Bernardo shows City have more than one Silva
A WORLD CUP and the early closing of the transfer window have combined to give most Premier League managers fraught summer, and City have felt it more than most.
The Blues sent more stars to Russia than any other English team and shenanigans with Napoli over Jorginho have left a hole in their midfield department where a shiny, new plug was expected.
They may scream first-world problems but in the strange, high-pressure world of the top-end of football, where every club must be seen to be making progress at all time, these are not ideal conditions in which to try to emulate a 100-point league campaign.
Pep Guardiola, dismissed by critics as a manager that spends his way to success, has used coaching and manmanagement in the last few months to find a workaround.
The extra attention paid to Phil Foden this summer by Guardiola and Mikel Arteta was seen at Wembley where the 18-year-old looked at home among a team of superstars, ensuring the manager has another first-team member he can rely on for the start of the season.
But the biggest decision made by the coach was to bring Bernardo Silva back early. Other stars have cut short their holidays after the World Cup to try and give as much as possible in the opening weeks of the season, but Bernardo was the only player handpicked by the coaching team to fly out to New York for two out of three legs on their preseason tour.
Ilkay Gundogan went out earlier with Germany and David Silva, Nicolas Otamendi, and Sergio Aguero all went out at the same stage in Russia, but it was the Portuguese international who was told to report for duty early.
There was no guarantee it would have any significant effect, but the early signs are the decision has been as masterful as the 23-year-old’s performances have been.
A turn and perfectly-executed through ball against Liverpool served notice of what was to come, two goals followed against Bayern Munich and he was clearly the outstanding player in the Community Shield on Sunday.
Guardiola was happy to admit after the game Bernardo is the first name on his teamsheet.
“Everybody knows [about competition],” he said. “John (Stones) has to know he has to play at a good player because Vincent [Kompany] and Nico [Otamendi] are there, and they are going to play.
“In the higher teams in the top tier when they play in all competitions, you need this kind of competition.
“For example, today the performance of Bernardo Silva was a masterpiece.
“Everybody knows the wingers want to compete. Right now, it is Bernardo and 10 players more. Right now. But in 11 months it depends on what they show me on the pitch.
“Always I say the same to the players. ‘You want to talk to me? On the green’ There. They show me their talk there.
“And that moment Bernardo is far away from other guys so that’s why at the moment he plays.”