CITY SPECIAL Martinez praise for ‘unique’ De Bruyne
KEVIN De Bruyne can do things that no other playmaker can, according to Roberto Martinez.
As well as delighting the City manager with his exceptional performances this season, the 26-year-old has got his Belgium coach excited ahead of the upcoming World Cup.
Former Everton boss Martinez has experimented with De Bruyne’s position in the national team and using him as a deep-lying midfielder caught Guardiola’s attention last season.
Despite the player previously excelling in a wider role, there is little chance of him being moved out there in future given how well he has adapted to a more central position - and the impact it has had on the Blues this season.
“As a younger player he always played more in the a wide position, on the right or the left. At Wolfsburg he had a lot of success in that role.
“Now it is more important to have him in a central area. You need to get him on the ball, be able to have a short pass, a long pass and that’s where Manchester City have evolved in the last two campaigns. The relationship with Pep Guardiola has got the best out of him.
“You’re used to City having controlled possession and he’s got that [killer] pass.
“I don’t think there’s another profile of that midfielder or playmaker.
“He gives tempo to the play. Normally the playmaker has to slow the tempo down and find his own space.” AS soon as he arrived at City, Pep Guardiola made his goalkeeper a hill he was willing to die on.
Even before landing Claudio Bravo, the coach had decided that Joe Hart was not right for his style of play and committed to it despite months of criticism and backlash.
Ederson has shown this season that the issue last season was in the execution rather than concept, and Bravo has enjoyed some redemptive performances in the Carabao Cup.
Without his saves against Wolves and Leicester, City probably wouldn’t be in Sunday’s showpiece.
Guardiola has already indicated that the chilean will start in goal at Wembley.
“I don’t do it (to keep him happy),” he said last week. “It’s because in the top clubs we need two good goalkeepers.
“You cannot survive with just one goalkeeper. If he is injured, suspended, something like that, what if the other one doesn’t have his level?”
Yet, as the coach chews over FA Cup defeat to Wigan, he faces the same dilemma that Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini endured in the job. Pep Guardiola Having favoured Costel Pantilimon in the run-up to the 2013 final, Mancini broke ranks on the day and selected Joe Hart; City lost, Mancini was sacked soon after and Pantilimon never forgot the snub. Pellegrini kept faith with cavalier Willy Caballero in the 2016 league cup final over Hart and saw the Argentine emerge a hero in the penalty shootout. That allowed the coach to utter afterwards that “I would prefer to lose a title than lose my word”, but it is easier to be gallant