POTS he won a few years back? Got no criticism for his awful performances at the World Cup either. Any other top footballer and pundits are falling over themselves to bring them down. Again, he's absolutely world class and I don't think he's slowing down yet. Just very coddled.
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I agree that his bad games get glossed over. I think once a player attains a certain level, the perception around their performances change. Even if they don’t have particularly good games, their performances are spoken about in venerated terms.
 
Berbaclass said:
Does anyone else think he's really starting to regress as a footballer? I think he plays poorly a lot and gets away with it or goes under the radar because he'll play a nice pass or give an assist.
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He was doing this a lot last season.
 
When you don't have him in your fantasy team - brilliant.

When you do - absolute mediocrity.
 
If Bruno played the way he played today, people would have lost it. They both in general play the same way.Today he has been absolute dog shit. Missing 5 and 10 yard passes.
 
Witchking said:
If Bruno played the way he played today, people would have lost it. They both in general play the same way.Today he has been absolute dog shit. Missing 5 and 10 yard passes.
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His sloppiness has increased a lot since Pep has put him behind Haaland as a old-school no.10


He has absolutely declined, but he has a lot more freedom to lose the ball now than he used to. It seems like Pep encourages to try and fint Haaland as often as possible
 
Witchking said:
If Bruno played the way he played today, people would have lost it. They both in general play the same way.Today he has been absolute dog shit. Missing 5 and 10 yard passes.
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He's played like that loads of times over the years, he's just the one player who's always got away with it.
 
It's funny to read this page from top to bottom.

From the best player in the world to regressing and aging midfielder, back to brilliant but finishing as mediocre. In 2 months.
 
Borys said:
It's funny to read this page from top to bottom.

From the best player in the world to regressing and aging midfielder, back to brilliant but finishing as mediocre. In 2 months.
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2 months?
Thats the average swing of a player over one game on this site.
 
Borys said:
It's funny to read this page from top to bottom.

From the best player in the world to regressing and aging midfielder, back to brilliant but finishing as mediocre. In 2 months.
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The truth is he's a great player who has always been a bit overrated because of the PL hype machine. Also never at any point of his career he was the best player in the world or best midfielder for that matter.
 
Idxomer said:
The truth is he's a great player who has always been a bit overrated because of the PL hype machine. Also never at any point of his career he was the best player in the world or best midfielder for that matter.
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Was voted best midfielder in the world in the Ballon d’Or just a few months ago.
 
Idxomer said:
The truth is he's a great player who has always been a bit overrated because of the PL hype machine. Also never at any point of his career he was the best player in the world or best midfielder for that matter.
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Nonsense, he has been the best midfielder on the planet over several stretches of time the last couple of years. Even this current declined version of him can turn into completely unplayable at any given time, in a way no other midfielder currently active is capable of
 
FeedTheGoat said:
Nonsense, he has been the best midfielder on the planet over several stretches of time the last couple of years. Even this current declined version of him can turn into completely unplayable at any given time, in a way no other midfielder currently active is capable of
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KdB is hands down the best midfielder in the world on paper.Incredble toolset. The problem is :
- he didn't dominate the most important CL games,
- he was always on and off with Belgium
- City had good results even when he got injured so people underestimate how important he is

He's been absolutely amazing in the PL over the years though.
 
He missed almost half the season with City in 2018-2019 and they didn't miss a beat(arguably their best side too).

Very good player, but overrated to obscene levels.

I've seen people pick him over Xavi/Iniesta.
 
Valencia Shin Crosses said:
This just simply isn't true
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Challenge: name 5 first team players at City who don't "look better because of the system/other players around them". Then call Pep a fraud in the same paragraph for needing "a squad of 2 title winning quality XI teams" at City.

Fun stuff
 
He was the best midfielder in the world for a while although mostly because the likes of modric had declined somewhat so lacked his consistency.
 
Another season with +10 assists (11 so far). Will he beat his and Henry's record of 20 ? He has by far the best ratio of assists each season in the PL history
 
He’s been an absolutely phenomenal player. You’d get sick of the amount of games that he affected and the amount of fantastic performances by him. He’s been by far the best midfielder in the premier league for the past ten years and one of the best ever.

He’s the closest thing to Becks I’ve seen, not as good for me but it’s close.

Absolutely world class player, he thankfully looks like his best days are behind him.
 
kouroux said:
Another season with +10 assists (11 so far). Will he beat his and Henry's record of 20 ? He has by far the best ratio of assists each season in the PL history
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Its weird cause he's having a poorish season but still racking up numbers. Whats interesting is he doesn't have to be as pinpoint accurate with those passes cause Haaland is Zlatan like flexible with his giant frame, so a ball that was excellent but Sterling, Kun or whoever was just too short to get on the end of without being offside, will now end up as a goal because Erling can actually get on the end of it.
 
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