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Kevin De Bruyne criticised by Pep Guardiola for failing to do ‘the simple things’ for Man City.
Pep Guardiola has said that Kevin De Bruyne has to go back to his fundamentals, which has made him less of a surefire starter for Manchester City lately.
The 31-year-old midfielder for Belgium, a two-time PFA Player of the Year and four-time Premier League winner, is thought to have let his high standards slide in 2022–23. Guardiola wants to see a polished operator perform “the basic things” admirably once more.
De Bruyne still leads all players in assists in the English Premier League this season (13) and has set up three goals in the Champions League.
Guardiola has said of a supposed dip from De Bruyne: “It’s been a difficult season for all of us, me included, due to the World Cup and many things. I’m not going to discover [how good] Kevin [is]. What I’d like – I spoke many times to him – is to go to the easy principles and do it well.
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He has an incredible ability to make an assist, to score goals and see passes like no one else. But I always have the belief that they will increase and get better when the simple things [are done]: like don’t lose the ball, the mobility, the incredible capacity to be active in the movement. The simple things: do it again better and better. When this is going to happen the rest will come along.”
Guardiola has made it plain during the current season that nobody can take a position in his plans for granted, despite the fact that he has a wealth of imaginative choices at his disposal.
He said of De Bruyne back in October: “He is not playing at his top level. His dynamic [movements] are not perfect. He knows, I spoke to him.”
On Tuesday, when City hosts RB Leipzig in the second leg of a Champions League round-of-16 match that is now tied at 1-1 on aggregate, De Bruyne will be aiming to play a significant part for City.