Saturday 17 December 2016 09:38, UK
Kevin De Bruyne insists Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola will not change his style of playing, despite recent criticism.
The Spaniard has come under fire after City lost two games on the trot - against leaders Chelsea and champions Leicester - leaving his side seven points off top spot as we approach the halfway stage in the season.
De Bruyne, who moved to City from Wolfsburg under Manuel Pellegrini last summer, says that while people are trying to get Guardiola to alter his ways, those efforts are in vain.
He told Soccer Saturday: "I think he's a very good coach. Obviously he has a different view than a lot of people, especially in England. His way of playing is very different than a lot of teams in England, and I think English media and other people are trying to get into him or change his way of playing, but he's never going to do it anyway.
"So they ask him the question of whether he's going to change his playing style, but he does what he does, and I think he always sticks with it, and I think you have to do that as a coach, you have your style of playing and I think the way he wants to play is very positive. So in that way it is very good."
Asked what Guardiola's style of play entailed, the Belgian added: "Very dominating in both ways, not only offensively but defensively, so there's a lot of pressing going on. It's also a dangerous style because a mistake can be costly, but I think in the long run it will bring you further."
City host Arsenal on Super Sunday, live on Sky Sports 1 at 4pm, before facing Hull away and then Liverpool at Anfield before the year is out.
De Bruyne, who would usually be enjoying a winter break in the Bundesliga, says there are both positives and negatives to playing a large number of games over the Christmas period.
"We would like to end on a positive note, we are there, where we have to be, maybe a little bit far from Chelsea but for the rest we are battling.
"It's going to be tough, because we have two very important games against top teams and then a difficult one against Hull away, but we are ready.
"In one way it is nice to see all of the families coming over Christmas and another way it is less nice, because it is sometimes good to have a break in the middle, it can switch you off mentally and means you can go for another five or six months.
"But it is what it is, and we have to cope with it, but obviously it is not easy to play on the 31st and then have new year inbetween and then play the 2nd, so it is a tough schedule, but we have to do it."
City were 3-0 down within 20 minutes against Leicester at the King Power Stadium last weekend on their way to a 4-2 loss, before a 2-0 midweek victory over Watford.
De Bruyne, 25, says they haven't play badly of late, and insists that any mistakes are being made by the team as a whole, not individuals.
"I think we haven't played that bad, but obviously if you lose the games it is tough because people say we are not playing that well and other teams are playing better.
"In one way you can agree because we miss some chances and made some mistakes, so the whole team made errors and ones that were very important. But it's the whole team, not one person who made mistakes.
"The Leicester game was a bad one, but I think in the Chelsea game we were good, playing good football. OK in the end we lost and everyone talked about Chelsea being good. In my view we just didn't kill the game.
"You don't want to lose, I'd prefer to lose a game like Chelsea where you play well, and if you play like that for a lot of games you're going to win more."
See the extended interview with De Bruyne on Soccer Saturday from midday on Sky Sports News HQ. Man City v Arsenal is on Super Sunday on Sky Sports 1.
