City Watch: De Bruyne shines as City thrash Palace

After spending the entire column raving on about Kevin De Bruyne last week following the announcement of his departure at the end of the season, it seems like I’m going to do the same thing this week after his incredible performance against Crystal Palace on Saturday.

I was particularly nervous for the game on the weekend, not only because this season we’ve consistently proved our inconsistency, but Crystal Palace have always been a bogey team for us. 

I’ll always remember the Andros Townsend goal pre-covid, I used to sit behind the goal on the second tier of the south stand and can still picture him lacing the ball on the volley for a screamer, that still remains one of the best goals I’ve seen at the Etihad not scored by a City player.

In the treble season, City went two goals down to the South London side, only to be saved by an Erling Haaland hat trick to win the game 4-2. 

It was clear that after just 20 minutes, the Blues would have to pull a similar performance out of the hat, finding themselves two down early on, and it was almost three but Eze saw his goal ruled out for offside,

There was no need for Erling Haaland this time, though, as Kevin De Bruyne stepped up and pulled out an absolute vintage performance, and one that really shows how important he’s been for us all these years.

He hammered home a free kick off the post to make it 2-1, before assisting Kovacic in the second half to put us in front. 

It wasn’t just his goal contributions, though, every positive piece of play went through Kevin. 

I can honestly say it’s one of the first games this season where I’ve been genuinely excited to watch City play, and I wanted the game to go on.

The Premier League games on the weekend saw the introduction of semi automated offsides, something we’ve seen in the Champions League and has been promised in the English top flight. 

Even though the new technology wasn’t perfect on Saturday, there was definitely a vast improvement in the speed of decision making when it came to offisides. 

No fan wants to be sitting in the stadium for three or four minutes waiting for an offside call, so this was a very positive introduction.

Next up for the Blues is a trip to Everton, the final visit to Goodison before the Toffees move into their new home next season. 

Unfortunately, I won’t be attending, however, I’m looking forward to writing the next edition of City Watch, especially as it’ll be a chance to start the build up for our semi final trip to Wembley the weekend after!