Classy. Elegant. Unique. Intelligent. Unerring. Unplayable, you name it. There is simply not enough superlatives out there to describe the immeasurable class, craft and qualities of Manchester City’s Portuguese maestro Bernardo Silva.
After yet another stunning individual display against Aston Villa, his boss Pep Guardiola went that step further and called his midfield lieutenant “the best” after his sumptuous strike sunk a rejuvenated Villa at Villa Park on gameweek 14.
Sure, recent Ballon d’or winner and former student of Guardiola, Lionel Messi and arguably the Premier League’s most consistent performer currently in Mohammed Salah – who controversially finished seventh on the Ballon d’or list – will have plenty reservations about Guardiola’s comments on Silva, but the way the 27-year-old is playing right now, you’d be forgiven for being in agreement with Guardiola’s brave comments.
“He is the best,” Guardiola said. “He was the best two or three seasons ago. He was the best then too. He has a special ability to do whatever he wants with the ball. Against a good goalkeeper it was an incredible finish.
You have to go back to when we won with 98 points, review the videos, you will see the same player like this right now.“
Indeed, that 2018/19 season in which Manchester City raced to the league title with an astonishing record of 98 points was arguably Silva’s best year in a City shirt. The Portuguese magician recorded an impressive 7 goals and 7 assists in 36 appearances in which he was awarded with the club’s player of the year gong, and that was the year in which Guardiola also possessed the legendary David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne both fully fit and firing.
Now, it feels much different. With much more responsibility, expectation and more leadership Bernardo Silva is responding with such remarkable grace and efficiency, and that’s why Guardiola admitted not along ago that he is simply ‘undroppable’, he is always one of the first names on the team-sheet.
But, its a year City needs him now more than ever, with David Silva taking on pastures new in Sociedad and Kevin De Bruyne struggling to get off the injury table, the onus is on Bernardo Silva to drag City to that next level, and that he is doing to such consummate aplomb.
Against Villa, Silva was at his sparkling best, proving the decisive factor and capped off a brilliant display with a goal truly representing his phenomenal and unique qualities, rounding off a silky City counter-attack.
It was a counter which simply cut Aston Villa to shreds, and it all started from their own penalty area with Mahrez pressured by two Villa players still managing to thread a sneaky ball to Fernandinho who found Gabriel Jesus making a dart beyond Tyrone Mings towards the right wing, behind Targett, and playing the perfect ball: 40 yards, expertly into his countrymen’s path.
With one look up to screen his surroundings, the Brazilian striker perfectly lofted an outstanding weighted cross for Bernardo Silva who would have been forgiven in taking a touch and then striking the ball, but that’s not the confidence and sheer class he’s playing at, instead he took it first time. A quite simply mesmerising hit which Emiliano Martínez could do nothing about.
This is a footballer oozing such peerless quality, spellbinding skill and technique, a first touch to simply melt over and phenomenal dribbling that even Ballon d’or winner Lionel Messi would certainly hand over his prestigious award for.
Like the 2018/19 campaign, Bernardo Silva is simply at the top of his game right now, and there’s no reason why he can’t surpass his tally from that season. He’s so far recorded 8 G/A (7 goals, 1 assist) in the Premier League so far with still around four months of the season to go.
However, goal contributions stats simply does not do his performances any justice. If you want to read well into how good and crafty Bernardo Silva is performing, you need to dive much deeper and the stats shown above is only half the story. He’s first at City for goals scored (5), dribbles attempted (38), distances covered (148.2), and second for interceptions (7) and duels won (63), so not only is he thriving in the attacking phases of play but in his defensive actions and that’s both in his counter-pressing in the attacking third and also in the middle-third.
To put it simply, Bernardo Silva is the complete footballer putting in complete performances each and every single game for Manchester City this season. Remember, Kevin De Bruyne is still out injured – guess you forgot about him didn’t you – but really City don’t need him, because Bernardo Silva is currently pulling the Belgian’s strings in every sense of the word.
Per90 so far this season, the Portuguese magician averages 1.29 key passes, 3.15 final third passes, 1.53 passes into the penalty area and 2.82 progressive passes. Though, its in his dribbling and ball-carrying abilities that City gain so much from. For progressive carries in which he ranks in the 99th percentile of players in Europe’s top five leagues, he averages 10.01 carries per 90 (carries that moves the ball towards the opponents goal at least 5yrds, or carries into the penalty area).
The way Silva weaves past his opponents with such unerring technique, dazzling ball control and such swift deceptive movement is a wonderful sight to behold. The former Monaco man certainly isn’t the most pacey of players but the class at which he caresses the ball with such nimble footwork and awesome body movement means he really doesn’t need pace to his beat his marker.
He is amazing at working and weaving his way out of tight areas and spots showing that £100m man Jack Grealish really isn’t the best dribbler at the Etihad.
Silva has so far this season completed 2.10 dribbles per 90 with a success rate of 61.9% – astonishing. What’s all the more impressive of Silva’s game is his swiss-army knife versatility. Guardiola can play him anywhere in midfield or attack, and he’ll conjure up the decisive moments each game. Play him in a false-nine, left-wing, right-wing, a roaming no.8 and he’ll still perform to his utmost best.
The Portuguese never stops running, never gives in and its shown in the amount of distances he puts in and on the heatmap above. Again, according to the stats, he is indeed the league’s hardest worker.
He has the numbers to back that claim up. Among regular Premier League players this season, Silva has covered more ground per 90 minutes than anyone else in the competition. He is averaging almost 12 kilometres per game, a perfect picture of perpetual motion.
Another remarkable stat is that only City’s holding midfield player Rodri has won back possession of the ball for the champions more times than Silva has this season in both the middle and final third of the pitch.
A uniquely gifted footballer, so meticulous and methodical in the way he weaves about in various areas on the pitch, with purpose, panache and a tactical understanding that Guardiola deems “the best”. It’s why he is undroppable, even if City play twice in three days.
The goal at Villa is the perfect example of how vital he is to City, making sure he is in the right place at the right time to score the decisive goals, he bamboozled at Old Trafford against rivals Manchester United, got the decisive assist against Paris Saint-Germain at the Etihad in the UEFA Champions League where he completed 100% of his 47 passes. He wowed against Everton on the same turf, put in a phenomenal full-throttle display against Liverpool in the 2-2 draw at Anfield, against Brighton at the Amex and so on an so forth. There is simply no stopping this man.
It’s amazing to think last season could well have been his last in a Manchester City shirt, with the Portuguese star reportedly stating his displeasure at a lack of game time, but Guardiola has heeded his doubts, placed his faith in him again, especially in the absence of key man Kevin De Bruyne and Silva is repaying that faith. It’s a credit to him in laying aside his complaints and sticking to his guns because he may have a huge say in this season’s captivating three-horse race for the Premier League title.
Silva shown through once again as Manchester City ran out a comfortable 3-1 over Watford at Vicarage Road. The Portuguese was yet again the star of the show, whose two brilliantly taken goals on the day took him to seven in the Premier League for the season — equaling his best season total in a Manchester City shirt.
The Portugal international’s six goals in his last eight league games has been a better return than his previous 61 games for Guardiola, and while his goalscoring looks to be running a bit hot when compared with his xG, you only have to look at some of his finishing to find that he is indeed playing at arguably his best levels yet as a Manchester City player.
While the 27-year-old is clearly on a hot streak with 0.52 goals per 90 this season, it is intriguing to see that his underlying attacking numbers are actually back on the level he was at during the 2019-20 season.
While Manchester City reclaimed their league title from Liverpool last campaign, Silva saw a drop in his attacking output on a personal level. So far this season, he is superseding those numbers and is currently head and shoulders above everybody else in the team.
Certainly, City’s best piece of business last summer was convincing Bernardo Silva to remain at the Etihad, you’ve got to wonder what might have been had the likes of Real Madrid or Barcelona had the money to spend. Silva would have surely been an asset to any of the Spanish giants.
For now though, he remains City’s master craftsman, their chief creating officer. Doesn’t Pep Guardiola know it?
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