Silva

[Ted Hughes]

Whenever I try to pointlessly think of a team or general formation for next season, whoever the manager, involving players we probably won't sign & kids we probably won't play, & I try to balance it out, with a mixture of power, pace, skill, invention, goals & workrate, I keep htting the same problem; but where does Silva play in this team ?

The only answer I can come up with, is that there are 4 other midfielders who can run like fuck, pass like fuck, & score goals.

That's trying to build a side to rival Barca, Bayern etc. Not just a 'top' side but a Champs Lg winning side.

Take him out, & I'm almost spoilt for choice of how to do it; wingers, centre mids, strikers, def mids etc etc, loads of permutations. Put him in, & straight away, I'm struggling.

My conclusion; build a side around him or build a side without him & just fit him in when you feel like it.

[Blue Oli]

Too old to build a side around him ?

[Pretty Boy Lee]

Whenever I try to pointlessly think of a team or general formation for next season, whoever the manager, involving players we probably won't sign & kids we probably won't play, & I try to balance it out, with a mixture of power, pace, skill, invention, goals & workrate, I keep htting the same problem; but where does Silva play in this team ?

The only answer I can come up with, is that there are 4 other midfielders who can run like fuck, pass like fuck, & score goals.

That's trying to build a side to rival Barca, Bayern etc. Not just a 'top' side but a Champs Lg winning side.

Take him out, & I'm almost spoilt for choice of how to do it; wingers, centre mids, strikers, def mids etc etc, loads of permutations. Put him in, & straight away, I'm struggling.

My conclusion; build a side around him or build a side without him & just fit him in when you feel like it.

I've never gotten the fuss about luka modric, but madrid have no problem scaring teams with him in the side and he shares a lot of similar qualities without the goals/assists of our dave. Not high on my list of worries tbh

[sheblue]

sell toure, nasri and dzkeo get two energetic hard working midfielders to replace them (easier said than done) and play silva behind aguero/bony.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

Play his as a second striker or a false 9 and relieve him of his defensive duties which he rarely performs anyway.

[Ted Hughes]

Modric is nothing whatsoever like Silva tbf. He plays more in Yaya's position.

So if you have a blank chequebook then, ruling out Messi Ronaldo, the best player we could possibly have as 2nd striker would be David Silva ? You wouldn't for example choose someone who could take a free kick ? Score 15+ goals ?

Left mid ? Pace, goals, crosses, workrate, set pieces, or Silva ? Centre mid...etc.

Think about it. The best player in each position in a balanced team.

[Im_Spartacus]

It's a fundamental problem I've been banging on about for ages, a couple of years at least.

When we are playing well, it really doesn't matter as other teams tend to be blown away or ground down by superior talent, but when we have an off week or month, he becomes the focus of the problem for me, not because he's a bad player, but because he's in the wrong position

The only solution for me is that you stick him up front so he can weave the magic for aguero and do real damage playing wingers in behind te defence. He is great on the ball, holds it up well and can get out of tight spots.

Putting him in midfield fucks the team up if he plays in the middle, and lessens his impact when on the wing.

Those who say 'look how good he's been in midfield' miss the point entirely to me, it's not the good days we need to worry about with Dave, it's the implications on the bad days where we are getting out fought as we have many times this year

Call it 442 or 451, whatever, but he does not belong in midfield

[Pretty Boy Lee]

Modric is nothing whatsoever like Silva tbf. He plays more in Yaya's position.

So if you have a blank chequebook then, ruling out Messi Ronaldo, the best player we could possibly have as 2nd striker would be David Silva ? You wouldn't for example choose someone who could take a free kick ? Score 15+ goals ?

Left mid ? Pace, goals, crosses, workrate, set pieces, or Silva ? Centre mid...etc.

Think about it. The best player in each position in a balanced team.

Modric isn't like
Silva, he's like the run down you gave out not scoring, tackling etc. what I'm saying is top teams can have players like that when they scare teams. Silva is far better for my money so it's not an issue.

[Hazy2]

Players need to buy into the managers ideas, put there egos away like the SCUM have ride out the shit games. Sift out the players who are thick. The SCUM have just beaten us with Young, Smalling, Jones, 34 yard old Carrock who cannot run, but has great game management skills and is not THICK !, our players have one way of winning and quite a few ways to lose, SIlva is only gonna be as good as those around him, Stop him and Aguero starves. Butthead has only shown one skill, he will show more be sure of that, Organised. He will like us have a major clear out in the summer and phase 2 will start. Silva is class but to stop him is simple when you know the rest of the team are spread out like Sunday league players, no defensive awareness and teams kill you, Sussed out and to stupid not to change it is our biggest problem Fellanis header was like so many goals we concede. No tracking no runners and every fucker watching Glichy one and one V the biggest player on the pitch. Who does Kompany play with, how can that happen at that level of football, simple, lazy cunts ! No pressure on the ball. Silva is creative that is it, Nasri, Yaya the same we squeeze one of Milner, Ferny 1 & 2 in to bluff it. I said early in the season Fernando will get strains playing with Yaya like never before, he is not shit he just not used to being in such a crazy system that allows the centre of the pitch to be a killing field, we did well against Chelsea, as they were happy with draws, the rest have our weakness and strength to be fair and used it against us.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

When we had a spell without a striker Silva was pushed more forward and deemed part of the goalscoring solution. I don't know the stats but I think he responded with goals and I am sure if he is given the free role just behind the striker he would respond with enough goals to make it worthwhile.

He certainly gets in enough quality positions to score goals and that's not including the times he should shoot around the edge of the box.This just needs a manager to play without two so called recognised strikers.

[I Just Blue Myself]

Modric is nothing whatsoever like Silva tbf. He plays more in Yaya's position.

So if you have a blank chequebook then, ruling out Messi Ronaldo, the best player we could possibly have as 2nd striker would be David Silva ? You wouldn't for example choose someone who could take a free kick ? Score 15+ goals ?

Left mid ? Pace, goals, crosses, workrate, set pieces, or Silva ? Centre mid...etc.

Think about it. The best player in each position in a balanced team.

A balanced team like Spain 2008 - 2012?

[Moonchesteri]

Play his as a second striker or a false 9 and relieve him of his defensive duties which he rarely performs anyway.

that's probablyit.
or go 4-3-3 and play him on the left where he has played really well for spain.

[Peter Doherty (AGAIG)]

This should be called the 'Elephant in the Room' thread, as it could easily be a question of what we do with Aguero if Silva is still here next season. I like the idea of playing Silva as a number 10 but we could also play him in a front 3, as referred to above. However, that leaves us with two players up front who don't like to overly work without the ball. This is a serious problem for the team.

[Ted Hughes]

Modric is nothing whatsoever like Silva tbf. He plays more in Yaya's position.

So if you have a blank chequebook then, ruling out Messi Ronaldo, the best player we could possibly have as 2nd striker would be David Silva ? You wouldn't for example choose someone who could take a free kick ? Score 15+ goals ?

Left mid ? Pace, goals, crosses, workrate, set pieces, or Silva ? Centre mid...etc.

Think about it. The best player in each position in a balanced team.

Modric isn't like
Silva, he's like the run down you gave out not scoring, tackling etc. what I'm saying is top teams can have players like that when they scare teams. Silva is far better for my money so it's not an issue.

Modric does a brilliant job closing down for Real Madrid. Exceptional.

Not a comparison imo. Like comparing Gareth Barry. Different job. Modric wouldn't get anywhere near Real's team if he was competing in Silva's area. He would be up against Ronaldo, Bale, Benzema, Isco, Rodriguez etc.
If Silva could play Yaya's position then I wouldn't have started this thread.

[getdressedmctavish]

Personally I think the answer is simple. In a world class team Silver wouldn't play every game. We are a million miles from being a world class team. Silver has taken us to the championship twice, and with the right replacements for Ya ya and Navas can do so again. In a chumps league winning team he might be sacrificed for pacier more direct players, but as yet we haven't got those players. Lets worry about it when we have. IMO Dave aint the problem.

[FA cup winners 2006]

Was talking about this in another thread the other day. For me i think Silva can play a in midfield 3 in a 4-3-3, but not if Yaya is also in that midfield. Silva can play a similar role that Iniesta used to play for Barca. A compact midfield 3 whose main responsibility will be to press when we lose the ball and be the centre of starting our attacks and generally controlling our play. Playing with a high line these 3 midfielders don't necessarily need to be doing lung bursting runs all game but being so compact they need to be able to control and move the ball quickly in tight situations.

For the above system to work, we would need fullbacks who will get up and down the line and wide forwards who will do the same. I dont see an issue regarding Silva at all. the main issue i see is that there is no way Yaya could play in such a system. So if Yaya was to leave or take a squad role then i would love to see something like the following

............................................Hart

Zabaleta.............Kompany............Mangala...............LB

..........................................Modric

.......................Fernandinho..........Silva

........Pedro........................Aguero................Reus

[AntMcfc]

Spot on, this has been concerning me for months now. Silva, as harsh as this sounds, or as crazy as it might sound given his quality, needs to either be dropped or sold on when we come to rebuilding this side. He's not a central midfielder in a 433, he's not a wide player in a 442/4231 and personally, I don't want him playing #10 in the long run either.

Comparisons to Modric are horrible. Modric is the best central midfielder in the world at the moment, Silva is nothing like that. Two totally different roles in two totally different areas of the pitch.

[blues2win]

Silva plays best floating around finding pockets of space behind the striker/s. Just like Yaya and Nasri he's not a natural at tracking back and pressing with the addition that he has a slight physique anyway for it. However, I think we can accommodate one midfielder playing like that but not three. So in my view Yaya and/ or Nasri, perhaps both, get sold and Silva stays. He played best actually when we played briefly with a false no 9, scored some goals too.

[Original Dub]

Spot on, this has been concerning me for months now. Silva, as harsh as this sounds, or as crazy as it might sound given his quality, needs to either be dropped or sold on when we come to rebuilding this side. He's not a central midfielder in a 433, he's not a wide player in a 442/4231 and personally, I don't want him playing #10 in the long run either.

Comparisons to Modric are horrible. Modric is the best central midfielder in the world at the moment, Silva is nothing like that. Two totally different roles in two totally different areas of the pitch.

No. Modric isn't the best central midfielder in the world.

Don't be silly.

[FA cup winners 2006]

Spot on, this has been concerning me for months now. Silva, as harsh as this sounds, or as crazy as it might sound given his quality, needs to either be dropped or sold on when we come to rebuilding this side. He's not a central midfielder in a 433, he's not a wide player in a 442/4231 and personally, I don't want him playing #10 in the long run either.

Comparisons to Modric are horrible. Modric is the best central midfielder in the world at the moment, Silva is nothing like that. Two totally different roles in two totally different areas of the pitch.

Why cant he play as a midfield 3. I'm not talking about a flat midfield 3 (eg. Liverpool) but a tight triangle of midfield players, with the 2 widest not much wider than the centre circle. Silva can track back and get stuck in and does it on many occasions. Problem is when he is playing off the striker he needs to stay up the field.

As part of a midfield 3 he will be able to play the ball in tight situations and when we dont have it the 3 will be able to press as a unit. When we lose the ball it is important to know where the opposing players are so that you can close them down quickly so there is no pass available to them, Silva's all around awareness is excellent and one of the best in the world. Also, playing in a midfield 3, when we lose the ball it will most likely be ahead of him so tracking back wont be such an issue, just close down the available players. As i showed above, imo, if we had Silva, Modric and another similar (maybe Fern) midfielder, they will work as a unit and control most midfields. Silva will also have the benefit of having 3 forwards ahead of him taking the pressure of him scoring goals.

We need to play Silva to his strengths, which are, creating chances, keeping control of the ball in tight spaces, being aware of what is going on around him and where opposing players are and being a link between our defense and attack. This last one is mostly done by Yaya but i dont think he can play in a midfield 3 as he is never aware of where the opposition players are