Bernardo Silva is one of the best attacking players around, so I was surprised when I saw that Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola decided to deploy him in a defensive role against Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in North London in the Premier League.
Manchester City took on Arsenal on Sunday.
Arsenal won the Premier League match at the Emirates Stadium in North London 1-0.
Gabriel Martinelli scored the only goal of the game in the 86th minute.
It was a deflected effort.
In my opinion, a draw would have been a fair result.
I do not think that it was a particularly great game of football.
Neither side was great from an attacking perspective.
The two sets of defences were on top for most of the match.
Bernardo Silva did well for Manchester City vs Arsenal
I expected Bernardo Silva to start in an attacking position in midfield, but he played as the number 6 against Arsenal.
The £300,000-a-week (Spotrac) Portugal international generally plays as an attacking midfielder or as a winger.
The 29-year-old started in the centre of a three-man midfield in a 4-3-3 system.
Kalvin Phillips is more of a natural replacement for Rodri, but Guardiola keeps snubbing him.
So, to see Silva start ahead of Phillips in a defensive role was strange.
Silva has said that it was Pep Guardiola who told him to play in that unfamiliar position, adding that he was comfortable in that role.
Bernardo Silva on his own performance vs Arsenal
The midfielder told City’s official website: “I was in number six, the manager asked me to do it.
“It’s not my natural position but I was comfortable.
“I was trying to be between the centre backs, I’m used to it. It was not a big thing.
“Last season I was a bit more uncomfortable at left back.
“It is what it is.”
You know what? Bernando Silva was not bad in the number 6 role.
Rodri is one of the best defensive midfielders in the world.
It is not easy to replace the Spain international.
However, Silva did not do a bad job at all, especially when you consider that he is an attacking player.
The 29-year-old spent most of the match sitting in front of the City centre-backs.
Silva did push forward on some occasions.
During his time on the pitch at the Emirates Stadium, Silva had a pass accuracy of 95.5%, took 74 touches, and made three tackles.
