Well the curled balls that De Bruyne does so consistently just is not something Gerrard did, also Gerrard was not good at weighting passing at all, De Bruyne is. He is also just slower at doing it all, he wouldn't be able to keep up with De Bruyne. De Bruyne has not got the touch or close control of Iniesta, but there is still a good difference between him and Gerrard though.
Kevin De Bruyne
- Thread starter Robbie Boy
- Start date
What seasons are those? Because De a Bruyne has been playing as number 10 on the right or the most advanced midfielder in a three for as long as I can remember and didn’t he play number 10 for Wolfsburg?
It’s almost as if you’re making up stuff in your head despite contrary evidence.
What? Go on go back and watch clips of Gerrard that was almost his most favoured pass curled ball from deep wide right positions.
He doesn't?
No midfielder will be better than Matthaus was any time soon.
Yes but not the quality or consistency of De Bruyne, hes been compared to Beckham many times here, I would not do the same with Gerrard.
Centurions season. De bruyne was a number 8 alongside David Silva and ahead of Fernandinho.
If we're acting like a Real Madrid Champions League run is 'unlikely', then De Bruyne's not got a hope in hell of a fair evaluation.
The equaliser was a great finish, but the defence from Newcastle was awful.
When you think about that, it's actually just depressing.
Its a United forum, and KBD will never gets his due here. I am pretty sure, we have some biased posters who will suggest Pogba>KDB because of his first stint with Juve and World Cup.
Puhlease.
It's you fault you rely on statistics alone not actual watching of matches. That's why you laughably imagine I'd have the time to make stuff up about De Bruyne. Let alone Steven Gerrard.Furthermore you want to play the statistics game. Go here:
https://www.footballcritic.com/kevin-de-bruyne/player-positions/3459
Here:
https://www.transfermarkt.com/kevin...=&verein=&liga=&wettbewerb=&pos=7&trainer_id=
You will find there comprehensive evidence KDB has played in CM at his peak far more often than the likes of you imagine. Enough for anyone with a critical enough eye to notice his sound positional discipline in the position as compared to Steven Gerrard.
FYI Ive been a critic of Gerrard's lack of positional discipline since his early career. Reaching its zenith during the 2005 Istanbul miracle, which I've used as an example on here since then more times than I care to count. Before you go imagining I'm remixing my view on him years post his career ....
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Clearly you didnt watch Gerrard play. It's laughable that having a great youtube reel full of thunder strike goals makes people believe he just had a hammer and that's what he was all about. One of his features makes some fans downgrade the rest of his game which was as good as most midfielders today.
"When I was director of football at Real Madrid I had to evaluate the players coming through the youth ranks. We had some who were very good footballers. They had technique, they had athleticism, they had drive, they were hungry.
"But they lacked what I call knowing-how-to-play-football. They lacked decision making. They lacked positioning. They didn't have the subtle sensitivity of football: how a player should move within the collective. And for many, I wasn't sure they were going to learn".
“You see, strength, passion, technique, athleticism, all of these are very important. But they are a means to an end, not an end in itself. They help you reach your goal, which is putting your talent at the service of the team and, by doing this, making both of you and the team greater.
"In situations like that, I just have to say, Gerrard's a great footballer, but perhaps not a great player."
Ariggi Sacchi
"But they lacked what I call knowing-how-to-play-football. They lacked decision making. They lacked positioning. They didn't have the subtle sensitivity of football: how a player should move within the collective. And for many, I wasn't sure they were going to learn".
“You see, strength, passion, technique, athleticism, all of these are very important. But they are a means to an end, not an end in itself. They help you reach your goal, which is putting your talent at the service of the team and, by doing this, making both of you and the team greater.
"In situations like that, I just have to say, Gerrard's a great footballer, but perhaps not a great player."
Ariggi Sacchi
Strange, as I see quite a few posts here praising KDB as one of the greatest players in PL history. It may exist, but I haven't see one post suggesting that Pogba > KDB.
I did. It was common to see his long balls shoot into touch.
To be fair, I do remember it being a common enough opinion here a few years ago but De Bruyne has gone from strength to strength whereas Pogba has done nothing of note since the summer of 2021. Pogba will be rated higher in 5-6 years when there's more distance to what's happened to him recently, his 2018 WC was outstanding.
Worth noting Sacchi achieved absolutely nothing as RM as DoF and that period was probably one of the worst for them in terms of decision making as a club."When I was director of football at Real Madrid I had to evaluate the players coming through the youth ranks. We had some who were very good footballers. They had technique, they had athleticism, they had drive, they were hungry.
"But they lacked what I call knowing-how-to-play-football. They lacked decision making. They lacked positioning. They didn't have the subtle sensitivity of football: how a player should move within the collective. And for many, I wasn't sure they were going to learn".
“You see, strength, passion, technique, athleticism, all of these are very important. But they are a means to an end, not an end in itself. They help you reach your goal, which is putting your talent at the service of the team and, by doing this, making both of you and the team greater.
"In situations like that, I just have to say, Gerrard's a great footballer, but perhaps not a great player."
Ariggi Sacchi
Gerrard was a victim of circumstance, the teams he was in required him to become the player he was. When Benitez came in, he found the ideal role for him and he was dynamite, unquestionably one of the best players in the world.
No doubt if he’d played under SAF, Mourinho or Ancelotti he would have played more within a team structure.
Absolute bollocks to say he wasn’t a great player.
Hehe. The Quote is an obvious wind up. Sacchi went over the top in saying he wasn't a great player. However he was spot on about Gerrard's lack of postional discipline. It was his one and only weakness as a player.
Sadly for him he NEVER got to have a career as a dedicated 10 for long at his peak. In that role he was unplayable with his attributes. That season he was just behind Torres in particular that free role year he had under Rafa on the right flank too, were by far his best seasons as a player IMO. Perhaps his attributes were just too early for the prevailing tactics of the era in the EPL at the time. Plus his dedication to disfunctional Pool added to that issue.
For in my view. In THIS era of double 10s, diamonds and attackings 8s. He'd easily be a king. But a 2 man pair that required discipline positionally? Only his superman impersonations used to hide his blatant flaw in such formations.
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Agree with all of this. It probably did take a bit too long to find his actual position but when he did it was devastating especially the combo with Torres as you mentioned.
Good post.
Did I have a fever dream or what? Didn't Gerrard spend pretty much all of his prime as an attacking midfielder? From 2005 to 2010 at least? And yes, he was phenomenal. Just not quite as good as De Bruyne
Gutted none of them played for Utd all because of this no value in market claptrap
He doesn’t. This whole thread is basically people going on about how he’s Scholes plus *insert other great midfielder* except the two are nothing alike. KDB is more like the midfielder Bruno wishes he was - essentially not really a CM but a true AM. He gives the ball away plenty and isn’t the playmaker / controller in deeper areas that Scholes was. Rodri (and the system in general of defenders stepping /tucking in) does that for City so KDB can focus on driving the team in attack. He’s not Gerrard and Scholes combined. He’s a better Gerrard with more class and intelligence but less defensive quality.
Completely agree. He’s an attacking midfielder and should be compared to Kaka, Ozil, older Gerrard, Bruno etc NOT Pirlo, Scholes, Xavi, Modric etc
On this United forum, our rival team players get more than enough praise as we usually have many fans salivating over them. Haaland, Salah, KdB etc all these threads are over the top in their praise for the most part further elevated by other team supporting / loving posters like adex, giorno etc
VVD’s thread is the only harsh one where we all love to rip into him when he’s not at his best.
Scholes wasn’t that for most of his career either, wasn’t always trusted in a midfield 2 when he was younger, Butt would play. Keane set the tempo. Scholes was an attacking midfielder. Was only in his 30s that he moved back. His later years style was different it’s true.
Despite his multiple renditions and ability / suitability to making late runs into the box and in 2002 to completely play as an AM he was essentially a CM and a fundamentally different player to KDB, who I would rather drop than have controlling things in the middle. He usually averages a pass completion rate of around 75 per cent which is pretty much what you’d expect from an AM focused on creating and scoring. Scholes once hit 92.5 per cent for an entire season. As I said they’re mostly very different players. Their arcs may have aligned here and there but that doesn’t warrant a comparison. Like I said, Kaka, Ozil and all closer to KDB.
Hmmm. Is he better than Fabregas? A joy to watch though.
Fully agree. Maybe de Bruyne could play a ball distributing role (I imagine if City had succeeded in signing Messi four (?) years ago, he would have had to) but so far we haven't seen it. Right now, he's a high risk high reward type of player and comparing his scorers with those of typical CMs is apple and oranges. De Bruyne sits at 72% Players such as Kroos or even Rodri play far deeper on the pitch so they are hardly comparable one way or another. But even players such as Modric or - in de Bruyne's own team last season - Gündogan who operate in similar areas rack up passing accuracies of around 88%. IMO it's been the case for a few years that we see players who may occupy the same areas on the pitch but still play a different "position" or rather "role". De Bruyne e. g. would be a competitor to Messi if in the same team.
I have been the last 2 pages, I honestly don't understand what's being debated.
Overall — yes. Fabregas was even more impressive in his younger days (he was easily one of the best young midfielders ever alongside Schuster, Pedri & a few others) but ultimately he failed to fully deliver on that early promise. He's still a Premier League great though, just not ahead of De Bruyne.
Their reputations have definitely gone in different directions over the last four years.
Agreed. It’s sickening.
Not really.
3 league titles and 1 champions league for Zidane.
6 league titles and 1 champs league for de Bruyne and still going.
WC and Euros for Zidane. And then consider in Zidane's era there weren't any superteams with the quality and stability of City. I mean KDB missed most of the 18/19 season, they went up against a historically great Liverpool in the most historically great title race ever seen(based on the combined points of the top 2), and City still won
Neither of which have anything to do with his club career.
I don't think anyone has said Zidane's international career was on par with De Bruyne.
Very true. That Man City / Pep fan, especially. God, he's awful.Yeah but all of a player's career matters when you're judging it
Also thinking back about Zidane's time in Italy and damn but our league was cartoonishly corrupt during those times