Friday, May 18th, 2012
Just less than a month ago Spain lined up to play for them a dead rubber European Championship qualifier against Scotland. Even amongst the Scottish media and fanbase – despite the game being very much a live match in Scotland’s quest to seal a play-off place – the pre-match talk was of how many the World Champions would win by and which of his array of talented stars Vicente Del Bosque would field.
Four days previously Del Bosque had used David Silva and Juan Mata either side of Fernando Torres in another comprehensive victory over the Czech Republic in Prague. Of the trio of Premier League based stars it was Silva who again stood out; his movement, elegance and vision a joy to behold.
However, with one eye already looking forward to next summer’s championships, it was expected that Del Bosque would give an opportunity to some of his other forward players. With Torres badly out of sorts and David Villa restored on the left of the front three with Pedro Rodriguez given a rare start for the national side on the right. However, Del Bosque resisted the temptation to give Fernando Llorente a start – possibly due to the opposition, thinking a target man centre forward would play into Scotland’s hands – and played Silva in the middle of the front three.
To say the change worked is an understatement. Silva – even by his stunning early season form – was majestical as he scored the first two and set up the third for Villa. His performance was also reminiscent of another small, left-footed, creator come goalscorer who plays in a similar role flanked by Pedro and Villa. The Manchester City playmaker isn’t Lionel Messi, but in style he is the closest thing there is in world football.
The question is now whether Del Bosque will continue with the experiment of moving la selección even closer to the Barcelona model when Spain travel to Wembley this weekend. My hope is that he will, because doing so not only plays to Silva’s strengths but solves two conundrums within the Spanish squad.
The first is that with Torres off form, Álvaro Negredo injured, Llorente seen generally as the Plan B, Villa now permanently being used cutting in from the left for both club and country and Del Bosque appearing not to fancy Roberto Soldado, there is no outstanding candidate for the central striking role.
Secondly, one of Del Bosque’s wisest moves as Spain manager has been not to fall into the trap that many managers do of trying to squeeze his best 11 players on the field, no matter what that does to the system. If he had done so at the World Cup and introduced Mata, Silva and Cesc Fabregas on a more regular basis, the side may have lacked the balance which saw them to glory. However, by using Silva as a ‘false nine’ that is an easy to way to get more of the squad’s wealth of talented midfielders into the side.
Del Bosque has already shown maturity to not sideline Silva after comments he made earlier in the season that if he played for Real Madrid or Barcelona he would get more playing time in the Spain team. There may even have been some truth in that. But now he has a platform arguably greater than even if he was playing for one of Spain’s big two. If he had gone to Barca he would be in the shadow of Messi, Iniesta, Xavi et al. To Madrid behind Ronaldo but also competing and rotating with the likes of Mesut Özil, Kaká and Ángel Di María. Now at City he is the main man. Crucially the absence, and soon to be departure, of Carlos Tevez has freed the space for Silva to play in his best position and show what a talented player he is.
Moreover, it is unquestionable that moving to England has helped the Canarian develop other sides to his game. After the Euro 2008 triumph there was an interesting revelation from within the squad that the English experience of players like Torres, Fábregas, Xabi Alonso and Pepe Reina had brought an extra mental toughness to the team. In Silva’s case that can be allied to the physical strength that he has developed to, again in the image of Messi, insure he doesn’t hit the ground at the slightest contact.
After success at the World Cup, many somewhat patronisingly termed Spain, Barcelona without Messi. They still won’t have him in Poland and Ukraine, but they might have the next best thing.
Tags: David Silva, Spain
Interesting piece, Silva excelled in the false nine role against Scotland and I think it’s a position which could get the best out of him. Messi is incomparable and it is a high compliment to point out Silva’s similarities to him, and I agree with those. Incorporating such a player into the side could be very useful for Spain.
It is certainly fascinating, tactically speaking, that teams such as Barcelona and Spain can be so attacking with out a nominated traditional centre forward.
one of the finest piece written about silva’s role in spain…and though he lack many things to be compared as messi level..he sure is the man to watch out for
I think Silva has shown that he should be a regular in the Spanish starting 11. I am happy as a Valencia supporter that it actually could be 3 former valencia player upfront with Silva-Mata-Villa. I am very happy that they are all performing well but obviously I would like to still have them at Mestalla – linking up with the genious of Banega…
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