Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne insists Pep Guardiola is playing mind games after labelling him one of 'the best player I have seen in my life'

  • Kevin De Bruyne was one of the stars as Manchester City beat Feyenoord 
  • The Belgian insists comments from his boss are their to put the pressure on him
  • Bernardo Silva says that City's youth and lack of trophies makes them hungrier

Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne has suggested that Pep Guardiola was indulging in mind games when stating after his stellar performance in the 4-0 evisceration of Dutch champions Feyenoord that the Belgian was ‘one of the best players I've seen in my life.’

De Bruyne, the stand-out player in the win over the Dutch, said this was a motivational device. 

‘It makes me happy, but the other way it is also a way of putting pressure on me to do well,’ he said. 

Kevin De Bruyne believes Pep Guardiola is putting pressure on him with his latest comments 

Kevin De Bruyne believes Pep Guardiola is putting pressure on him with his latest comments 

‘I have tried to be more consistent since I came here and have had ups and downs but last year and the start this year has been constantly very good for me.’


Comparative data from the 4-0 wins which City have enjoyed in their opening fixtures of this and last season’s Champions League stages reveals the key added dimension in the 2017-18 campaign: danger from wide areas.

Average position maps from the win in Rotterdam and last season’s opening victory at home to Borussia Monchengladbach show City exploiting the wide areas far more now, through Benjamin Mendy and Kyle Walker - whose whipped cross was converted by Sergio Aguero for the second goal. 

The same Opta maps show Mendy and Walker operating wider and much further forward against Feyenoord and Liverpool, in the past week, than Gael Clichy and Bacary Sagna did away at Monaco in the first leg of last season’s last-16 defeat.

Against Liverpool and Monaco, Walker and Mendy were taking up average positions either on or well over the half way line. The previous full backs generally operated within their own half of the field.

But it also what the two new wide players – combined cost £97.65million – deliver from the flanks which is providing a new dimension to City. 

The Manchester City boss described the Belgian as 'the best player I've seen in my life'

The Manchester City boss described the Belgian as 'the best player I've seen in my life'

Last season, City averaged 14.3 crosses per game in the Premier League with a success rate of 18.3 per cent. This season they’re averaging 17.8 crosses per game, with the same success rate.

City have started the season with explosive self-confidence, taking up extremely high defensive lines to fulfil Guardiola’s press. 

It will be against tougher opposition than 10-man Liverpool or Feyenoord that a fuller assessment can be made. By going on the front foot, they do leave gaps which strong opposition can potentially exploit, testing the defensive qualities.

City’s Bernardo Silva has contradicted Guardiola’s suggestion that greater European experience gives Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich a competitive advantage, claiming that the squad’s collective absence of silverware makes them hungrier.

Bernardo Silva also shone in the 4-0 win over Feyenoord and says he is hungry for trophies

Bernardo Silva also shone in the 4-0 win over Feyenoord and says he is hungry for trophies

Guardiola said before the match that experience was ‘the difference’ but Silva said that the youth bodes well. 

‘Young players are hungry for titles,’ he said after the victory. ‘We have never won the Champions League and most of the players in this squad have never won the Premier League so we want to win big things and together we hope we can get them.’

He was another of the stand-out players in the which, taken with Napoli’s unexpected defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk, makes the group look healthy for City.