Manchester City midfielder Kevin de Bruyne: I don't understand criticism of this player

Posted Monday, August 22, 2016 by Express.co.uk

Manchester City midfielder Kevin de Bruyne: I don't understand criticism of this player
Kevin De Bruyne believes Raheem Sterling will silence his critics

KEVIN DE BRUYNE has warned the boo boys that Raheem Sterling has a thick enough skin to withstand their taunts.

Belgium international De Bruyne cannot understand why England fans are not more supportive of one of the country's most promising young talents.

Sterling, 21, came in for heavy criticism following England's Euro 2016 failures in the summer which followed his difficult first season at Manchester City when he failed to live up to his £44m transfer fee from Liverpool.

John Barnes, following his personally disappointing World Cup in Italy in 1990, and David Beckham, for his infamous dismissal in France eight years later, suffered similar antagonism on away grounds when they played for their clubs the following season.

And Sterling is bracing himself for the same treatment but shrugged off the torrent of abuse at Stoke to maintain his rejuvenation under Pep Guardiola, and De Bruyne believes his team-mate's quality will eventually silence the criticism.

"He's a great player," he said. "I don't care what people say about him after last season or the Euros – these things happen, footballers have ups and downs. Hopefully he can continue this for us now because he is very dangerous.

"I don't think he's really bothered about people talking about him. Everywhere he goes in England there are lots of fans of the opposing team shouting at him.

"I don't know why because he's a great English player, they should be supporting him instead of booing him. But that's the way it goes – at least the City supporters will cheer him.

"I don't know how it goes in England when he plays for the national team. Obviously he's been criticised a lot in the last year but the way he's responding is great. You can talk as much as you want off the pitch but you have to show it on the pitch – and Raheem is doing just that."

New England boss Sam Allardyce is well aware of the impact Sterling is having this season as he prepares to announce the squad for his first game in charge.

Sterling won penalties with his trickery against Sunderland on the opening weekend and Steaua Bucharest in midweek then followed up by playing a big part in City's impressive win at the bet36 5Stadium, capped when he unselfishly set up Nolito for the fourth goal.

He blotted his copybook however by giving away a penalty for impeding Ryan Shawcross from a free-kick. It was the second time in the game referee Mike Dean had imposed the new clampdown on shirt-tugging and holding in the penalty area.

Dean had already penalised Shawcross for a far more obvious "grapple" on Nicolas Otamendi in the first half before balancing things up soon after the break by punishing Sterling, even though he barely touched his opponent. Ironically, Dean missed the most obvious spot-kick when Aleksander Kolarov clearly bundled over Joe Allen.

Shawcross, a serial offender in the past, said he must finally learn his lesson but admitted Sterling was unlucky.

The Stoke skipper said: "I let the team down with a silly mistake having known what's been said in the summer after meeting the refs. It's a stupid mistake on my part and hopefully I can rectify that in the future and not get done again.

"I didn't appeal [when Sterling impeded him] because I didn't think it was a penalty. I got my head reasonably close to the ball and I didn't think I'd been impeded too much.

Manchester City midfielder Kevin de Bruyne: I don't understand criticism of this player
Raheem Sterling has had a tough year since moving to the Etihad

"But if they're going to change the rules, as they have done, then they're going to have to do that for every game."

His Stoke team-mate Peter Crouch says if referees apply the new directive on a consistent basis players will have to learn quickly otherwise there will be two or three penalties a game.

"I suppose it will soon eradicate it [holding and short-tugging] because you don't want to give away a penalty," said Crouch. "But people will be asking for consistency otherwise it's going to be a farce."

Aguero took his tally to six in three games with a penalty and a header before the break. But Bojan's penalty put Stoke back in it until Nolito finished them off with his late double.

City will complete the £17m signing of Claudio Bravo from Barcelona this week after the Spanish club signed Ajax's Jasper Cillessen as his replacement. And Phil Jones, in the crowd on Saturday, could be set for a switch to Stoke from Manchester United.