Original Dub wrote:Bridge'srightfoot wrote:Definitely.
He's got better close control imo and plays 'the spanish' way. Mata is a top, top player too and the thing he does have over Silva as I say is that he can belt one in from 25-30 yards and generate real power on the ball. I can't really remember Silva doing that for us. He can place the ball well for sure but it would add a whole new element to his game if he develops his mid-long range shooting.
Last season Mata was the better player without doubt but when Silva's at his best he's on another level. If Silva could add goals to his game though I honestly don't think he'd be that far off the world's best.
I agree with all of that.
I think I remember him scoring a belter against arsenal... maybe a cup game?
The weird thing is that for Spain he has a scoring record of better than 1 in 4, which is very decent for a midfielder but for us it's something like 1 in 8.
A lot of the time my frustration and others of him has come from his lack of confidence to shoot. He's possibly the best passer in the league but often last season a pocket of space opens up about 20-25 yards out and you're crying out for him to stick his foot through the ball but you can tell he doesn't feel confident to do so and then tries an eye of the needle pass which just doesn't come off.
But having said that he did this against Chelsea for Valencia:
[youtube]0dMH8yuByn0[/youtube]
I didn't see him at Valencia so I don't know if this was a one off or if he just 'let rip' more from outside the box for them. But he's not really done anything like that for us as of yet.