Kevin De Bruyne
- Thread starter Robbie Boy
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He's unreal when he's given that much space in front of him and with willing runners ahead. Imo he's one of if not the best players on the counter in the world.
We were linked with him that summer City snatched him up.
What an absolute feck up that was. I knew he was gonna be world class at Wolfsburg.
What an absolute feck up that was. I knew he was gonna be world class at Wolfsburg.
Any Belgian fans able to speak about how he looks for the NT? Rewatching the Spurs match last night, it was a real treat to see how much he imposes himself in a big match at both ends of the pitch. POTY in the Premiership, easily
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Ha. This one is always a favourite of mine. United made £581m revenue last year, which either means you only made 77p per fan (suggesting you are run by absolute amateurs, which we know isn’t true), or its a lie. There’s zero evidence for this fact.
It’s nearly 11% of the entire world population. Factor in that less than half the population probably even like football (let’s say only 60% don’t, which is being generous to football, because you’d get those kind of numbers in the UK and it’s our No1 sport by a long distance), 10% are then too young to understand it, and another half of that don’t have the means to watch football, in under developed countries. In other words around 20% of the world probably support a football team, being generous, and you think United capture 55% of that market. Real Madrid might argue differently.
Not easily. Salah is having a better season all things considered.
I read RT's comment about 750m fanbase as a 'tongue in cheek' comment, no?
Never in a million years
How not? Playing in a vastly inferior team but leading the scoring charts against all odds. Scoring cracking goals too. De Bruyne was poor last year in a team that wasn't pulling up trees but still better than the current Liverpool side.
Watch them both. Salah has been great. KDB has been world class.
I do watch them both. Salah is performing at a world class level too. Not sure how you can deny that. He basically scores great goals out of virtually nothing. The only difference is their clubs position in the league.
Not a hope. KDB has been the far better of the two. Goals aren't everything. KDB has been absolutely instrumental in making City tick.
Correct. Its not just the goals and assist either. He's fed more balls to the guy who get's the assist than any other player.
I mean, it's not even close. For me, KDB has been the outstanding player in the league by some distance.
Salah has been great but having a better season than KDB "all things considered"? You mean all goals considered?
Season 2002-03, Zidane scored 9 goals in La Liga vs 29 for Roy Makaay. Was Makaay having a better season because of scoring much more goals?
I mean Fabregas would have generally had better goals / assists stats than Xavi during Xavi's prime, but it was clear who was by far the better player.
So you don't think what Salah has achieved at Liverpool so far is remarkable? A player of his type will rightly be judged on his end product, goal scoring and assists. Comparing him to central midfielders is a poor retort. As for comparing Makay to Zidane, Treble!?
He's having a good run. I wouldn't throw words like remarkable around, no. He has also missed a whole host of guild edge chances. He's been a cracking signing for sure, but KDB has been the far better of the two. It's actually not even close.
He is currently on course for 30 goals in his first season, he would be only the eighth player in PL history to achieve that, playing for a sub standard side like Liverpool. It's weird you don't find that remarkable frankly.
'If' he maintains this form it would be remarkable or whatever superlative you choose to use. However, plenty of players have started well and completely faded away, so who knows. As of now, he's had a great start to his career at Liverpool but I would be astonished if he keeps it up.
Anyhow, your original point was that Salah has been better than KDB which I disagree it 100%. For me, it's not even close. KDB is a fantastic player to watch and makes things tick for City whereas Salah is effective but is nowhere near the same level of quality as KDB.
Makaay scored 29 goals in La Liga. Which was remarkable. Salah is on course to 29 goals and it would be remarkable if he ends up with 29 league goals. Still think that KDB is having a better season though. Why? He has contributed 14 goals vs 17 for Salah while playing much deeper and doing much more for their build-up and defensive play. I wasn't comparing Zidane and Makaay for the sake of it but to show that goals/assists isn't the only or even the main criterion to use when comparing the season of a CM and a forward. Salah has been sensational, mind.
And if De Bruyne drops off the same applies. I can't see any value in such logic.
Contributed 14 goals? You mean goals and assists combined as he has only scored 7 goals?
Is everyone buying that?
His quite stern expression doesnt look like he was doing a tribute.
What logic is that exactly? I guarantee if you done a poll of who has been better between KDB and Salah this season, the results would be pretty one sided. I'm baffled that you genuinely think Salah has been better, I really am.
The silly logic that Salah's achievements so far should viewed with scepticism because he might drop off in the second half of the season when the same thing might happen to KDB.
Oh here, you're going into strange territory here. As I said, Salah has been very good, you're the one that said he's on his way to getting 30 goals to which I replied 'if' he keeps this form up and merely pointed out that plenty have started great and faded. It's not scepticism whatsoever, it's more to do with sustaining that kind of form would include staying pretty much injury free, playing at optimal level etc until the end of the season, which is incredibly difficult.
Let's get back to the main point: You said Salah has been better than KDB. He really, really hasn't and I would wager the vast majority would agree with this assertion.
You can only judge him on what he has done so far, there is no value in down marking him on potential future declines in form. It is silly frankly. Saying he is on course for 30 goals this season is simply a reflection on his achieved form so far.
Yes, I did say that Salah has been better, my opinion. I don't care what the majority may think. I see no value in forming my opinions as a reflection of the majority.
6 goals and 8 assists in the league vs 14 league goals and 3 assists for Salah.
Btw, Sane has contributed league goals/assists at the same rate as Salah: every 80 min. It is not as if Salah has been on a completely different level to other forwards within the EPL.
Good stuff. Well for me, I would take KDB over Salah any day of the week and it's not even remotely close. Glad you think Salah has been better but to me, that's pretty insane. Opinions though, they're great really.
Not to mention Sterling who has 11 goals and 3 assists in 16 games and his average goals per match is .69 whereas Salah has 14 goals and 3 assists in 18 games with his average goals per match at .78 (league only). So yeah, he's hardly flights ahead of anyone really.
Absolutely. I also think when opposition teams have more time to study Salah they will start to figure out his weaknesses and stop him. De Bruyne has been in the league for a couple of years now and has taken it to another level. Salah is really good. But De Bruyne is one of the worlds best.
But you chose to ignore the significant context of which teams those two players belong too. I value the player performing in an sub-optimal team higher than a player playing in a team that is winning every game at a canter.
That is my logic on this matter.
Liverpool currently have the 3rd highest goals scored in the premier league. Thier problem is thier weak defensive structure not thier attack. They have a good offensive phase in transition and Salah gets on the end of them this is despite him missing quite a few clear cut chances.
Kevin de Bruyne is involved in all phases of City's play. If you will say that he benefits from Manchester City's system then the same can be said for Salah.
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F365 just done a top ten PL players of 2017 and put KDB first (easy choice):
Yeah, this is a great observation @Robbie Boy
When I watch KDB, I am impressed with how hard he works at both ends of the pitch. It's easy to be dazzled by his deft touch on passes, particularly in transition but he wins countless balls back or forces turnovers like few midfielders of his caliber
I can't see him going anywhere either, I think he knows he has found a great situation under Guardiola
When I watch KDB, I am impressed with how hard he works at both ends of the pitch. It's easy to be dazzled by his deft touch on passes, particularly in transition but he wins countless balls back or forces turnovers like few midfielders of his caliber
I can't see him going anywhere either, I think he knows he has found a great situation under Guardiola
He wasn’t even poor last season, he was our best player playing in a completely new role in a completely new system. Had most assists in the league, performed in big games both in the league and Europe. It really annoys me when people say he was “poor” last season. Was by far the best creative midfielder along with Fabregas.
Coming on to the argument, as some already suggested, Salah’s overall rate of output is comparable to Sane and worse than Sterling and it’s not even like he’s playing with duds. Liverpool are one of the highest scoring teams in Europe. Their front line isn’t sub par really, their weaknesses are defense related.
De bruyne not only performs going forward but his defensive contribution (successful tackles, interceptions etc.) is comparable to players like Matic and better than majority of the dms in the league.
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Last season he got 18 assists and 6 goals in the league (under a new manager and a team in transition). If that constitutes as a 'poor season' then feck me. There's some truly baffling stuff in here.
Considering how well he is playing have any teams used a man marker against KDB yet?
He's been world class since even before city bought him. This season he is unreal, a level above world class.
The problem with city's system is that the moment you double mark 1 player, you just open more space for another dangerous player. You have Sane and Sterling wide on the wings, if you don't look out for them they will run riot on youre flank, if you do take special measures to cover them, you open more space for city's 2 playmakers to create the danger from the center. There would be less of an issue if city didn't have dangerous players at all positions but for the moment it clicks everywhere, but if you would double mark KDB he would be intelligent enough to use the opportunity to draw defenders away from their position creating spaces for other players.
If the only difference is the relative position of the team, then you should have a look at how KDB pretty much single handedly managed to destroy a utterly dominating Bayern Munchen with Wolfsburg.
Legendary performance that was, very memorable match.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014–15_FC_Bayern_Munich_season
biggest loss of bayern munchen in the 14/15 season where they were champions with a 10 point lead: the 4:1 VS Wolfsburg. In fact, they had gone the whole season unbeaten before that match. KDB afaik had 1 assist and 2 goals in that match, with other words the difference that made the win.
The most brilliant goal of the match was his first though. You would think he is offside, but the rule is that you can never be offside on youre own side. It showed exceptional football intelligence of KDB that he seized the opportunity when it presented itself there and made that goal. And it's also considered that this was likely the day that Pep decided he wanted to manage KDB himself.
And hey, ill make a bold statement that perhaps not a lot of people will even challenge: The day that Messi stops playing is likely the day that KDB will be regarded as the best player in the world.
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