Manchester City expert Steven McInerney from Esteemed Kompany has sympathised with Kevin De Bruyne after he vented his anger towards some of his Belgium teammates over the international break.
After scoring a brace in Belgium's 3-1 win over Israel, De Bruyne could not help his country to another three points in their UEFA Nations League group and endured a frustrating evening in Lyon as France secured a 2-0 win over the Red Devils on Monday.
De Bruyne has since laid down some home truths to his youthful Belgium teammates, telling reporters after the game: "I can't say here what went wrong. I already did that to the team at half time. I cannot repeat that in the media, but it has to be better in every way.
"If the standard we want to reach is the best, but we're no longer good enough to get to that level, then you have to give everything. If you don't even do that, it's over.
"I can accept that we're not as good as in 2018 (when Belgium reached the World Cup semi-finals), I was the first to see that, but other things are unacceptable.
"I'm not going to say what. [But] we have too many at the back. If you stay with six at the back, there is no connection. It is what it is. It is not about transition, but about people who do not perform their tasks."
'De Bruyne just doesn't care, he's always been very frank'
In some quarters of the football community, it has been suggested that De Bruyne has become a grumpier character as he has entered the prime years of his career, but McInerney believes that the Man City playmaker "has been like this" ever since he moved to the Etihad Stadium back in 2015.
Speaking exclusively to Sports Mole, McInerny said: "The brilliant thing about being a fan of a club is that you pay more attention to your players than everyone else would do naturally, because it's just human nature to do that. Kevin De Bruyne has been like this since he joined Manchester City Football Club.
"There's a famous clip of him getting so frustrated where he's going: 'Let me talk, let me talk', and he's shouting so aggressively because he wants to get his point across. Lots of us have read that long interview in the Players' Tribune where De Bruyne talks a lot about his childhood and how he was always quite a forthright individual and he upset a lot of teammates when he was younger, because he always had the difficult things to say.
"De Bruyne has always been like that. He's always been very frank. We saw him a couple years ago pushing [Mikel] Arteta around when Arteta wouldn't give him the ball, a former coach of his, and giving it large to the Arsenal fans as they were throwing things at him when coming off the pitch.
"De Bruyne just doesn't care. He doesn't care and to be honest, when I read [his comments on Belgium], he's not wrong. He didn't talk about the players not being good enough. He talked about their work rate not being good enough and that's absolutely right."
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De Bruyne 'demands nothing other than excellence'
McInerney has compared De Bruyne's rant to Ilkay Gundogan's frustrations concerning the mentality of Barcelona's squad during his one and only season at Camp Nou, and both players are understandably demanding "nothing other than excellence" from their teammates having worked under manager Pep Guardiola at Man City.
"In my opinion, De Bruyne plays under the best manager in the world - Guardiola is a genius, he demands nothing other than excellence for his teammates," said McInerney. "I think there's a similarity to his quotes and to the Gundogan quotes when he was at Barcelona. Gundogan came out and said the reaction to losing in a Champions League tie at one point at Barcelona shocked him, because there was very little care, there was no emotional resonance.
"You've got people like Gundogan and De Bruyne talking about teammates in different sides, and that's a reflection of what they're used to at home at Manchester City."
McInerney added: "I think [De Bruyne's comments are] entirely down the frustration. He's 33 years old, he's not getting any younger. This is essentially his swansong for Belgium right now. He does want to do well for Belgium, he does want to win a trophy.
"He's grumpy, but he's always been grumpy, he's always been like that, he does not like to lose, he does not like it when people don't uphold the highest of standards.
"As City fans, we've been reading quotes from De Bruyne saying how six months out injured (at the beginning of last season) has made him realise how happy he is with his life in Manchester, and how happy he is with his teammates and what he's achieved and how, actually, this is his home now, and his kids are Mancs now as well.
"He's been giving off all these quotes about how happy he is at Manchester City, but I do think if you're getting older, your time is ticking away and you go to Belgium, you see people not really trying - for their country, nonetheless - he's probably like: 'I'm sick of that', and I get it."
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McInerney compares De Bruyne to Cristiano Ronaldo
McInerney has also compared De Bruyne's Belgium frustrations with Portuguese icon Cristiano Ronaldo, who has regularly been seen expressing his fury towards teammates during matches at club and international level.
"All the greats are like that, the greats demand excellence from those around him, and it's the classic case of brilliant football that doesn't understand why others aren't quite as brilliant as he is. We see that everywhere," McInerney added.
"What's he got to lose? It's Kevin De Bruyne... maybe he's right. [Cristiano] Ronaldo does it, and no one questions it because he's one of, if not the, greatest goalscorers of all time, so you understand why the greats try and drag everyone along with them.
"De Bruyne has started the season really well for City, he's been great, and I don't think he's wrong to call out players if he feels the urge, if his teammates are not working hard enough.
"If he would just be moaning [about] quality, I would probably say: 'Come on, grow up a little bit', but it's not quality... Belgium have underperformed for a long time now, and I don't feel like he's one of the reasons."
De Bruyne is Belgium's seventh most-capped international (107) of all time and was part of the 'Golden Generation' that reached the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup for just the second time in their history.
The playmaker will hope to turn his frown upside down having now returned to Man City ahead of Saturday's Premier League clash with Brentford at the Etihad Stadium.
Oliver Thomas
