Pep Guardiola has praised Bernardo Silva after Manchester City’s 3-1 Premier League win over Arsenal on Wednesday night. The victory at the Emirates saw the champions move top of the table, albeit Mikel Arteta’s side still have a game in hand.
Goals from Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland ensured City won in North London, but it was Silva who Guardiola picked out for praise after the match. The Portugal international began the match at left-back, regularly pushed into midfield and also ended up at right wing in the latter stages.
Guardiola said after the game it’s that flexibility and intelligence that makes Silva such a valuable player for City. “It was for an extra man, we use it many times in our career here; Fabian Delph played in that position, Alex Zinchenko played in that position,” Guardiola said, when asked about the decision to start with Silva in defence.
“I just say thank you for the commitment to try to do it. But normally this extra man, normally you cannot use it against man-to-man, but Bernardo has something special in his personality, character. He started at left-back and finished on the right wing, it shows how good he is as a player.
“Normally the players say which position they play. ‘I am a centre-back’. No, he plays football. He understands playing in any position because he is so smart. He did it really well.”
SILVA’S THE ULTIMATE JACK OF ALL TRADES
Silva, jack of all trades for Manchester City, had a bit of an uncertain start — before a ball had even been kicked.
The little Portuguese’s role was a combination of building up alongside Rodri in midfield then filling in at left back to double up on Bukayo Saka when out of possession.
Hard work and something which relies on real intelligence. Silva is so well equipped to perform those two tasks, though forgot where he was at kick-off. He trotted to left back, blissfully unaware Erling Haaland was about to get the game started. Wrong position, and Nathan Ake told him to move into the middle.
Oops. It feeds into Pep Guardiola’s desire to have as many midfielders on the field as possible and Silva’s no stranger to sacrificing himself for the team.
