Thread by @APieces_

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐥—Mattheus Nunes has finally arrived in Manchester, however a creative hole still looms over City’s midfield—forced by De Bruyne’s injury.

With no like for like replacement available, this is how Manchester City can fill the creative void.

*mini* thread/🧵

11th August 2023—disaster strikes as Kevin De Bruyne suffers a hamstring tear against Burnley, keeping him out for 3-4 months of the new season.

Following this, the true nature of his absence is realised. A creative demon, an output machine, out for months of the season.

Now, there are still creative players within the City team—that isn’t my point.

However, Kevin De Bruyne is a freak player—a master creator that can craft the finest chances out of nowhere, he forms chances from dust—the benchmark for your Trent’s and Bruno Fernandes’s of the world.

Nobody in the current team and have a variety of chance creation like KDB does.

As I said, there are still creative players in the side, notably Phil Foden—recently creating seven chances in a single game against Newcastle.

[Graphic by: @OptaAnalyst]

Phil notably creates these chances through his carrying—beating multiple players before playing an incise pass.

This is his most popular variety of chance creation—dribbles, carrying and chaos.

This is great against expansive teams with more ground to eat up in the dribble—Fulham and Newcastle are examples of such.

However, this can be problematic against lower blocks.

When central zones are congested, the spaces are smaller and engagement from defenders is more frequent—it’s not easy to carry through low blocks.

Usually, it takes for a more innovative player with a creative mind to find solutions against these lower blocks—blind sided passes and crosses from the half space after disorganising defensive blocks.

That’s what KDB brought, his ability to play an alien ball to a forward in nanoseconds, creating something out of nothing.

We saw this against Sheffield United.

It wasn’t a tough game by any means, it just seemed like such because of the struggle to generate high quality chances—a lack of innovation and creation.

This is where Jack Grealish comes in. See, Jack got an assist in the struggle of the moment.

After standing up his man and eventually gaining separation, Jack floated a cross into Haaland. 1-0, deadlock broken.

That’s what I want, the ability to create a high quality chance with one kick of a football.

Thanks, Jack. You will be of great service.

Furthermore, there’s a player lurking in the shadows that is a phenomenal chance creator—a dark horse, you wouldn’t expect it.

It’s Rodri, a #6.

See, for a while I’ve been saying Rodri is genuinely one of the best creators in the team.

It’s no lie.

[Graphics by @OptaAnalyst and @markrstats]

However, it’s his final ball ability that generates him the chances.

Against Sevilla, after switching play/manipulating the Sevilla block—Rodri recognises the poor body orientation of the Sevilla defenders (high IQ) and clips a ball to Acuna’s blindside.

That is a De Bruyne quality chance there—half space positioning, floated ball, perfect weight, recognising the runner and the defenders blindside.

Super Cup, won.

@OptaAnalyst He’s even said so himself that he’s getting into more advanced areas this season with the introduction of Matteo Kovacic—this has to be a ploy by Pep to maintain a *close to* De Bruyne level final ball.

His luck may just be starting though—the purchase of Mattheus Nunes could increase the likelihood of Rodri finding himself in advanced areas.

Matteo Kovacic can cover Rodri but it won’t be close to the level of quality in defensive cover Mattheus Nunes could provide.

A man with; a bigger physical frame, engine, longer legs, bigger radius/ball reach for tackles and interceptions.

I’ve spoken about it, he’s great OOP.

This is why, you could genuinely see situations where Rodri may be able to affect the final 3rd through his spoken qualities (final ball, IQ, situational awareness) and Nunes is the deeper of the two, ready to halt transitions or attacks with his exceptional reading of the game and defensive nouse.

Matteo Kovacic can cover Rodri but not the extent this man can, he is much better than Kovacic here.

A creative hole exists within the squad due to De Bruyne’s absence, however with Phil Foden using his ball carrying/chaos, Rodri using his final ball/IQ and Jack Grealish supplying wide balls into the box—we should be fine for now.

However, 3-4 players needing to replace that hole speaks volumes to the clamber of player KDB is, an alien.

Thanks, AP.

Likes, follows and shares appreciated.

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