@Davian144 when you’re a big club like Manchester City you need to have player’s who can step up and at City it seems that their player’s are not stepping up because these are opportunities for others to secure a starting 11 spot for themselves. Lastly I believe Pep would have done solid analysis by now and will come up with a better tactical plan hence it’s unwise to underestimate City even in the absence of De Bruyne.
Manchester City until now played without De Bruyne and they can still achieve 3rd position in Premier League and won 2 matches in Champions League. They're already been great so far, even though De Bruyne is currently a Manchester City's heart.
De Bruyne will also get older, it's just a part of regeneration and Manchester City seems quite success since they're still in good form.
This is why a team should never be dependent on just one player, because if that player is unavailable, it has a huge impact on their game. But I realize that this is difficult to avoid because it cannot be denied that in a team there are always players who are the mainstay, yes it is inseparable from their abilities and also their contribution to the team.
But can things like this be avoided? Of course you can, one of them is by rotating a lot and also giving many new roles to other players. I know this if done is full of risks, but when talking about risks, this also exists when they don't do things like I said.
Maybe now seeing that there is no de Bruyne in Manchester City squad, looks like a lion that is a little limp, their performance has declined in the last two matches in the English main league, it is quite dangerous when the game on the field pivotes on one player, and what is seen to be seen that no one can replace the role of De Bruyne to this day, who is commensurate to replace De Bruyne in an active midfielder position, as seen that his successor is R Lewis, but not as great as De Bruyne, then what rotation needs to be done for Fill the emptiness? Who deserves to rotate the position?
Speaking UCL Manchester City can certainly enter the next round of the match to see the victory they have collected, and I think it is strong enough at UCL even without the support of De Bruyne on the field.