Kevin De Bruyne

[Murder on Zidane's Floor]

Scholes was my favourite player but hard to say what he was better at. Maybe better at slowing a game down from deeper areas when he was older at a push. De Bruyne has all the best of Scholes and then higher workrate, better dribbler, more driving through midfield at pace, better crosses and set pieces.

Tempo.

 

[Pickle85]

He's the player people are describing when they talk about peak Gerrard.

Much better than peak Gerrard, a top 5 all time PL midfielder.

Yep, he's much better than Gerrard. I'd say he's a top 3 PL midfielder tbh and he'd probably have a shout at best.

 

[Murder on Zidane's Floor]

Scholes was a wonderful player but I think this is only a debate in the eyes of united fans.

True, although 20 goals from Paul on 03 was an amazing achievement.

But I'm happy with KDB being above him in the lists, doesn't mean Scholes was poor

 

[Murder on Zidane's Floor]

Yep, he's much better than Gerrard. I'd say he's a top 3 PL midfielder tbh and he'd probably have a shout at best.

It's the way people talk about "Stevie G" and "taking the game by the scruff of the neck"

KDB does it time and time again. Lad looked gassed after ten yet still won them the game.

Gerrard struggles to make the top ten....

 

[Pickle85]

It's the way people talk about "Stevie G" and "taking the game by the scruff of the neck"

KDB does it time and time again. Lad looked gassed after ten yet still won them the game.

Gerrard struggles to make the top ten....

Gerrard was a very good player but benefits from having an excellent highlight reel and being English. As you say, KdB is different class. The cnut.

 

[Murder on Zidane's Floor]

Something like;

Lampard
KDB
Keane
Yaya
Scholes

Then

Vieira
Kante
Rodri
Etc

Gerrard is perhaps #10 if you're not counting Silva/B.Silva etc

 

[Berbasbullet]

He's the player people are describing when they talk about peak Gerrard.

Much better than peak Gerrard, a top 5 all time PL midfielder.

Completely agree, much better than Stevie Me.

 

[Murder on Zidane's Floor]

Gerrard was a very good player but benefits from having an excellent highlight reel and being English. As you say, KdB is different class. The cnut.

Yeah, Gerrard was good, well great but I honestly think KDB is the player everyone describes when talking about peak Gerrard

 

[The holy trinity 68]

Something like;

Lampard
KDB
Keane
Yaya
Scholes

Then

Vieira
Kante
Rodri
Etc

Gerrard is perhaps #10 if you're not counting Silva/B.Silva etc

Come on, I'm a United fan and that's just rubbish. Gerrard is better than Rodri, Kante, Lampard and Yaya.

 

[Pickle85]

Come on, I'm a United fan and that's just rubbish. Gerrard is better than Rodri, Kante, Lampard and Yaya.

Was he? If I'm building an 11 I'm probably taking all of them, possibly bar Toure, ahead of Gerrard.

 

[Murder on Zidane's Floor]

Come on, I'm a United fan and that's just rubbish. Gerrard is better than Rodri, Kante, Lampard and Yaya.

Better than Lampard?! 200 goals from midfield, multi PL winner, dominated CM for his team under different managers? All because he didn't bang a few in from 30 yards?

Behave.

Yaya? Nah, peak Yaya was unstoppable, he's above him.

Rodri is a monster, best DM in the world for multiple seasons, anchors the entire midfield, enabling City to play with about 9 forwards every game and not get smashed. Cracking passer, gets goals, never really injured, multi PL winner in the most dominant PL team ever, isn't better than Gerrard because what? He doesn't score against West Ham from forty yards?

 

[The holy trinity 68]

Was he? If I'm building an 11 I'm probably taking all of them, possibly bar Toure, ahead of Gerrard.

Gerrard unfortunately played in a worse team than all of them. There is a reason Mourinhi tried to buy him 3 times and Sir Alex also tried. He also finished 3rd in the Ballon d'Or in 2005. Dragged Liverpool to winning the CL and a few of the domestic cups.

I hate him and Liverpool with a passion but ignoring bias, he was world class in his prime.

 

[The holy trinity 68]

Better than Lampard?! 200 goals from midfield, multi PL winner, dominated CM for his team under different managers? All because he didn't bang a few in from 30 yards?

Behave.

Yaya? Nah, peak Yaya was unstoppable, he's above him.

Rodri is a monster, best DM in the world for multiple seasons, anchors the entire midfield, enabling City to play with about 9 forwards every game and not get smashed. Cracking passer, gets goals, never really injured, multi PL winner in the most dominant PL team ever, isn't better than Gerrard because what? He doesn't score against West Ham from forty yards?

Lampard scored 60 penalty goals, and also played in a much better team, surrounded by better players. Lampard is overrated because of the goals he scored.

You're just being biased. Gerrard was elite in his prime.

 

[Pickle85]

Gerrard unfortunately played in a worse team than all of them. There is a reason Mourinhi tried to buy him 3 times and Sir Alex also tried. He also finished 3rd in the Ballon d'Or in 2005. Dragged Liverpool to winning the CL and a few of the domestic cups.

I hate him and Liverpool with a passion but ignoring bias, he was world class in his prime.

He was a player that a team had to accommodate whereas the others fitted in easier, in my opinion. He was a good player for sure but never as good as the scouse hype machine would have you believe.

 

[Salt Bailly]

Perennial underachiever for his national team, and he can't use the Scholes excuse of being played out of position.

 

[The holy trinity 68]

He was a player that a team had to accommodate whereas the others fitted in easier, in my opinion. He was a good player for sure but never as good as the scouse hype machine would have you believe.

What about finishing 3rd in the Ballon d'Or? Is that only the Scouse hype machine and him only being a good player? I can't see any of the others dragging an above average team to winning the Champions League.

Football journalist, Mourinho, Sir Alex etc all thought he was world class, because he was. Put prime Gerrard in this Guardiola team and he would be ridiculous.

It's just bias to say he was not a top 10 midfielder in the Prem.

He's not at the very top imo, but he's definitely above some of the ones being named.

 

[Pickle85]

What about finishing 3rd in the Ballon d'Or? Is that only the Scouse hype machine and him only being a good player? I can't see any of the others dragging an above average team to winning the Champions League.

Football journalist, Mourinho, Sir Alex etc all thought he was world class, because he was. Put prime Gerrard in this Guardiola team and he would be ridiculous.

It's just bias to say he was not a top 10 midfielder in the Prem.

He's not at the very top imo, but he's definitely above some of the ones being named.

The Balloon D'Or is a nonsense, let's be real. I agree he probably makes the top ten PL midfielder cut but I don't think its nailed on. And I totally disagree that Gerrard would be ridiculous in this guardiola side. The baldy requires a level of positional discipline that Gerrard simply didn't have.

 

[Mike Smalling]

He's getting to the point, where you soon have to put him alongside Thierry Henry at the very top of the all-time best players in the PL. Probably has a few good years left in him too.

I think he's probably the best striker of a football I've ever seen. He has a similar level of crossing technique to Beckham, but he also has that ability to make pin-point low through balls, which I don't remember Beckham doing much. Beckham probably edges him on freekicks, but KDB is better with his weaker foot.

Great player to watch. Even in a very good City side, he elevates them to another level in final third especially.

 

[Ady87]

He is outrageously good. His passing accuracy is perfection so no shocks that he passed that ball in to the net. I don’t think anyone else in the league is capable of that at the minute.

The assist for Bobb too, unbelievable.

 

[El Jefe]

He's the player people are describing when they talk about peak Gerrard.

Much better than peak Gerrard, a top 5 all time PL midfielder.

Not really people pretty much shit on Gerrard and make him sound way less impressive than he actually was.

In saying that KBD is like Gerrard with the football intelligence of Scholes. Gerrard could pretty much do anything KDB can but his decision making and need to be the hero made him a bit inefficient at times, KDB has none of those issues.

 

[Murder on Zidane's Floor]

Not really people pretty much shit on Gerrard and make him sound way less impressive than he actually was.

In saying that KBD is like Gerrard with the football intelligence of Scholes. Gerrard could pretty much do anything KDB can but his decision making and need to be the hero made him a bit inefficient at times, KDB has none of those issues.

That's the biggest skill in football. The ability to use your talent at the right time.

 

[El Jefe]

What about finishing 3rd in the Ballon d'Or? Is that only the Scouse hype machine and him only being a good player? I can't see any of the others dragging an above average team to winning the Champions League.

Football journalist, Mourinho, Sir Alex etc all thought he was world class, because he was. Put prime Gerrard in this Guardiola team and he would be ridiculous.

It's just bias to say he was not a top 10 midfielder in the Prem.

He's not at the very top imo, but he's definitely above some of the ones being named.

Gerrard must have the biggest gap between how he was viewed in his playing days and how he’s viewed now.

I’d say the online football community has almost successfully rewritten his career based on his titles and style of play.

The downplaying of how good he was has pretty much reached the level of dishonesty. In his playing days no one would have said a lot of the crap I read about him now.

 

[lex talionis]

Peak Gerrard was magnificent, but KDB is on a different level. I still see KDB and Scholes in that same level but KDB’s consistency in the end puts him ahead among all PL midfielders.

 

[2 man midfield]

Scholes, Keane, de Bruyne and Vieira are out on their own imo. Gerrard, Lampard, Silva, Toure etc just a bit below them.

 

[KeanoMagicHat]

Something like;

Lampard
KDB
Keane
Yaya
Scholes

De Bruyne is far better than Lampard.

 

[Gringo]

They each have their own merits. But KDB has a collection of everyone elses merits. He's a Frankenstein monster of a CM.

 

[Fortitude]

It’s an odd comparison, Gerrard is probably a closer comparison to him.

Yeah or Beckham, who would play his exact role if transported into this era from his own. He and Scholes never had the same objectives - Gundagon is the closer comparison to some iteration of Scholes and he and De Bruyne had perfect synergy, same as Beckham and Scholes.

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

Gerrard was a world class trequartista. He was never ever a world class midfielder. The delusion of him being great in midfield is one of the biggest reasons England's generation couldn't form a balanced team.

 

[Fortitude]

This thread has gone into overdrive based on a single game, vs Newcastle…

De Bruyne has admittedly a great performance and is all of a sudden, the second coming of Lothar Matthäus.

 

[adexkola]

This thread has gone into overdrive based on a single game, vs Newcastle…

De Bruyne has admittedly a great performance and is all of a sudden, the second coming of Lothar Matthäus.

You're only as good as your last game, you know that!

 

[horsechoker]

This thread has gone into overdrive based on a single game, vs Newcastle…

De Bruyne has admittedly a great performance and is all of a sudden, the second coming of Lothar Matthäus.

I mean it's not like he's been integral to City winning so many things in recent years

 

[Mb194dc]

De Bruyne is far better than Lampard.

Better all around game but not as consistent a goal scorer. He's got nearly 700 appearances between club and Country as well.

Matthäus played till he was 39, de Bruyne needs do another 7 years then we'll see...

 

[DJ_21]

This thread has gone into overdrive based on a single game, vs Newcastle…

De Bruyne has admittedly a great performance and is all of a sudden, the second coming of Lothar Matthäus.

He was the difference in them winning that game to be fair.

 

[Oldyella]

All this talk of Gerrard, I'm not even convinced he was the best midfielder in his own team at times. Alonso was a far better midfielder.

 

[Fortitude]

I mean it's not like he's been integral to City winning so many things in recent years

But what does that have to do with yesterday?

Where was this discussion in the interim?

Such things are reserved for huge games and runs in the CL or prolonged over PL defining runs (see Benzema and Modric being raved about on RM’s most unlikely CL run).

Nothing revelatory happened yesterday; that’s De Bruyne’s PL standard. It is and was already known.

Not trying to be a grump as I really like the player, but this deluge is disproportionate.

 

[MrMarcello]

He's getting to the point, where you soon have to put him alongside Thierry Henry at the very top of the all-time best players in the PL. Probably has a few good years left in him too.

I think he's probably the best striker of a football I've ever seen. He has a similar level of crossing technique to Beckham, but he also has that ability to make pin-point low through balls, which I don't remember Beckham doing much. Beckham probably edges him on freekicks, but KDB is better with his weaker foot.

Great player to watch. Even in a very good City side, he elevates them to another level in final third especially.

Veron did this frequently. Just a shame it didn't work out for him with United.

 

[adexkola]

But what does that have to do with yesterday?

Where was this discussion in the interim?

Such things are reserved for huge games and runs in the CL or prolonged over PL defining runs (see Benzema and Modric being raved about on RM’s most unlikely CL run).

Nothing revelatory happened yesterday; that’s De Bruyne’s PL standard. It is and was already known.

Not trying to be a grump as I really like the player, but this deluge is disproportionate.

Side note: why does it have to be limited to CL runs?

These conversations do the like of Scholes and Keane a disservice... Yes they had CL runs but the bulk of their resume is domestic dominance, which gets discounted/ignored in these conversations for annoying reasons. If you're an all time great, domestic dominance should be a given (are you listening Zidane????)

 

[giorno]

Impressive that he can be out that long and come straight back with a performance at that level in a big intense away game.

You can level the underperforming at international level argument at KdB and that generation of Belgians as much as you can Scholes and the squads he was in.

Difference is for Scholes, thaf underperformance is a footnote on the career of a great of his era. For De Bruyne, it is the difference between him and Zinedine Zidane

 

[2 man midfield]

All this talk of Gerrard, I'm not even convinced he was the best midfielder in his own team at times. Alonso was a far better midfielder.

Benitez had the sense to take Gerrard out of the midfield, push him up behind Torres and let Alonso do the deep playmaking. Him and Mascherano made for a more balanced midfield and they came close to winning the league with it.

 

[adexkola]

Difference is for Scholes, thaf underperformance is a footnote on the career of a great of his era. For De Bruyne, it is the difference between him and Zinedine Zidane

But Zidane doesn't have the club career De Bruyne has (and is still building), so it evens out somewhat?