Man City’s best midfield duo to get more chances to shine because the is no new Stricker.
Kevin De Bruyne made it back-to-back PFA Players’ Player of the Year awards last season with good reason.
The Belgium superstar is the outstanding creative presence in the Premier League and arguably the finest attacking midfielder in world football.
When Pep Guardiola talks frequently of “the big moments” that decide crunch games, there is no player more likely to step up and deliver at those times than Manchester City’s number 17.
All of this can be true at the same time as saying De Bruyne does not feature in City’s best and most well-balanced central midfield pairing.
Sound stupid? Yeah, I know… but hear me out.
City had just hit top gear after the turn of the year last season when De Bruyne suffered a hamstring injury during the 2-0 win over Aston Villa.
It was feared the Blues’ charge for honours at home and abroad would be checked, such was the star playmaker’s supreme form. Guardiola described him as “almost irreplaceable”. As it happened, City won five out of five in the Premier League as De Bruyne convalesced by an aggregate score of 15-1, including the pivotal 4-1 triumph over Liverpool at Anfield.
There were also a couple of FA Cup wins and De Bruyne looked on as an unused substitute when the Champions League campaign resumed with a 2-0 win over Borussia Monchengladbach in Bucharest.
For the vast majority of that run, Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan operated sublimely in tandem as Guardiola’s number eights.
Over the past two weekends, with De Bruyne sidelined once more, we have enjoyed a reminder of their wonderful qualities as pair after they inspired back-to-back 5-0 wins over Norwich City and Arsenal.
In the latter game, Gundogan opened the scoring with a fine header after one of his trademark late runs into the penalty area that helped him to finish 2020/21 as City’s unlikely top marksman.
The move for that seventh-minute goal began with Bernardo calmly taking possession under pressure deep in the City half and occupying several Arsenal players before launching the attack.
He then scampered upfield and found himself knitting things together again near the right byline, where he calmly shuffled possession to Gabriel Jesus, who crossed for Gundogan’s goal.
It proved a good example of how smoothly and efficiently Gundogan and Bernardo can make their presence felt all across the field. They lack De Bruyne’s explosive genius but knit everything together expertly.
A huge beneficiary of their collective work is Rodri, the holding midfielder who generally does his best work when accompanied by Gundogan and Bernardo.
The trio started 21 games together last season, winning 19 and losing one. That defeat came in the penultimate game of the season – a dead rubber at Brighton where Joao Cancelo was sent off during the first half and the collective gaze was probably already trained upon the Champions League final.
Ah yes, Porto. The selection and performance responsible for so much negativity that still lingers around City.
Gundogan was a foolhardy selection at the base of the midfield at Estadio do Dragao, mainly because he had played the position once all season. This does not mean we should forget how wonderfully he operated as a number six during the 2018/19 run-in. He has the know-how to help Rodri out when necessary.
When teamed with the more attacking De Bruyne, this can leave Gundogan and the Spain international as double-sixes a lot of the time, denying him the scope to make those punishing attacking forays. The beauty of having Bernardo alongside the Germany playmaker is his perpetual motion.
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Bernardo is also adept at mucking in alongside Rodri and, when he gets on the ball in deep areas, his dribbling ability means he can drive attacks and stay involved throughout – as was the case with the Arsenal opener. His 349 progressive carries – instances of a player moving the ball five years or more towards the opponent’s goal or entering the penalty area, as per FBref – were comfortably the most of any City player last season. No one else broke 300.
Gundogan and Bernardo rekindling their partnership feels particularly significant in light of City failing to sign a striker before the transfer deadline.
Had they done so, it is far less likely De Bruyne would have been deployed as a false nine – the role he filled throughout the final stages of the Champions League, occasionally switching with Bernardo. Given Guardiola’s intentions of using Jack Grealish centrally at times, the Gundogan-Bernardo axis might barely have featured.
But now, their partnership and its capacity to free De Bruyne up to do damage in the final third, away from the engine room where increasingly frequent injuries are beginning to take a toll, could be the recipe for success for Guardiola and City once again this season
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