Silva’s star shines bright for City
And with good reason.
There’s no doubt that, as defending champions, City under-achieved last season under Roberto Mancini. There seemed to be a lot of disharmony within the club and the Italian’s man-management style didn’t get the best out of an undoubtedly talented squad.
New manager Manuel Pellegrini’s first shrewd move was to sell Carlos Tevez to Juventus as, although there is no doubting his ability on the pitch, he carried too much negative baggage off it. Ditto Mario Balotelli. It’s no surprise to me then that without these two and, under a calm, focused but approachable manager like Pellegrini, it looks a much happier camp.
City’s signings in the summer have also proved to be very astute. Fernandinho was a player who impressed me on the few occasions I saw him play for Shaktar Donetsk. He is an old-style central midfielder who can do all aspects of the job and has forged a superb partnership with Yaya Toure.
Up front, Negredo has been a revelation since arriving in the summer. He looks like he was born to play in the Premier League. I was asking my Spanish team-mates here at Brighton if he’d been as good when he played in Spain and, although they sang his praises, they think he has gone to a different level since his arrival at Man City. For me he is probably the most complete centre-forward in the league. As powerful as an ox, he links up play very well, looks to run in behind and is strong in the air.
Though it took him a little longer to settle in, his Spanish compatriot Navas has been another good signing and, with his raw pace and direct running, gives City a different dimension.
The names which repeatedly crop up when people talk about City’s most important player are Kompany, Toure and Aguero – all massive influences for the side, agreed — but the one player I think they simply can’t do without is David Silva. For me, he is the man who makes them tick.
I got to see him at very close quarters at Euro 2012 or, rather, I got to see his name and number on the back of his shirt as I chased him around to no avail for a very long 90 minutes. In common with truly great players like Xavi, Iniesta and Zidane, it’s virtually impossible to get the ball off Silva. The way he manoeuvres the ball when he gets closed down is just majestic and, such is his footballing intelligence, you’ll notice that he rarely even gets tackled.
With so much emphasis placed on possession in football these days it’s very unusual to see a top team like City employ a 4-4-2 formation, but when you break it down it could be any formation once the game gets going. Silva doesn’t stay wide and comes into central areas where he is more dangerous and then Kolorov or Clichy will provide the width. The movement of the front two — no matter which two are chosen — is very impressive, as is their work rate when out of possession.
One of the reasons a lot of managers are reluctant to play two out-and-out centre forwards is that defending isn’t something that comes naturally to them, so even though they will often drop in to help their midfield, it’s rarely to the same effect as when an orthodox midfielder is in there. City’s strikers, however, are definitely prepared to put in the hard yards.
The one concern I’d have about City relates to the identity of a partner for the superb Vincent Kompany’s at the back. Pellegrini doesn’t seem to see Lescott as the answer and while Demichelis is a very solid and experienced defender, I’m unsure he would be able to cope when it comes to the crunch games in the Premier league and Champions League. Nastasic is a good ball-playing defender but I don’t think he’s physically strong enough yet.
This is the position I expect the club will pay most attention to in the summer as, if they get the right partner for Kompany, then they will have the best back five in world football as a base for their huge attacking flair.
Meantime, after sorting out their stuttering early season away form, it’s beginning to look ominously clear for the rest of the challengers that no-one will be able to stop City pushing on to be crowned champions in May.
