sport news Pep Guardiola calls on Kevin de Bruyne to go back to basics in order to ... trends now
The families of Manchester City's squad were all at the training ground celebrating the birthday of Kevin De Bruyne's son on Monday but Pep Guardiola wants his talisman to stop the party tricks. At the moment, he might be trying too hard to entertain.
De Bruyne, undoubtedly the best player of the Guardiola era - the man who has dug City out of all sorts over the years - has suffered something of a dip. He has started three of the last seven Premier League matches from the bench, recently withdrawn early from a victory over Newcastle United with the result in the balance.
These are not normal situations for the 31-year-old to find himself in, although he believes he is generally held to a higher standard. On Tuesday, a problematic Champions League tie with RB Leipzig, finely poised at 1-1, is exactly the sort of occasion when City need him to shine. And it is one Guardiola is desperate to control because he fears Leipzig's potentially devastating ability to break quickly.
Keeping hold of possession is crucial to the game plan and, fundamentally, Guardiola thinks De Bruyne is losing the ball too often. His passing accuracy is 78 per cent this season, down from 83 per cent. It's quite a big decrease for somebody so good.
'What I'd like - I spoke many times to him - is to go [back] to the easy principles and do it well,' the City boss said. 'He has an incredible ability to make an assist, to score goals and see passes like no one else.
Man City's talismanic midfielder Kevin de Bruyne has suffered a dip in form over recent weeks
Pep Guardiola has urged the Belgian star to go back to basics in order to return to his best
'But I always have a belief that they will increase and will get better when the simple things, like don't lose the ball, the mobility, the incredible capacity to be active in the movement - the simple things - do it again better and better. When this is going to happen, the rest will
