Silva recommits to the cause for a dominant City

Manchester City's Bernardo Silva in action with Chelsea's Mateo Kovacic at Stamford Bridge. Credit: Reuters

Sam Dean

September 27 2021 02:30 AM

In the most significant victory of Manchester City’s season so far, their most important individual was a player who neither wanted nor expected to remain at the club beyond the summer.

In few worlds do fortunes change as quickly as they do in football, and in Bernardo Silva’s resurgence there is the ultimate proof of how dramatically an individual situation can transform.

It spoke volumes about Bernardo’s footballing intelligence that he was the best player on the pitch at Stamford Bridge, despite not even playing in his usual position. Pep Guardiola’s latest tactical tweak was to push Bernardo deeper in the midfield, alongside the more defensively-minded Rodri.

The change in Bernardo’s position allowed City to dominate the game, pulling Chelsea’s midfield out of position and providing Guardiola’s side with more passing options on the ball. City had played without a defensive midfielder in their Champions League final defeat by Chelsea last season but here, against the same opponents, they had two.

For a player who has spent his entire City career in a more advanced role, or even as a winger in the front three, it was striking to see how far back Bernardo was playing on Saturday. His average position was level with right-back Kyle Walker and behind left-back Joao Cancelo.

No City player competed in more duels than Bernardo, and no player made more tackles or clearances. Only Rodri regained possession more times for City, winning the ball 10 times compared to Bernardo’s nine. Between them, Rodri and Bernardo provided the platform that allowed Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish to float around the final third.

All this is despite Bernardo seemingly having none of the qualities one would usually expect of a defensive midfielder. He is not strong, nor is he particularly quick. He cannot win a header and, based on the size of his slender frame, he was surely the lightest player on the pitch.

There is no power as effective as brainpower, though, and it was Bernardo’s appreciation of the game – that ability to read the flow, to control the tempo - that made him so effective against a formidable midfield three of Mateo Kovacic, Jorginho and N’Golo Kante.

“What a performance,” said Guardiola. “He is so intuitive. It is not his role as a holding midfielder but he knows how to play it and how to anticipate what is going to happen, with the ball or without the ball.”

Bernardo’s high value was a large reason for his inability to find a move this summer, when he was keen to join a Spanish club.

The Portugal international is contracted at City until 2025 and, at the age of 27, is at the peak of his powers. His price tag was simply too high for interested teams in a challenging market.

Rather than moping, he has thrust himself back into the centre of Guardiola’s plans, starting City’s past five Premier League matches and scoring the winner at Leicester this month.

“All I want is for Bernardo to be happy, here or anywhere,” said Guardiola.

“He is a guy that deserves the best. How well he played against Chelsea is no surprise. How many times have we seen it? He was an incredible signing for us because he is an exceptional person.

“I never forget the second Premier League we won, with 98 points. He was the best player in England. After that season he dropped a little bit, he was not in the position. But now he is back. If, at the end, he wants to leave and decides [to go] the only thing I can say is that the club that gets Bernardo is going to take one of the best players in the world.”

Guardiola will need all of Bernardo’s awareness and energy this week, which started with a gruelling fixture and is only going to get worse. This week they travel to face Paris St-Germain, before a meeting next weekend with Liverpool at Anfield. Chelsea away, PSG away, Liverpool away: does it get any tougher?

At least City’s players will be buoyant following their victory, which was secured by Gabriel Jesus. The same cannot be said for Chelsea, who were far below the level that Thomas Tuchel expected. On Wednesday, they face Juventus in the Champions League.

“Of course we were not happy with how we played against City and the decisions we took,” said Tuchel. “We always look at performance more than results, because results are the consequence of our performances. In the toughest games you need to be at the very highest level in all parts of the game, and clearly we were not.”