Wow. He's going to break that record easily.
Kevin De Bruyne
- Thread starter Robbie Boy
- Start date
Beckham's is the most impressive because all the other players have the big advantage of coming to the Premier League as developed players.
That award is no indicator of merit. It's a popularity contest for the top few players of the year.
Such as Les Ferdinand and Teddy Sheringham are previous winners and good as they were you would never think of them as the best player in the country at any given time.
Leaving British football. Always stated he wants to finish at hometown club Las Palmas. Whether he goes elsewhere first remains to be seen.
He did?
When?
John Toure won it 04/05 with Chelsea. Do you not watch the game man?
Putting your neck on the line with that claim!
Ok, so you wanna continue to dig a hole for yourself then?
First off, Toure never won it so out of your two examples one of them is wrong.
Secondly, as i said, Scholes never won it, Lampard never won it and Vieira never won it. Now Vieira is someone who you yourself implied was one of the best midfielders to play in this league. So have you now changed your mind on that because he never won it? See how silly this is. Of course Vieira is one of the best midfielders this league has seen. Guess what? So is De Bruyne. If you have an inability to grasp that because he hasn't won some superficial award then that's on you.
So again, is Scholes, Lampard, Toure and Vieira among the best midfielders to play in this league?
Oh, and i never said that the players who won it are lucky. So, yeah...
Ha Ha, nice one.John Toure won it 04/05 with Chelsea. Do you not watch the game man?
John Toure won it 04/05 with Chelsea. Do you not watch the game man?
Am I going crazy or is that an attempt at writing Terry?
if he maintains this level for the next 5 years he'll also obviously be one of the greatest ever.
Fabregas was developed when he joined Arsenal? Really?
Funny you mention Toure because he lost out due to Suarez having one of the best individual seasons the league has seen. Similar to De Bruyne losing out to Salah setting a record-breaking (or equaling?) number of goals.
Henry was a winger, not an established one either. Fabregas was 17
Difference is he doesn't lose the ball deep in midfield cause he usually doesn't have to take risks for their team to build up and its less noticeable cause the rest of the players in his team never seem to lose the ball, so keeping the ball well isn't high on his list of priorities.Absolutely this!
KDB performance last night was basically the same as Pogba's from Sunday but our supporters rush to social media to blow smoke up his ass whilst Pogba got dogs abuse for his 1st half performance.
If we could ever build a team that good at knocking the ball about i doubt many would focus on Pogba losing the ball rather than the magical things he does to win us games.
Sterling, KDB... Is there anyone who doesn't benefit from this magical system?
Absolutely this!
KDB performance last night was basically the same as Pogba's from Sunday but our supporters rush to social media to blow smoke up his ass whilst Pogba got dogs abuse for his 1st half performance.
No way. Apart from the assists of course.
This may be partly due to the roles of both players in their teams, but I don't recall KDB dawdling on the ball too much or being dispossessed in dangerous situations, like Pogba was prior to his assists.
Pogba easily starts for City. If we swapped out Pogba for KDB and left the team as is otherwise I don't see KDB transforming anything TBH.
I agree with the false winger/AM poster. Their games/responsibilities are different I guess.
Not a chance Pogba would start under Pep ahead of de Bruyne, David Silva, Bernardo Silva or even Gündogan. Every single one of those players is much better suited for Guardiola's style than Pogba. He would've to change his decision making completely under Guardiola to win a starting spot. As of right now, Pogba is like the antithesis to Xavi who still encorporates the prototype of a Pep midfielder.
Don't know if anyone noticed, but as good as he was there were off the top of my head two or three situations on 2-1 where he had a teammate in a clear scoring position but decided to force a finish himself. That wouldn't be a big issue if the margin was greater, but at "only" 2-1 I feel those mistakes might have attributed to the loss of points.
Yup, unusual bad decision-making by De Bruyne at those moments. Pep should have a talk with him.
Pogba would definitely start alongside De Bruyne. You're underestimating how good he is. He can play every type of pass, he can carry the ball very well and he knows how to get into the box. He'd start alongside De Bruyne ahead of Rodri. He's got the most ability of any midfielder in the world, and if his decision making his poor Pep would improve it just as he did with Sterling.
Absolutely ridiculous to suggest that De Bruyne is better than PP, and on Caf, a Manchester United forum of all places! Sometimes it feels like Paul is the most underrated player in the world, and much of the disrespect is coming from United supporters. Absolutely ridiculous.
There are 2 (two) attributes which make KDB the world class player he is - stamina, and crossing. I have no problem admitting that he's superior to PP in these two aspects (to be honest the stamina of most City players is suspicious to say the least). Every other activity on the pitch though, PP comfortably beats KDB. He's stronger, faster, jump higher/better heading, better control and dribbling, vertical long passing, tricks, shooting, defensive contribution... He's the complete player, if you had to assemble a functioning football XI by cloning single player, you'd be stupid to pick anyone but Paul Pogba.
In my opinion, 5 best midfielders in the world play in PL - Pogba, Kante, De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and David Silva. We're blessed to have the best one of the lot, so some United fans should open their eyes and start appreciating him.
There are 2 (two) attributes which make KDB the world class player he is - stamina, and crossing. I have no problem admitting that he's superior to PP in these two aspects (to be honest the stamina of most City players is suspicious to say the least). Every other activity on the pitch though, PP comfortably beats KDB. He's stronger, faster, jump higher/better heading, better control and dribbling, vertical long passing, tricks, shooting, defensive contribution... He's the complete player, if you had to assemble a functioning football XI by cloning single player, you'd be stupid to pick anyone but Paul Pogba.
In my opinion, 5 best midfielders in the world play in PL - Pogba, Kante, De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and David Silva. We're blessed to have the best one of the lot, so some United fans should open their eyes and start appreciating him.
De Bruyne is far from a perceived Pep prototype and look what hes doing.
I'm not here to attack Pogba, it's pointless on a forum like this. However, placing Pogba's defensive contribution over De Bruyne's completely invalidates your opinion. Pogba is lazy, and that's a fact. Sky Sports even pointed it out during the 18/19 season, revealing he walked on the pitch the most out of all 79 central midfielders in the Premier League.
Get ready for shifting goal posts.
Didn't have Henry have something like 75 assists in 174 games? Thought they showed this stat yesterday.
Faster? KDB has quicker acceleration, which is more important than top speed in football. I also think that KDB’s through balls are superior to PP. KDB also has better decision making and a higher football IQ.
No holes being dug where I’m sat. I think you maybe got a bit carried away saying KDB wasn’t just one of the best midfielders but one of the best players to grace the premier league.
My point was that to be considered with the real premier league legends for example Ronaldo, Henry and Shearer then you would need to back it up with the consistent individual awards. Winning it once may be the sign of a one off outstanding season (another poster mentioned Les Ferdinand and Teddy Sheringham - agreed). Winning it twice is testament to your stature in the league. For me, until he’s been recognised as the best player in the league more than once then he’s not amongst those 3 that I personally consider to be the best players we’ve seen. You mention other players. We obviously rate players differently.
Anyway, let’s agree to disagree. I feel you’re overrating him and you feel I’m underrating him. Not to worry. At least we’ve kind of stayed on topic.
Enjoy the season.
Pogba is talented and has all the ability to perform in a Pep system, yes, but it is the decision making that defines a player and Pogba's as far away from a Pep midfielder as it gets in this regard. Pogba takes far too much time on the ball, often refuses to play easy sideway passes. Instead he stubbornly looks for decisive actions - a key pass, a dribbling, a long shot etc. and he often takes them even if the odds are not in his favour. This is like the antithesis to Guardiola's idea of football. How often was Xavi or Iniesta in a situation in which they needed to shield the ball? Pogba constantly gets himself in situations where it's easy to press him and in which he has to fight for the ball physically. Players like Xavi, Iniesta, Gündogan, Kroos, Modric, Bernardo Silva, Thiago, etc. don't even allow opponents to get so close to them. They have other midfielders chasing their shadows for 90 minutes through positioning, reading the game, quick reaction times and faultless technique, even if it is not as spectacular as Pogba's occasional Joga Bonito skills.
And while it is true that de Bruyne plays in a somewhat similar fashion at City he's by no menas as extreme. He takes long shots and looks for key passes and their successful passing rate is similar, yes, but de Bruyne doesn't lose possession as often, plays less long balls and most importantly doesn't cling to the ball like Pogba does. Instead he fits seemlessly into City's quick passing flow, like Messi did in Barcelona's (who has similar passing stats and occupies similar areas on the pitch to de Bruyne, by the way). That aside, it would be a decision between Pogba and de Bruyne as the idea that Pep would play two midfielders averaging 80% successfull passes simultaneously is completely ridiculous.
Ah, and I think that this Pogba hyping gets a little over the top. Yes, he's got superb skills but saying that he's got the most ability of any midfielder in the world isn't true. His technique is at times inconsistent and overall not better than that of Thiago, Modric, Bernardo Silva, David Silva, de Jong, Arthur, Verratti. I'd take Pogba over any other midfielder in a system that aims for counter attacks/quick transitioning but in a Pep system, there are easily 10 players in the world I'd choose ahead of him.
I got my stats for that from the official Premier League site. I assume they're correct.
Nope, not getting carried away. I stand by it. Anyway, i feel you've moved the goalposts slightly from where you first started out. Anyway, as you said, probably leave it there. Enjoy the season also.
Although, i am curious, do you consider Toure, Scholes, Lampard, Vieira and Aguero among the best players to have played in this league?
Yeah, 'in total'. Speaks volumes that of all the arguments I made, you pick out this one and counter it with a more a less meaningless stat.
Can I expect anything of insightful from you in this dicussion or will you just keep on making snappy one liners without any substance at all?
https://www.premierleague.com/players/3920/Paul-Pogba/stats
https://www.premierleague.com/players/4288/Kevin-De-Bruyne/stats
You're greatly exaggerating PP abilities compared to KDB.
fecking hell, do you keep clutching straws in every thread and argument?You said KdB doesn't lose possession when he lost it most times than anyone in 2017-18 season. Yeah he played lot of games but it also shows what you posted was just nonsense.
Of all the arguments you made, I didn't pick anything as it was nonsense and addressed long back when you keep moving goalposts and come up with more strawman arguments.
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That's a pointless stat without numbers on how often he was in possession overall.
No, it's pointless stat as attacking players take risks and lose possession. Not because we don't know how many times he was in possession.
Now we someone posts chance created stats, we have to ask same question, "It's pointless as we don't know how often the player was in possession".
This mythical prototype Pep midfielder is hilarious considering the wide variety of midfielders he played in his team.
You said KdB doesn't lose possession when he lost it most times than anyone in 2017-18 season. Yeah he played lot of games but it also shows what you posted was just nonsense.
Of all the arguments you made, I didn't pick anything as it was nonsense and addressed long back when you keep moving goalposts and come up with more strawman arguments.
depends where you lose possession, if you're losing it in the centre of the park that's worrying, if you're losing it trying to play a pintpoint pass through the lines at the edge of the oppositions box then that's not as big an issue