When Manchester City took the ball from Newcastle United and started a counter attack, they used De Bruyne to be the game maker and Haaland to escape opponent’s behind. Normally Newcastle United matched with Manchester City midfielders 1 by 1. After Manchester City took the ball from Newcastle United, De Bruyne took position between opponent’s defense and midfield lines. So his marker took position more away from Newcastle United’s defense line. De Bruyne’s positioning type dropped Manchester City’s intensity when they tried to make game after they took the ball from Newcastle United because now Newcastle United’s player who was matching with De Bruyne was closer to the ball more than De Bruyne but also it gave an advantage to Manchester City to play more direct, and Manchester City used this advantage.
Newcastle United’s defenders couldn’t match with De Bruyne. First of all, full backs were dealing with wingers. Stoppers couldn’t match with De Bruyne either. Because when Haaland was running to defense line’s behind, stoppers also went back and the distance between Newcastle United stoppers and De Bruyne became more. So after De Bruyne had the ball, stoppers were not close enough to press De Bruyne.