The Blues laboured against Aston Villa on Saturday before turning on the style after the break.
City’s talisman Belgian, however, believes the team have to be full-on from the word go or risk being on the end of more surprising results this season.
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“I think, in the first half, the lack of intensity, the rhythm wasn’t really there,” said De Bruyne.
“We started a little bit slow and it’s very difficult to break teams like Aston Villa down.
“We are used to teams setting up defensively. I think Villa had a good game planned, their midfielders were pressing a bit higher, they tried to follow me and David.
And for the KDB goal that wasn’t… ““I’m always crossing. If I keep it low, I try to do it between the keeper and the second post, because any flick it’s very difficult for the goalkeeper to see the ball.”
