Pep Guardiola has suggested that Kevin De Bruyne needs to return to the basic principles of football to rediscover his best form, after the Belgian has somewhat fallen out of favour with the Manchester City manager in recent weeks.
De Bruyne has been in and out of the City starting line-up in recent weeks, sitting the entirety of their 4-1 away win on the bench after missing the Champions League first-leg clash with RB Leipzig due to illness.
The 31-year-old then played the full 90 minutes against Bristol City in the FA Cup, started against Newcastle United at home before leaving the field after 65 minutes, then only came on for the last quarter of the game against Crystal Palace last weekend.
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While he still has the most assists in the Premier League this season with 13, Guardiola is unhappy with De Bruyne's performances and told the media what he thinks his star midfielder needs to focus on.
“It’s been a difficult season for all of us, me included, due to the World Cup and many things," Guardiola said ahead of Manchester City's return fixture against RB Leipzig.
"I’m not going to discover [how good] Kevin [is]. What I’d like – I spoke many times to him – is to go to the easy principles and do it well. He has an incredible ability to make an assist, to score goals and see passes like no one else.
"But I always have the belief that they will increase and get better when the simple things [are done]: 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 come along.”
Manchester City will need Kevin De Bruyne on top form for the remainder of the season if they are to challenge in all three competitions: the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup.
While there are only murmurings of a treble among City fans, due to Arsenal being five points clear in the league and their shortcomings in Europe this past decade, there is still an outside chance they can pull off the historic feat.
First, though, City will need to overcome RB Leipzig on Tuesday night in the second leg of their last-16 tie. The first leg finished 1-1, meaning everything is still to play for.
