Manchester City: Analyzing David Silva’s Recent Form

His performances have improved overall, but David Silva is still struggling in Manchester City’s biggest games.

Since the end of January, David Silva has returned to some semblance of his prior form.

In his last eight league appearances, Silva has finished with a form rating over seven in all but two of those games, one of which he came on as a sub.

David Silva was also solid, albeit not spectacular in Manchester City’s two ties against Schalke in the Round of the 16 of the UEFA Champions League.

In Manchester City’s first leg at Schalke, Silva posted a solid match rating of 7.17. In that game, he made three key passes and picked up an assist.

In their second leg tie, his form rating finished at a 6.96. Silva was good, even though he failed to register a goal, assist, or a key pass during City’s bulldozing performance.

Silva has racked up four assists since the start of February, three of which have come in the league. That league total in his last eight games matches his total in his previous 20 appearances in the league. His key passes is back up to 2.5 per game in the league during this stretch after dipping significantly in December and January as well.

It would seem, then, that David Silva has largely recovered his form.

A closer look, however, reveals that Silva has been much more volatile now than he was in the first four months of the season. In particular, Silva has been quite poor in what have arguably been Manchester City’s most important games down the stretch. In many ways, his form is beginning to backslide now in a similar manner to the way it did in December/January.

Silva’s recent games, particularly just before and after the final international break, have been quite poor.

In his two league appearances, Silva posted a form rating of 6.94 at Fulham, and 7.03 at Crystal Palace last weekend. Notably, Silva completed just 67.5% of his passes in the Palace game, the worst pass completion percentage he’s posted in the league this season.

Silva struggled in the FA Cup Quarterfinal and Semi-finals as well. Against Swansea, Silva struggled to gain control of the game and City quickly found themselves down 2-1. Only late goals from Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero were able to save Manchester City from bowing out in a shocking fashion.

The following tie against Brighton in the FA Cup Semi-final at Wembley, David Silva was poor again. City were forced to scrap their way to a 1-0 win in what was, arguably, their worst offensive performance since December. Silva was anonymous, failing to gain any kind of foothold in the game. As a result, City were lethargic in midfield, and were forced to play much more defensive in the final 20 minutes in order hold on to their lead.

Then there were the two UEFA Champions League ties against Spurs.

In those two games, Silva posted form ratings of 6.3 and 6.22. Those performances were his worst out of his nine UCL appearances this season, and were his third and fourth worst performances in any start he’s had this season. Only in the Liverpool and Chelsea ties in December/January was Silva worse than he was in those two games.

Silva attempted just 42 passes in the first leg in 89 minutes, and 26 in 63 minutes in the second. Those are the fewest attempted passes he’s had in any start outside of Liverpool and Chelsea too.

His pass completion percentage in those games was 78.6% and 73.1%. Only in the December game against Chelsea, and the Palace game last weekend, has Silva had a worse pass completion percentage in a game this year.

Just like his December and January struggles, David Silva looks out of sorts at the moment. He’s struggling to get involved in the game consistently, and his passing appears worse now than it was then.

What are the overall causes of his struggles?