Manchester City: Analyzing David Silva’s Recent Form

After his incredible start, things fell off significantly for David Silva in December and January.

Manchester City’s hot start came to an abrupt halt in the month of December.

After entering the month on top the league by two points, Manchester City would end it seven points behind Liverpool. It looked as if City’s slip ups may have cost them the title.

For as great as David Silva was through the end of November, he was equally as poor in December.

After a substitute appearance against Bournemouth, and a 73 minute game at Watford, Silva experienced his first horrible performance of the league season at Chelsea. Though City dominated the first half before conceding a cheap goal on the break, Silva was poor. He finished the game with a 6.0 match rating, tied for worst in the side with Aymeric Laporte and Riyad Mahrez.

David Silva followed up that game with yet another poor performance, this time as a substitute at Leicester. Silva posted a 5.91 form rating in his twenty minutes off the bench that day as City lost their third league game in four.

His drop in form was apparent, even in his starts. Silva went from averaging three key passes per game in his first 11 games, to averaging just 1.2 in five December appearances.

After posting a form rating of seven or better in his nine of his first 11 league appearances, Silva would only get above that mark once in five December games.

As Manchester City began to turn things around in January, , Silva remained below his best. David Silva posted just a 6.07 rating in City’s 3-1 win against Liverpool, his second worst form rating of the season.  He completed just 67.6% of his passes, and was subbed off after 65 minutes.

His form rating remained below a seven in the following two league games too. Only in their final match of the month, at Newcastle, did he put in a fantastic performance on par with the ones he was having earlier in the season.

David Silva appeared to be out of sorts.

Silva wasn’t as sharp. His first touches, particularly in the final third, were inconsistent. He was struggling to get involved in games the way he was just two months earlier.

After attempting at least 50 or more passes in every appearance he made through the end of November, Silva attempted less than that in five of nine in December and January. Though much of that was tied to playing time, it’s notable that Silva attempted just 29 passes in his start against Chelsea, and 34 in his start against Liverpool.

His defense work dropped off too.

Pep Guardiola took notice. Silva came off the bench as a sub in three of City’s nine league games in December and January after starting every game he appeared in before that.

We see that David Silva experienced a major drop in form in December and January. How’s he been playing since then?