PREMIER LEAGUE ANDY DUNN
De Bruyne’s stunner was a goal worthy of winning title
WHEN Pep Guardiola asked Jonathan Moss to light up the board and tell Kevin De Bruyne his work was done, the fourth official pressed the wrong numbers.
No, Jon, we did not want to see De Bruyne have to call it a day either.
If there is one player who bears the flag for Pep Guardiola’s style, one player who carries the torch for Manchester City’s methods, it is De Bruyne.
If there is one player who can pretty much seal the title in mid-january with one beautiful masterstroke, it is De Bruyne.
Excellence
The masterstroke was not just the sumptuous-yet-surgical finish from the area’s edge, it was the way he shaped to get the ball, the way he avoided the attentions of N’golo Kante, and it was the way he steadied himself before brandishing that beautiful right boot.
It was a goal worthy of winning a Premier League pennant.
It is not over, of course. It is a testimony to City’s mighty excellence that most people say it IS over but that is mildly insulting to teams the calibre of Liverpool and Chelsea.
Liverpool are 14 points adrift but have two games in hand and a visit in April to the Etihad to look forward to.
But even if Liverpool win all their remaining matches, City would still have to drop five points against other teams and that is something they look increasingly unlikely to do.
They have become robotically brilliant.
Record
De Bruyne’s wonderful goal was as spectacular as this intricate game got.
Yet it will be the sort of win that Guardiola (above) will enjoy far more than the plenty-nil jobs that largely populate his league record.
Two single-goal victories against Thomas Tuchel? Now, that is the sort of stuff these super-coaches savour. Two clean
sheets against a co-member of the elite? They are the marks of champions.
City restricted Chelsea to one shot on target and have conceded only 13 goals in 22 games.
What chance for others when City are even rubbing out the defensive ricks that have occasionally struck the Guardiola era?
Answer, no chance.
They were not even at their best here and £100million man
Jack Grealish is still trying to find his feet. You do not become a Pep player overnight but Grealish has had six months.
Perhaps it will take a season. He got a decent 90 minutes against Chelsea and was probably more effective in Guardiola’s eyes than in the layman’s.
Too often, it looks like he is taking the safe option. If not safe, he takes the less risky one, presumably fearful of giving away the possession. But the irony is that Guardiola loves risk-takers, loves someone who can take men out of the game. That is why he likes Raheem Sterling so much.
Miss
Grealish probably just needs a shot of confidence, the sort of boost he would have got had he converted the best chance of the first-half. It was not a shocking miss, it was a decent save from Kepa. But there was a slight shortage of conviction in the attempt.
Grealish is proof an extravagant transfer fee does not guarantee excellence – as was Romelu Lukaku here.
It is fair to say that those who like to categorise the Belgian striker as some sort of flat-track bully have another piece of evidence for their case, although Ederson did deny him.
But his attempt was not as composed as his countryman’s, De Bruyne settling the issue with 20 minutes left. It earned three
points and it earned him man of the match.
But once again, the man-of-the-match award also went to the collective, belonged to a group of players becoming one of the most formidable units in the history of English club football – and De Bruyne is its leader.