After making a big money move to Manchester City from Valencia two seasons ago, many had only heard of David Silva as being David Villa’s partner in crime as the two used to tear through La Liga defenses for fun.
These days the little Spaniard is in a sky blue shirt for City and after taking a full season to settle in, he started his second campaign with a bang. He had now adapted his natural game to the physical demands of the Premier League and his ability to sneak into the gap between the midfield and defense was seemingly impossible to eradicate as Roberto Mancini’s men made an emphatic start to the season.
Silva’s influence would play a massive part in impressive away wins over both Tottenham and neighbors Manchester United; the playmaker also scored the winning goal against Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium. Despite the mouth watering form of Robin Van Persie, there was only one name on everyone’s lips at the halfway stage of the season and that was David Silva.
Robin Van Persie managed to maintain his form throughout the heavy schedule for Arsenal and many people were even criticising the North London outfit for being to reliant on their skipper. City began to stumble in their quest for the title and their cup form also suffered as they were knocked out of the Champions League at the group stages and even worse, were knocked out of the FA Cup by their bitter rivals Manchester United at home. This poor form ran in parallel of the dip in performance by their little playmaker.
Surprisingly this sudden demise of such a great influence to our League slipped under the radar, maybe because of the circus acts that surrounded the club in the forms of Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli. These two were causing chaos on and off the field and City were finding themselves at the front and rear of every newspaper in the country. Whilst all this commotion was escalating, poor old David Silva was struggling to maintain the form that had seen him become the favorite for player of the season. Other sides were now dropping their holding midfielder just a little deeper to occupy the gap where Silva was causing such problems, Lucas Leiva was a fine example of this and when the two sides met at Anfield for a place in the Carling Cup final the Liverpool midfielder followed Silva’s every move and the Spaniard failed to make his mark in the tie and inevitably it was the Merseyside team that booked their place at Wembley.
As City struggled, there was a team down the road that was capitalizing on every error. Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United side had hung in there as City demolished every team that crossed them and finally the Red Devils had their opportunity to topple their neighbors. United maintained their magnificent form and crucial wins against Arsenal and Tottenham away ensured that they were now favorites to make it title number 20. They showed something that all the money in the world couldn’t buy, team spirit. The togetherness in the United squad was shining through and the exact opposite was happening at City as players on the same side were clashing as the pressure was mounting.
After another defeat at Arsenal it all appeared to be done and dusted in the title race as the red half of Manchester went 8 points clear with just 6 games remaining. Fingers were being pointed and Mancini was even threatening to sell players but then in an extraordinary week of football it all opened up again and guess who found his form?
The very next match after the points gap was opened, United went to Wigan in what looked a tough fixture as the Lactics were fighting for survival, meanwhile City took on West Brom at home. Sir Alex’s side were shocking and lost 1-0 and the City side took advantage and clawed back some points, giving themselves just a glimmer of hope. Man City won 4-0 on the night and David Silva was back on the score sheet and looking as crafty as ever but was it too little too late?
Another victory came against Norwich at Carrow Road in emphatic style, City piled 6 past the Canaries and again it was Silva who was central to everything good in the Man City performance.
The gap now sits at 5 points with 5 games to go and it looks as if United will be bringing home another title. City will look to the disruption of which the likes of Tevez and Balotelli have caused during the campaign and rightly so but the form of David Silva has played a bigger part than many will think. When he has been at his best, City have been brilliant. When he has gone missing, City have been poor, it all adds up. Whatever the outcome, we should all acknowledge what David Silva has added to the Premier League and respect him for how he has made teams re think their whole strategy when approaching games. City will come back stronger next season as they have guaranteed funds in place to improve the squad, Silva will have more hit men to supply ammunition for and for this reason alone the rest of the Premier League should still be wary of a wonderful talent.
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