David Silva

[The Original Special One]

I'm a huge fan, and have been, almost since my first sighting of him, during the Spurs game, but I think occasionally, just occasionally, he needs to go for goal himself instead of looking for somebody to pass it to.
Because I just get the feeling that defences have worked out that if they cut off his passing options, in or around goal, he doesn't have confidence in enough goalscoring ability to try the unexpected.
Hopefully I'll be proved wrong during the League and Cup run-in.

[Mark (Blue Army)]

I totally agree mate, if he had a pop at goal more often it would be so hard for the opposition to work out what he was going to do. I don't know why he's like this because he has a good shot on him.

[twosips]

Spot on. Look at Lampard - he shoots when he gets near the area - utmost confidence in his own abilities. Engineers himself about 5 shooting chances a game through sheer persistence, yet still finds assists.

As a result he gets 20 a season from midfield. David's more than capable of this.

I reckon he attempts about 15 through balls a game, Silva. Most of them don't come off - as you'd expect with any ambitious pass - not slating him - but I reckon if he turned about a 1/3rd of them into shots he'd get himself a hell of a lot more goals.

As they say - you can't win the lottery if you don't buy a ticket.

And........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANVYagwT ... re=related

We all know he can strike a ball :)

[The Original Special One]

Spot on. Look at Lampard - he shoots when he gets near the area - utmost confidence in his own abilities. Engineers himself about 5 shooting chances a game through sheer persistence, yet still finds assists.

As a result he gets 20 a season from midfield. David's more than capable of this.

I reckon he attempts about 15 through balls a game, Silva. Most of them don't come off - as you'd expect with any ambitious pass - not slating him - but I reckon if he turned about a 1/3rd of them into shots he'd get himself a hell of a lot more goals.

As they say - you can't win the lottery if you don't buy a ticket.

And........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANVYagwT ... re=related

We all know he can strike a ball :)

Thats like one of the goals Kolarov scored for Lazio!!!

To my eternal shame I saw little of the Silva-Villa Valencia side so didn't really know what to expect other than that he was a creative player who would make up for the loss of Ireland.
But Ireland, at his best, was always looking to score goals too

I think Silva needs to show he can, also

[john68]

I mentioned at the Kiev game that Silva was hard wired to almost always seek out a pass. It's seems in his nature. If you watch him get the ball in the area, he almost always looks up to choose the pass. He is without doubt our most intelligent palyer but is lacking on the the "FUCK IT AND LUMP IT" attitude in front of goal. Mancini should be working on this.

He is also a perfectionist. When he gets a half chance, he almost always takes another touch to give himself the space to shoot, he would frighten defences to death if he occasionally just let fly.

Sometimes too clever for his own good.

[Scorchio]

In my opinion he is a little genius. Never stops running in order to give an out ball, rarely gives the ball away, a slide rule pass at the end of it. He is up there with Tevez and Kompany. He will just get better and better, including goals.

[Slim]

I have a couple of problems with his game.
-When he is listed to line up on the left you know we aren't going to maintain shape in attack, certainly not width and our god awful leftbacks are made to look moreso because the opposition rightback has free reign to bomb forward without repercussion.
-When he is playing in the centre he sometimes drops deep to get the ball only to make it a 1-2 with the centrehalf, the idea being to pull a defender out of position and slide the ball into the space it creates. Well the centrehalves are usually incapable of seeing this, acting upon it but more than that(that's not really on him), the one we want IN that space is Silva, not using him as a decoy.
-As already mentioned, he should pull the trigger more from distance.

So much more good than bad to his game, but not perfect.

[dazby]

I was going to start a thread with this very topic last night. Totally agree.

[Original Dub]

Yeah this topic is bang on. He's a cracking player but payers in his position simply have to have more goals and assists to their name if they're to be considered anywhere near the best in the world.

A few on here tried to tell me that he's in the top three attacking midfielders in world football. That's just farcical, no matter how much I like the lad.

However, I believe he CAN be... but he needs to be told to shoot more and needs to work on his finishing.

Silva's a very intelligent player, but on his game (as someone else has mentioned), Ireland could do most of what he's doing now and managed something like 17 goals and shitloads of assists as well as putting tackles in and starting attacks in his best season.

Silva has to match this with the players he has around him now if he's ever to be considered a world great.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Yeah this topic is bang on. He's a cracking player but payers in his position simply have to have more goals and assists to their name if they're to be considered anywhere near the best in the world.

A few on here tried to tell me that he's in the top three attacking midfielders in world football. That's just farcical, no matter how much I like the lad.

However, I believe he CAN be... but he needs to be told to shoot more and needs to work on his finishing.

Silva's a very intelligent player, but on his game (as someone else has mentioned), Ireland could do most of what he's doing now and managed something like 17 goals and shitloads of assists as well as putting tackles in and starting attacks in his best season.

Silva has to match this with the players he has around him now if he's ever to be considered a world great.

How true all that is.Is this where the word gelling comes in? He has a great natural talent on the ball in terms of control,keeping possession and the weight and timing of his passing but as yet I don't think his teammates have fully recognised the sort of passes he is capable of seeing and making. They don't always make the right runs but when they do he can find them.

As for the shooting bit I agree he doesnt do it enough but he just doesnt look confident enough to me.When he broke down the middle on Thursday ( great first touch by the way) the ball was on his right foot and I don't think he ever gave shooting a thought whereas he should probably have had a go early before the keeper could set himself. As it was he seemed more intent on finding a pass but nobody was around. I am a little surprised that he has never doen any shooting practice in training either.What he does on the ball in training mirrors matches as he doesnt shoot unless he" has to".

[Beefymcfc]

More than happy with what he's done so far, in 7 months, and am looking forward to seeing him when we actually start playing with attackers pushing on, leaving him even more time to call the play.

No complaints here.

[french_tony]

I love the little guy and is one of, if not the, best player I have seen in a City shirt.
But I totally agree, he needs to start scoring more and having a pop as he can shoot.
On at least two occasions against Kiev he was in a great shooting position but opted to pass or turn again (one quite late when he took it around four players, got to the edge of the box, then turned again when he really should should of had a dig).
I think it could be down to being very one footed so he's always looking to try and get it on his left foot.

Still, he is absolute class but for an attacking mid he really needs a few more goals.

[Ted Hughes]

Imo, in general play he's the best in the Prem, better than Fabregas, Scholes or anyone because they all play in teams who are in a routine & know each others moves inside out, making their job much easier. We are a hotchpotch of players who don't particularly fit together that well but he still manages to operate as if he's playing for Barca; quite amazing really.

If he's to be as good as an alround player as those two though, he has to increase his career goal tally. I think he will do, when we sign another player who can play with him. At the moment only Tevez & Yaya are on his wavelength. Balotelli & Dzeko could get there & there's a slight possibility AJ could but it would really help to have one ready made player to interact with him. He needs a partner, like Iniesta has with Xavi. Then they would set him up for a few for tap ins & teams won't be able to get the ball off us unless we pass it to SWP or Kolarov (joke).

[Rag_hater]

Think he is a great player but unless people want him to start doing what he hasn't done before we should be happy with the goals and assists he has provided so far.I don't think he should be shooting more and getting more goals.If one looks at his stats for goalscoring and assists in previous years one will see he is upto about where he usually is if not already this year a bit ahead.So it seems he has improved already a little this year so the call for him to score more is a bit fanciful.

Here are his stats:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/player/_/i ... va?cc=5739

It can be seen from that he is doing what he normally does if not a little better so the call for him to score more is asking him to change his game which I don't think would be a good idea.
For me he is the type of player who may start a creative move but moreso he is there to keep posession.

[Original Dub]

Think he is a great player but unless people want him to start doing what he hasn't done before we should be happy with the goals and assists he has provided so far.I don't think he should be shooting more and getting more goals.If one looks at his stats for goalscoring and assists in previous years one will see he is upto about where he usually is if not already this year a bit ahead.So it seems he has improved already a little this year so the call for him to score more is a bit fanciful.

Here are his stats:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/player/_/i ... va?cc=5739

It can be seen from that he is doing what he normally does if not a little better so the call for him to score more is asking him to change his game which I don't think would be a good idea.
For me he is the type of player who may start a creative move but moreso he is there to keep posession.

I don't think Silva is there to keep possession at all. I think he's an attacking midfielder and all attacking midfielders should chip in with a fair few goals and a A LOT of assists. No two ways about it, there are aspects of his game he needs to improve if he is ever to be considered one of the best attacking mids in world football.

[Ted Hughes]

Think he is a great player but unless people want him to start doing what he hasn't done before we should be happy with the goals and assists he has provided so far.I don't think he should be shooting more and getting more goals.If one looks at his stats for goalscoring and assists in previous years one will see he is upto about where he usually is if not already this year a bit ahead.So it seems he has improved already a little this year so the call for him to score more is a bit fanciful.

Here are his stats:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/player/_/i ... va?cc=5739

It can be seen from that he is doing what he normally does if not a little better so the call for him to score more is asking him to change his game which I don't think would be a good idea.
For me he is the type of player who may start a creative move but moreso he is there to keep posession.

It's not asking him to change his game, it's asking him to make better decisions when he's in positions to score, rather than looking for an impossible pass when he has no space to play it. He loses possession a fair bit in the penalty area by doing that & he may as well take on a shot instead. By hitting the target with a shot, even if he doesn't score, someone else may score from the rebound. It's about doing the right thing at the right time, not changing the way he plays. He's starting to mature as a player now & has a great talent, there's no reason he can't take it a step further & contribute more goals, in fact I recon he will do.

[MaineRoadMemories]

He's a great little player who will always find space and keep the game flowing positively but since the turn of the year his passing in the final third has been awful.

Most of our attacks are coming to an end with Silva just punting it into the box (often underhit) and hoping a player will get on the end of it. He's a better player than that and has to improve on his final ball passing next season.

In terms of impact I think Adam Johnson influences the game more than Silva does.

[Rag_hater]

I don't think David looks shy in having a go when it comes to shooting.
ESPN have him having attempred 49 shots this season more than any of our other midfielders and only behind Carlos(well behind him)
The problem from how it looks and the stats back up is his accuracy.That's what needs to improve and when it does I think we will see more goals from him.
At the mo its taking him about 16 shots to get a goal and the average is between 6 and 9.
I think he shoots enough.
I think he needs to practice shooting with his right foot a bit more and concentrate on it being less natural more methodical and aimed.

[The Original Special One]

Yeah this topic is bang on. He's a cracking player but payers in his position simply have to have more goals and assists to their name if they're to be considered anywhere near the best in the world.

A few on here tried to tell me that he's in the top three attacking midfielders in world football. That's just farcical, no matter how much I like the lad.

However, I believe he CAN be... but he needs to be told to shoot more and needs to work on his finishing.

Silva's a very intelligent player, but on his game (as someone else has mentioned), Ireland could do most of what he's doing now and managed something like 17 goals and shitloads of assists as well as putting tackles in and starting attacks in his best season.

Silva has to match this with the players he has around him now if he's ever to be considered a world great.

How true all that is.Is this where the word gelling comes in? He has a great natural talent on the ball in terms of control,keeping possession and the weight and timing of his passing but as yet I don't think his teammates have fully recognised the sort of passes he is capable of seeing and making. They don't always make the right runs but when they do he can find them.

As for the shooting bit I agree he doesnt do it enough but he just doesnt look confident enough to me.When he broke down the middle on Thursday ( great first touch by the way) the ball was on his right foot and I don't think he ever gave shooting a thought whereas he should probably have had a go early before the keeper could set himself. As it was he seemed more intent on finding a pass but nobody was around. I am a little surprised that he has never doen any shooting practice in training either.What he does on the ball in training mirrors matches as he doesnt shoot unless he" has to".

We often criticise Tevez for his selfishness and we could possibly had more goals If he had looked to set up a teammate in a better position, but if there was that element to his game, he'd be a lesser player.

The key thing for the great strikers is, they're not really fazed by the misses, and they're bound to miss even a few sitters.
If the great strikers don't worry, why should Silva?

[The Original Special One]

He's a great little player who will always find space and keep the game flowing positively but since the turn of the year his passing in the final third has been awful.

Most of our attacks are coming to an end with Silva just punting it into the box (often underhit) and hoping a player will get on the end of it. He's a better player than that and has to improve on his final ball passing next season.

In terms of impact I think Adam Johnson influences the game more than Silva does.

On the evidence of Thursday night, Johnson has still a few cobwebs to shake off, and we couldn't really expect otherwise, so I wouldn't expect him to start against Chelsea.
But giving him 20 minutes on Sunday might just make the difference on the day
(not without Silva, though)