Manchester City FC 2017/18 Player Preview

2017/2018 Manchester City Player Previews

Kevin de Bruyne

King Kevin. Arguably our best player last year and he still had an “off season”. Will he continue his end of the season and pre-season form with a full squad surrounding him?

In his preferred Center Attacking Midfield position, Kevin is easily amongst the top in the league, if not the best. He led the league in numerous categories, including 18 assists, which is 9 more than Ozil had (9!) and 11 more than Coutinho had, and also in chances created. For a full comparison, I created a Squawka Comparison Matrix between Ozil, Coutinho, and Kevin. Feel free to take a look here. It essentially shows Kevin is at the top in categories that are essential in his position. He can definitely improve on finishing, but I can not see him hitting the post again 9 times this year.

Despite his accolades, coming into the second half of the season, Kevin was on a poor run of form. He hadn’t scored in a long while, which wasn’t totally his fault — he hit 9 posts this season, which led the league (in terms of individual players). He was misplacing passes and was missing chances — one, in particular, comes to mind against a certain team at Stamford Bridge…

Towards the end of the season, Kevin was playing absolutely amazing. He essentially bagged an assist per game the last 5 games of the season, and the season closer against Watford in which we scored 5 times, he was heavily involved in every goal.

Regardless, we all love Kevin, and we know the impact he has had on our squad. It’s been simply tremendous. Below I give a brief preview of what to expect from Kevin this upcoming season.

Kevin De Bruyne

Attacking Midfielder/Outside Midfielder

Last year against United in the derby, Kevin completely dominated the first half and should have had a hat-trick. I expect many performances just like this one in which he controls the entire match, along with David Silva. Without having played numerous matches for Belgium this summer and coming off of a brilliant pre-season, bagging an assist per match against top sides, I expect Kevin to start the season off tremendously. Coming off of the Euros last year I don’t think Kevin ever truly regained full fitness and we definitely overplayed him. Now with the depth we have, Kevin will come in with more rest and a high level of fitness.

I also think this year’s defensive signings will give Kevin a huge boost as well. While Kevin will definitely continue his high pressing and level of movement, the pacey full-backs and overall more solid defensive structure will give Kevin less work to do on defense and more options to play out wide as well. We know how fast Kyle Walker is and how he loves to bombard down the right flank. The options Kevin will have now will be incredible. If City overall is more clinical in front of the net, expect Kevin to register many assists this season, definitely more than he had last season.

With Bernardo Silva incoming, I don’t see Kevin’s role changing that much. Bernardo will primarily play on the right-hand side, but in other games where Kevin might need be rested, Bernardo could slot in for him or David and play in the CAM role. Moreover, Kevin loves to slide to the right hand of the pitch and deliver sumptuous crosses; meanwhile, Bernardo loves to cut inside. It could be a match made in heaven.

In terms of how we might line up, Kevin will most definitely feature in the starting 11 against Brighton, and I see him being played in primarily two-three different spots.

4-1-4-1: Pep’s most favoured formation

Aguero/Jesus

Sane — Silva — De Bruyne — Sterling/Bernardo

This is most likely what we will be playing with throughout the season, but who knows, maybe a switch to a 5 back system is incoming. Regardless, this is where Kevin flourishes — in the center of the park dictating the pace of the game and delivering key passes, and sliding to the sides of the pitch to cross the ball in. Also possible to see him start in the wide role with Bernardo in the inside.

3-5-2 / 3-1-4-2

Aguero — Jesus

Danilo/Mendy — Silva — KDB — Walker/Danilo

Toure/Dinho

This is the formation we’ve seen throughout the preseason, with wingbacks Danilo and Walker marauding down the sides of the pitch. Gives Kevin and Silva two striking options and wingbacks who have permission to be all the way down in the opponent’s third of the pitch. Sterling can also replace Silva as we have seen and act somewhat of a false 9 here.

Regardless of formation, expect a big year from Kevin this season. He has plenty of options moving forward, and if we finish our chances expect 20+ assists this season.