After Manchester City got over the line with a 3-2 win against Newcastle United, Pep Guardiola was full of praise for Kevin De Bruyne.
The Catalan boss raised a point about how De Bruyne’s moments of magic are not interlinked with his tactical instructions in any way, shape or form during his post-match press conference (via BeanymanSports).
Pep Guardiola believes that players like the Belgian international tend to stand out consistently due to their one-of-a-kind match-winning quality.
Pep Guardiola raves about “special” Kevin De Bruyne after Manchester City defeat Newcastle
Micah Richards described the 32-year-old’s impact on this Sky Blues side as “phenomenal” as he grabbed a goal and an assist after coming off the bench against the Magpies.
Recently, Phil Foden also claimed that the decorated midfielder is capable of things not many can execute in world football.
As Pep Guardiola saw his Manchester City side leapfrog to second place in the Premier League table after beating Newcastle, he also had his say on the individual brilliance of Kevin De Bruyne.
“Kevin [De Bruyne]? Inside of our, ‘be everyone, what we have to do’, he has [something] a little bit more special, more freedom to move where his nose is, the gut, feel in that moment to create some passes and the other ones. When Kevin has the ball, we need runners”, Guardiola said in his post-match press conference (via BeanymanSports).
“Oscar [Bobb] did it well, Julian [Alvarez], Phil [Foden], when Erling [Haaland] is there, we need runners. And because after having, the goal is fantastic and the assist is beyond.”
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola also emphasised how Kevin De Bruyne can singlehandedly win games like he did against Newcastle in a way that is unrelated to his tactics.
“Listen, for the way we play, I want to be honest with you. The way we play is quite similar without him. But to win games, we need types of players like Kevin or Erling Haaland”, he said.
“So, the way we play, we have eight years together, most things we know exactly what we have to do, we have players that play in the pockets but the vision, the quality, the [speciality in] the final third, the [ability to] see something special, that is not tactics, it’s talent. Individual and Kevin, what can I say? Everybody knows him, you know, many years here, nine years here.”
Superstars like Kevin De Bruyne are the difference in title races
Pep Guardiola makes an interesting point about Kevin De Bruyne, who simply let his feet do the talking against Newcastle to lead Manchester City to victory.
Ultimately, there will be games where even a manager of Guardiola’s calibre will notice that his tactical ideas are failing to pay off with things not going to plan.
In such games, it takes a superstar to find a solution to problems when the system is not working to full effect and that is exactly the type of player De Bruyne has been since signing for City.
It takes players like Kevin De Bruyne to be the difference between their side and their title rivals, as a phenomenon like him can raise the bar for his team to a degree opposition sides cannot due to the lack of a genius like him in their ranks.
