Monday Musing: The devastating magic of Kevin De Bruyne
Plus, Everton's Dominic Calvert-Lewin problem.
Five touches was all Kevin De Bruyne needed to turn the tide for Manchester City at St James’ Park.
One-hundred and fifty-five days on from his last Premier League appearance, City’s playmaker returned to top-flight action against Newcastle United on Saturday.
With City trailing 2-1 after quickfire goals from Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon cancelled out Bernardo Silva’s brilliantly improvised opener, Pep Guardiola turned to De Bruyne.
His first touch was a free-kick straight into the wall. His second was a superb low cross from the right that almost teed up Julian Alvaraz for a leveller. His third and fourth were on the run as he drove toward the edge of the box; his fifth, a cool finish beyond Martin Dubravka and into the bottom-left corner.
And then, with the match trickling towards a 2-2 draw that would have represented a boost for City’s title rivals, De Bruyne delivered again.
This time, it was an assist — a magical assist of the kind that perhaps only De Bruyne can conjure up. Drop into space, a quick look up, a perfectly weighted pass: Oscar Bobb, quite excellently, did the rest.
Kevin De Bruyne to TNT Sports
“It was crazy. I’ve missed this, you know. It is what it is, I’ve had a big injury, I needed the time, but I’ve worked hard. To come here, in this stadium and environment, it was more willpower than anything else — it was crazy.
“It was more willpower than sharpness. I know I’m not able to do that for 90 minutes at the moment, but I know I can put in a shift for 20, 25 minutes at full pace. I feel it in my lungs, but it can’t get any better than this can it.
“The way that I play, it’s assists. The ball [for the assist] is good, but the run from Oscar is amazing because he goes behind [Kieran] Trippier, and then the control at that pace, going around the ‘keeper in the last minute… He dictates what I can do, and then I try to do my best and give him the ball.
“I don’t know what to expect. I worked really hard. I tried to change a couple of things because I had the time. When you play all the time it’s hard to do different things but I think I found a couple and I’m going to try and maintain that. We want to try and compete again for the league, we’re up there with all the other teams — to win at St James’ Park is important.
“The beginning is a big blow but I’m not the kind of person to stand still. I enjoyed myself, being able to do things I’m never able to, and I worked hard — now I’m back and happy to compete. I know I need to keep doing what I do and get sharp, hopefully I can keep the upward trajectory.”
This is still a City team shorn of Erling Haaland, it’s worth remembering. De Bruyne might not yet be ready to give his all for 90 minutes, but his return will no doubt have sent shivers down the spines of those at Anfield, the Emirates and even Villa Park.
City are now unbeaten in nine games in all competitions, winning eight of those, and there’s definitely a feeling they are clicking back up through the gears. Even before De Bruyne’s introduction against Newcastle, they had been dominant — albeit undone by fantastic finishes from Isak and Gordon on the counter.
The winter break affords Guardiola more time to work on De Bruyne’s fitness and get Haaland back, and right now, it looks ominous.
EVERTON’S CALVERT-LEWIN PROBLEM
Through on goal, on the stroke of half-time, with only the goalkeeper to beat. Most Premier League strikers would fancy their chances.
Yet Dominic Calvert-Lewin never seemed confident that, after he had latched onto Arnuat Danjuma’s superb pass, he would actually go on to get the better of Emiliano Martinez during Everton’s clash with Aston Villa on Sunday.
Indeed, that proved to be the case. Whereas earlier in the season, Calvert-Lewin had scored from similar situations against Brentford and then, coincidentally, Villa — albeit with Robin Olsen in net, not a World Cup-winning goalkeeper — this time, he struck straight at Martinez.
Let’s not take too much away from the Argentine, who spread himself to close the angle, but Calvert-Lwin still had half of the goal to aim at.
Calvert-Lewin, who for the first time since the 2020-21 campaign is managing to stay fit, has now not scored since he netted Everton’s winner over West Ham at the end of October.
Sean Dyche pointed to the positives, saying Calvert-Lewin is “consistently fit” and that “the stats come back towards you, they will be in his favour massively now”.
However, via Opta, the 26-year-old has the biggest xG underperformance across Europe’s top five leagues this season.
Yet it remains clear that Calvert-Lewin brings more guile and composure to Everton’s attack — and positional awareness — than Beto, who is still adapting to the rigours and speed of the Premier League.
Calvert-Lewin was unfortunate to have what would have been a morale-boosting goal against Tottenham ruled out by a VAR intervention, but since the start of December he has missed brilliant opportunities against Newcastle, Manchester City and Crystal Palace. In that same timeframe, Beto has scored twice.
Perhaps, though, with the FA Cup replay against Palace coming up on Wednesday, and then possibly three games in the space of a week at the end of the month, it is time that Dyche elects to give his number nine the chance to come on from the bench, rather than persisting with playing him through his loss of form.
By Patric Ridge
Patric is a data journalist at Stats Perform and is a regular contributor to Toffee TV and Opta Analyst, while he has attended high-profile events including the UEFA Super Cup and 2022 FIFA World Cup.
(Follow: @PatricRidge)