Nah. He got close but only managed 3 assists in the second half of the season.
Kevin De Bruyne
- Thread starter Robbie Boy
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
Should be a United player ffs
Ah, fair enough. Still clearly an impressive first half of the season, but then I suppose that's always been his problem.
Interesting to think how many players there are in the PL who would be so much better if there was a winter break. Ozil and Fabregas being prime examples.
Don't know, I think he had 8 goals and 20 assists. However, I rate it like this:
KDB 14/15 > Özil 15/16
KDB 15/16 >>> Özil 14/15 (in which he was woeful if I'm not mistaken)
I think they're in the same bracket to be fair although Özil is a few years older. It's debatable, but the original statement 'the fact so many posters on here think he's anywhere near the likes of Ozil & Hazard makes me cringe' is far OTT.
He's a class player but I don't think it's just a form thing. His best qualities (terrific final ball) come to the fore when he's close to goal. At the moment he's occupied with things he shouldn't be doing in positions where he isn't comfortable.
He has a lot of adapting to do.
He's also a player that can easily become stroppy and disinterested when things aren't going his way. Pep won't stand for it.
He has a lot of adapting to do.
He's also a player that can easily become stroppy and disinterested when things aren't going his way. Pep won't stand for it.
He's by far the best signing City have made in the last 4 or 5 years. Excellent player.
He's gifted no doubt but I'm talking about putting a complete performance like Pogba did last night, he rarely if ever has that in his locker. As of now he's just a moments player. Pep has a lot of work to do with him.
I think his erratic passing & inability to play under pressure are two huge flaws in his game.
To be fair, I think he's just not in form right now. He also played quite a lot in the EUROs. Think it's the same deal as with Martial. He'll hit form once the season really gets going.
But a lot of that was down to poor finishing by other players, rather than Ozil fading.
Is it just me, or does he have a touch of the Rooneys about his physique? Not that he isn't fit, but that because of how he's built (and possibly his metabolism, I don't know the first thing about sports science) it's always going to take him that bit longer to be 100%, and he'll never be a natural athlete like a Valencia or Vardy.
Watched the City match. They looked good. Lack a bit of height but pretty good.
Thought their defence was ropey and Stones looked a bit weak physically at times. As you said looked small and given the height of our team hopefully we capitalise on set pieces. One worrying thing was they attacked the flanks well and yesterday we looked a bit exposed on the flanks at times but Southampton never possessed the quality to hurt us.
The fact that people talk about Hazard as if the last 14 months never happened is even more cringeworthy.
Funny how people see the game differently. I thought the opposite of Stones. He was aggressive and won pretty much everything he went for, he's actually much more physical than I ever have him credit for. Looks the business so far in this system, without being massively tested granted.
Not only that. He criticises KDB for being poor under pressure and then puts Özil on a higher level, a player whose biggest weakness is actually his tendency of being forced out of games by teams applying pressure in his areas.
Thierry Henry (2002/03) Arsenal : 20 assists in 37 league games
Mesut Özil (2015/16) Arsenal : 19 assists in 35 league games
Cesc Fàbregas (2007/08) Arsenal : 18 assists in 32 league games
Cesc Fàbregas (2014/15) Chelsea : 18 assists in 34 league games
As far as I know these are the top-4 assists in a season in the PL era.
Fabregas in 14/15 and Ozil last year could have absolutely slaughtered the record if their train didn't run out of steam every single winter.
One of the top 5 players in the league for me.......but i think he'll look much better in the 4-2-3-1 system than in that 4-1-4-1.
Think he's a very good young player who needs to prove he can defend (think he will) and he could turn out to be a great buy. But right now he will saunter through games where it's pass pass pass as this is his strength but looked to me like he struggles with the defending (positionally and physicality) but these can be taught.
For Ozil, his form might drop off a bit in second half of the season, but that's only one side of the problem. The other half was Arsenal forwards are wasteful and even useless at times. If Ozil was our no 10 last year (second half of the season, even out of form Rooney with his scoring ability might be able to help LVG wrap top 4.
Beckham in 99/00 also with 18 in 31 league games.
Needs time to adjust to this new system. Too early to criticize him just yet.
I'd probably say that if he hadn't come back from injury last season, we would've got top 4 ahead of City.
You're talking about 2 entirely different players here, a box to box midifelder and an attacking midifelder, De Bruyne is never going to win the ball back deep in his own half of the pitch and play a 40 yard pass. But he will get you a bag full of goals and assists. He is a terrific player and any team would be lucky to have him.
Pogba's great and all, but I'm talking about putting in a complete performance like Suarez did last night, he rarely if ever has that in his locker. As of now he's just a midfielder. Mourinho has a lot to do with him.
Am I doing it right?
I count assists in the strict Opta definition, that brings Beckham to 15 for that season to my estimation. If taking into account wider rules he'd have 18 indeed or perhaps even 19.
Using the wider definition for assists (rebounds, deviated passes, penalties) Henry would have 26 or 27 assists in the league alone in 02/03.
Isn't he a Chelsea fan?
Vardy is considered a natural athlete?
Does Vardy strike you as someone who spends plenty of time in the gym or ensuring his diet is perfect? I'd be pretty confident in guessing that he doesn't. It's fair to say he's something of a natural athlete, he's extremely pacey and has great stamina.
Fábregas had the same issues in Spain - probably even more so.
Yes, ask the Leicester fan on here, why do you think he only become the player he became jut last season? Strict diet, hard work in the gym (not necessarily weights) but a natural athlete he is not.
I mean in terms of his body. He hardly looks like the fat sticks to him, does he? Whereas Rooney (as an example on the other end of the spectrum) drinks one pint and has to do a month of intensive training to work it off. He's probably never had much of a six pack, whereas Vardy's probably turned up when he was sixteen and hasn't gone away since. De Bruyne strikes me as more on the Rooney end of the scale, if not to the same degree.
Well if you're talking about their metabolism then yeah I agree with you, just wouldn't have thought Vardy could be described as a natural athlete, guess I took what you said too literal?
One of those players who seems to have an off day whenever I watch him play.
Madrid bound.
De Bruyne looks exhausted after about 5 minutes of every game. He isn't though, he's just the most ginger person ever.
Fair enough.Yep, called it. Knew Pep wouldn't rate him as a CM.
I think when everyone's fit Silva, Gundogan & Fernandinho will be his first choice CM's and KDB will battle it out with Sterling & Sane for the two winger positions. Thing is, Pep prefers players that are very strong 1v1 out wide so he's fighting a losing battle at the moment.
Gotze's career at Bayern played out in a similar fashion.
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I think when everyone's fit Silva, Gundogan & Fernandinho will be his first choice CM's and KDB will battle it out with Sterling & Sane for the two winger positions. Thing is, Pep prefers players that are very strong 1v1 out wide so he's fighting a losing battle at the moment.
Gotze's career at Bayern played out in a similar fashion.
Someone manmark this guy.
Great player. Blind getting exposed