Paul Merson has now praised Bernardo Silva for his performance as Manchester City won at Old Trafford – but gave credit to Rodri for helping his teammate.
The 55-year-old made the comment when writing for Sports Keeda.
So, what did Paul Merson write about Bernardo Silva and Rodri? Let’s take a look…
What’s the story?
Well, the Sky Sports pundit felt that the Portugal international was “absolutely magnificent” as Manchester City recorded a 3-0 win over Manchester United on Sunday.
However, Merson believes that Silva’s fine display was mainly down to the “insurance” provided by Rodri behind him.
The Arsenal legend wrote: “Rodri returned against Manchester United after serving his suspension and Manchester City looked like a completely different team.
“Suddenly, Bernardo Silva was absolutely magnificent as he had an insurance policy behind him to allow him to do whatever he wanted on the ball.”
Now, we are sure that Merson did not intend that to be a dig at Silva – who everyone knows is quite clearly capable of delivering magic without needing anyone holding his hand.
However, there is no doubt that Rodri helped to make the Manchester City No.20 even more effective, which is quite a scary prospect for the opposition.
Paul Merson appears to be correct with Bernardo Silva & Manchester City statement
Anybody who watched Silva play without Rodri in recent weeks, then with the Spaniard at Old Trafford, could tell that there was a positive difference in the 29-year-old’s performances.
That numbers also do not lie.
As WhoScored shows, Silva recorded a match rating of just 6.36 in the 1-0 defeat to Arsenal without Rodri.
The £43.6m maestro then managed to register a substantial improvement on that 6.36 match rating with an outstanding score of 8.31 at Old Trafford, as the Manchester City No.16 mopped up behind him.
Silva is a phenomenal footballer in his own right, so it should frighten opponents to see that Rodri clearly makes him even better.
