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silva love-in
Manchester City's sublime David Silva makes the game look simpleNear-perfect Spanish playmaker has helped – and been helped by – City's revolution and was once again key against Villarreal
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Sid Lowe at Stadio El Madrigal guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 2 November 2011 23.29 GMT Article history
David Silva, centre, bisects Villarreal players – the Manchester City midfielder is in the form of his life. Photograph: Juan Carlos Cardenas/EPA
David Silva saw two passes at the same time: the one that Mario Gaspar was about to get wrong and the one that he was about to get right. Half an hour had been played when the Villarreal defender played his pass. He got the weight of it wrong; Silva did not. Watching, waiting, he stepped in front of Hernán Pérez, its intended target, and controlled, quickly finding Yaya Touré – another assist, another goal. In a flash Manchester City had the lead.
This was not Silva's most sparkling assist, far from it. Nor would his second "assist" be – the simple ball to Mario Balotelli that saw him win a penalty just before half-time. These could not compete with Silva's twinkling feet and volleyed delivery against Manchester United. But there was something about it – about both of them – that spoke of his evolution.
Silva's absence from the shortlist for the 2011 Ballon d'Or amid talk of him being the Premier League's best player right now, speaks of a man vastly improved on last season and different too – one who was not among the best in the world but now is. So too does his absence, until recently, from the Spain starting XI – a situation that led him to speak out and prompted his father to complain: "David doesn't know what he has to do to get in the side."
The answer perhaps was to speak up – and then back up those words. The following game Vicente del Bosque started him in a free role against Scotland. He scored twice and provided the other. Here, it appeared, was a different footballer. England had changed him.
But in truth there has been no revolution. If there is an argument for Silva to be England's best footballer, it is at least partly cumulative, a case built bit by bit rather than with the sudden production of Exhibit A: the smoking gun. The players around him have changed and the stage too: this is the Champions League and winning 6-1 at Old Trafford gets noticed like little else. People are talking about him now. Mancini already valued him but he only described him as City's Merlin.
What there has been is an evolution of sorts, a shift. Silva has played a more central role because, well, because he has played a more central role. Shifted inside from the wing, given greater freedom, the stats show three times as many assists, twice as many goals and more key passes – more passes full stop. And that was what was so noticeable. Here was an intelligent, alert footballer who displayed both urgency and tranquillity, a complete playmaker.
At times Touré and Silva appeared to have inverted roles. Often Touré was further forward than Silva, who dropped deeper, hanging back to watch and wait for the moment – choosing when to play and how to play, not just for himself but for his team-mates too. On those occasions in which he did dash beyond them, and it was often, he did so with intent, the ball shifted with precision and pace with his feet fast. Traditional playmakers may be disappearing but Silva did quite an impression of one here. When went off with 25 minutes to go after a bang to the back, even Villarreal's fans gave him an ovation. City's fans chanted "There's only one David Silva" and they were right. Even in this side.
When the goal came, it should not have been a surprise that he saw both passes. He saw every other one. He often dropped all the way back to begin moves but he helped finish them too. At other times he drifted left or, more often, right.
City looked for him always; so too did Villarreal. He was brought down for the free-kick that crashed into the wall as once again he hung back, giving the move a deeper outlet – one step back to take two forward. Then there was the move that led to the second, a flurry of steps wide to draw defenders before heading back inside, a sprint into a right-hand channel he occupied often and the brakes went on. Silva's weight and the ball shifted back to his left foot and he provided a simple pass for Balotelli. It looked simple anyway. Everything Silva does looks simple.
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