Former Premier League defender Scott Minto believes one Manchester City player had one of his worst games ever for the club in the FA Cup final against Manchester United.
City ended the 2023/24 season on a low, losing 2-1 to their bitter rivals at Wembley Stadium.
After winning an unprecedented fourth Premier League title in a row, City then turned in one of their worst performances of the season against United.
Alejandro Garnacho pounced after a defensive mix-up between Stefan Ortega and Josko Gvardiol to give United the lead, and then they made it 2-0 through Kobbie Mainoo.
City’s brightest spark Jeremy Doku pulled one back late on in the second-half. But City could not find the net again as United held on for the win.
It was just a day where far too many players didn’t show up for City.
In the eyes of Scott Minto, one of City’s biggest guns really had an afternoon to forget…
Scott Minto claims Kevin De Bruyne had possibly his worst-ever game for Manchester City in the 2024 FA Cup final
2023/24 was a frustrating season for Kevin De Bruyne.
He missed the first half as a result of picking up a serious hamstring injury against Burnley in the first game, for which he had surgery.
He came back in January, and has had a handful of very good games since his return. His numbers have certainly been very good, making 18 assists in 26 appearances, and scoring six goals.
But there has just been a feeling in recent weeks that De Bruyne isn’t quite his explosive pre-injury self.
Against United, he really struggled to have an impact, and was substituted off for Julian Alvarez before the hour mark.
Speaking about him on Monday on talkSPORT, pundit Scott Minto said: “Kevin De Bruyne, he’s had 22 goal involvements in the last 23 matches and yet, I think he had one of the worst games in a Man City shirt that I’ve seen.
“The balls were kind of bouncing off him or it wasn’t that kind of touch and awareness you’d expect.”
Another talkSPORT pundit Tony Cascarino also noted De Bruyne’s struggles, going as far as to say his performance against United marked ‘the beginning of the end’ for the player.
As per Sofascore, De Bruyne completed just 20/28 (71%) passes, and had 42 touches in the match – only Erling Haaland, goalkeeper Stefan Ortega and substitute Julian Alvarez had fewer. Jeremy Doku and Manuel Akanji, who both came on at half-time, managed 45 and 47 touches respectively.
One to forget for King Kev
De Bruyne has predictably come in for some criticism from rival fans for lacking influence in the FA Cup final against Manchester United.
Given his reputation as being one of the greatest midfielders of all-time, it is to be expected that many who don’t support City are waiting on his downfall.
It just wasn’t De Bruyne’s day, but in the same way as it wasn’t most of his teammates’ day either.
Many City players had poor games against United and it is slightly unfair for people to be picking out De Bruyne for criticism given his stop-start season.
But he will come again. His numbers overall in 2023/24 were very good, and the Belgian will hopefully return ahead of 2024/25 feeling nice and refreshed.