Kevin De Bruyne BLASTS Belgium after loss to France 👀 'We are NO LONGER good enough' | ESPN FC

well we've got the answer and it's a pretty much channeling what you had to say Craig Kevin De bruyne says if the standard we want to reach is the best but we're no longer good enough to get to that level then you have to give everything I can accept that we're not as good as in 2018 but other things are unacceptable yeah I think it was pretty obvious watching the game and watching the Euros uh in particular where Belgium were not very good that he was going to cut a frustrated figure very quickly because is such an elite level player and unfortunately you know he's got Lukaku still there who didn't play yesterday but he's he's uh he's on the way and let's not let's not beat about the bush about that it's not the Lukaku of five or six years ago and in some sense you look at this frustration that's going to come his way and you got to give liono Messi even more credit cuz he must have had the same up until that World Cup win where the Argentinian Squad was limited wman like but limited and yet he continued to turn up and and somehow in the end they got the job done I'm not suggesting Belgium are going to win the World Cup but I'm saying the Argentinian Squad was not the most talented it was not right that that we've ever seen it had a very good shape had a good coach in there and Messi did his b and all the sums of the part it all worked all worked but but he's going to have to deal with this in a team that's not going to compete it's just not and I I I'm not going to say he'll Chuck it in terms of not playing for Belgium but I think one or two of them might look at it and go you know what if I want to prolong my man city career wherever it is I might have to have a look at this because it's time for a new gu to come in and as I say the frustration in my for me de bruyne watching him yesterday I'm not surprised he said this he he not only said that but he started criticized and the way they played and how they were set up I mean that that's you know when you're a player just play you know get on the field and do do what you do and if unfortunately the rest of the players around you aren't up to your standard then you try and help them and you give every single thing you've got which is exactly what happened witha that's what Messi you didn't hear Messi complaining about how how the back line are too deep and we got too many Defenders and you can't be seeing that when you're a player and that that to me is just the start of of somebody who's not happy and I'm with Craig big time I think he's probably better off when you start a player of his quality and his standing in Belgium when he starts criticizing the rest of the team and basically his manager I think it's time to to move on you know Craig's talking about that Argentina team and I love that you brought them up because what he's talking about his mentality how sometimes the talent alone won't get you by that Argentina team maybe not had the talent but they had the mentality 2014 World Cup they lost it but then they went 15 16 cop America finals 18 World Cup didn't go well went back to another cup America finally won it World Cup 2022 they won it and now you see another cup America there's a mentality that goes into that group I saw this team the golden generation their best year was 2018 fold in 2022 playing against Canada in the World Cup get smashed in the mouth and won circumstantially Alonso Davies missing a penalty kick to see what they did in this Euro zone I'm not surprised you can be as talented as you want but if you don't bring at least the effort and the mentality it doesn't matter maybe Kevin De BR I'll just say though you know what I just I just so much want to play in Another World Cup in America you know that that that maybe that's the thing I think if there was nothing in the Horizon he would I think he would just go you know what prolonging my club career here the 2026 World Cup obviously two years away it's a big thing for a player to play in the World Cup but he's going to cut a frustrated figure from now until then and then during that World Cup and you know this manager he come out to Desco and said well I'm I'm okay with Kevin De bruyer criticizing done what every have done in this game because he's got no choice cuz he's already buried and had this horrendous relationship with the best Keeper in the world in table CA and so he can't come out and and and sort of defend himself and play the old strong arm tactic against Kevin De bruyer cuz he hasn't got a lot left he just he just does not have a lot left Mario yeah yeah you know I want to watch Kevin also I think what what is the hardest part for Kevin is coming from City you know when you play in a team where you with pep pep is very detailed he looks at all the little mistakes and try to open things up even sometimes if there is nothing he will find it now you go to a Belgium site of course it's also closer because it's close to my country so the Highlight that too is that you see certain mistakes and you see certain things happen and I think uh Kevin let the emotions drive his emotions were driving too far I saw coming off the bench he either said to to um the person that was walking with him we could see that in the shot him saying I don't I want to stop or this has to stop so it's two lines because you couldn't understand what he was saying but you could see I can see the mou M because it's either French or Belgium and Belgium similar to Dutch so those two languages and for me it was like I think the emotions was driving too much and you have to be careful because when you are that talent and that good I think you also have to sometimes question yourself and say like I just I am here just to implement my quality and play well and I'm not here you understand to because attacking them it won't help them the only thing will help is him because I thought he was more quieter but now when he exploded I was like wow he let us every every tactical uh attribute of his country he let us know and I think with that one it was a little bit sensitive he has to be careful with that one but he's been you know known again he has outspoken I mean he's been outspoken against UEFA and FIFA about the amount of games that players have been subjected to he's been quite you know upfront about that he doesn't you don't hear from him often but when you do no you s you start to set up and go yeah I get that so I think he has I think he keeps he's getting older as well though you tend to do that the older you get and when you start hitting the 30 ORS you start thinking about things more you know before you hit that 30 all you're concerned about is playing the only thing you want to do is make sure you fit make sure you do your stuff you want to do this blah blah it's all about the it's all about the game you know when you pass that 30 Mark you start thinking about things a lot more and he's he's overthinking it that's what he's doing I think the the disappointment for him I I would imagine as it was for a bunch of players we talked about yesterday all these great golden gener ation they called it this and there was a lot a lot of good players they had was not just that he's in this scenario now and there's some good players but there's not enough for Belgium is that they screwed it up they really they had the and he'll be he'll be feeling that that he knows because they're not stupid he knows they had their opportunity it's difficult to win of course it is but they had their opportunity to be way better than they were and they blew it they blew it under Roberto Martinez uh they blew it under Mark votz who was hopeless uh in France and now that opportunity is gone and as a player you just it won't come back as Stevie said you're in your 30s the squad is now weaker the talent level the talent pool is not the same and that opportunity for your country is gone and for for a player that's a difficult pill to swallow [Music]