This weekend we saw a Norwich side demolished by a magnificent Man City. Although every player in a blue shirt played superbly, there was a certain Spanish magician who was one of the stars of the show: Mr David Silva. Not only has Silva been in fine form since the start of the season, he has always been regarded as one of the league and the world’s best attacking midfielders, creating the most chances in the domestic league from open play since his debut back in 2010.
With the arrival of a new manager and new signings, such as Silva’s Spanish counterpart Jesus Navas, some people may have wondered whose place was up for grab, but this is not the case for such a key player. Pellegrini has kept him in the team and this has spurred Silva on to step up his game even more, already scoring three goals this season, one less than in the whole of last season. Silva has been one of the stand-out players for City this season, and there was no doubt he would increase this impressive streak. As shown below, we can see exactly how well Silva has done, with no one creating more chances than him this season.
Impact on Game
Being involved in 4 out of the 7 goals, including his own against Norwich on Saturday, it was easy to see how much of an impact he made on this match. From the outset, Silva was eager to get on the ball and help his team to score. When looking at his involvement in the goals, it shows that he is such a big threat to the opposition when in a position to create a chance, or even score.
Carrying on from where he left off, Silva was in high spirits once again, creating something out of nothing for City’s first goal. With City in possession in around the edge of the box, Norwich had 9 players back defending. Silva combined well on the left flank with Clichy, and fired a shot towards goal. However, this shot was blocked by the Norwich defenders, falling into Aguero’s path, whose shot ricocheted off of the defenders before looping over Ruddy and into the Canaries’ goal.
This was the start of the Manchurian slaughter of a poor Norwich side. Silva, showing that he doesn’t just create chances, ran onto a pull back from Aguero, to calmly slot the ball underneath Ruddy, adding to his impressive tally. That was his second goal at the Etihad this season, after scoring there against Newcastle. Silva will be hoping this is regular occurrence, and by the looks of it, there’s no reason why it wouldn’t be.
After a header was scored from a corner by Nastasic, Silva was again involved in magnificent team play for City’s fourth. Weaving through Norwich defenders before releasing it to Yaya Toure, who slotted it through for Aguero, who then squared it to Negredo to finish. In my opinion, one of the contenders for goal of the season so far, along with Wilshere’s goal for Arsenal against this same side in yellow.
Silva was at it again for City’s sixth, his cross from the left not being cleared, bounced into Aguero who volleyed home. He was then taken off in the 73rd minute, with a standing ovation from City fans. With most of his passes being in the attacking half, 44% of these were made in the final third, showing why the ovation was so well and truly deserved.
Manchester is Blue?
With City playing so well early on in the season, will they be able to keep this going and reclaim the title back from their rivals United? I think so. Silva has been out of this world this year, and I can’t even begin to imagine how happy the likes of Aguero, Dzeko, Negredo and Jovetic are to have a player of Silva’s calibre alongside them, serving up chances so frequently. And if he carries on like this then I’d advise City fans to start buying your painting equipment now because come the end of the season, it’s likely you’ll have the whole of Manchester to paint.
