Pep Guardiola insists Kevin de Bruyne cannot propel Manchester City to the Premier League title all by himself, suggesting that the Belgian needs the support of his teammates to rediscover his form.
De Bruyne has started only three league games this term due to recurrent injuries, with the 27-year-old looking rusty and out of sorts in City’s latest 2-1 defeat away at Newcastle United.
The playmaker was taken off at 65 minutes at Tyneside, with Guardiola fearing a second yellow card after de Buryne escaped a red for a rash challenge on Matt Ritchie.
The Belgian wants to take one step at a time and maximise his playtime to get back to his best gradually.
‘Ten days ago I played 90 minutes against Huddersfield for the first time in six months.
‘The last time I played a full game was against England at the World Cup. That is long, you know. I finally had the feeling that I can keep on going, that I can push myself further.’
Guardiola, however, expressed his sympathy towards the Belgian, saying that he would not like to put all the pressure on the shoulder of one player.
‘The last two games people tell me he’s back, now (you say) he’s fighting to be back,’ said Guardiola.
‘But it’s everybody, it’s not one player. When Kevin plays good, it’s because the central defenders and full backs help him. I will never put the pressure on the shoulders of one player to solve our problems.’
Meanwhile, Aymeri Laporte believes City will have to win all of their remaining games in the Premier League to have a chance of defending their title.
‘I don’t think it’s over,’ he said. ‘There are 14 games left and we will fight to win all of them, hopefully.
‘We know how complicated that will be, but we are going to focus, work hard and give our best to try to get closer to Liverpool.
‘The team won 18 straight games last season, that can help us. We know how to do it, and have the squad to do it.
‘We just need to avoid the mistakes in games, learn from them and focus on every game until the end.’