Six minutes into Manchester City’s game against Brighton at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, visiting striker Danny Welbeck went down requiring treatment.
Pep Guardiola took the opportunity to hastily convene a committee of goalkeeper Ederson, centre-back Ruben Dias, midfielder Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland. Things hadn’t exactly been going well for the Premier League champions.
Playing with typical ambition under new head coach Roberto De Zerbi, Brighton had pinned their illustrious hosts back, pressing the City defence and midfield man-for-man to stall their usually smooth build-up.
“How do you make good distribution when you have a man follow you to the toilet?” was Guardiola’s novel way of describing his team’s predicament. “There is no space. Wherever you go, they come. The only player who can go to the toilet is Ederson.”
City did eventually find relief via their goalkeeper, who speared an incredible 70-yard pass down the field, onto which Haaland charged in the 22nd minute. He went past onrushing Brighton keeper Robert Sanchez in a flash, unceremoniously mashed Adam Webster to the turf and dispatched the ball into an unguarded net.
But Guardiola’s instructions weren’t simply “boom it long to Erling”. The groundwork had to be laid and that involved Silva, City’s most adaptable player and an elite jack of all trades, dropping back to help out over-worked holding midfielder Rodri.
“The change was getting me closer to Rodri, to attract them to try and play Erling in between the lines to give more space to him because, if I was close to Erling, I would cut the space to put the ball inside to him," said Silva.
“Getting me closer to Rodri, to the defenders would attract more players to us and then leave our players up front with more space to run. So yeah, it worked and we are very happy.”
This isn’t to say that Silva found himself simply bolstering the base of the midfield. The Portugal international turned in a typically jackhammering performance, frequently popping up on either flank to support the endeavours of Jack Grealish and Riyad Mahrez before bursting into the box to win the penalty from which Haaland made it 2-0.
Nevertheless, there is an element of “just get out of his way” when it comes to Haaland and simply letting him cause havoc. It’s certainly a significant step change for a team where the emphasis was on perpetual motion and evenly sharing the attacking load over the past two seasons.
“When the teams do man-to-man for us in the middle it's difficult so there is no point in us trying to stay close to the strikers, we are just taking their spaces so it’s better to try to attract them," Silva explained.
“I’ve played false nine in the past few years and it is different playing with Erling. With those characteristics he has, it is always going to change a little bit.
“But he is so dangerous running in behind, for crosses he has that smell of knowing where the ball will land, so we know what we have up front and try to exploit his qualities to get the best out of it for the team.”
Kevin De Bruyne’s sumptuous 25-yard strike rounded off a 3-1 win after Leandro Trossard reduced the arrears and City endured an uncomfortable second half.
“You have to play more direct, which we are not used to, which is why we struggled a little bit,” Guardiola said.
“We had to play more direct to Erling. They win the duels. [Alexis] Mac Allister is really good. Every time they win the ball, counter-attack, counter-attack. I give a lot of credit for the victory because they had a lot of balls.”
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But whatever solutions City have to find within the free-scoring thrills of the Haaland era — he’s on to 22 goals in 15 games for anyone struggling to keep count — Silva being the route to them is a constant. He remains Guardiola’s ever-reliable Swiss army knife.
“I’ve always felt that I was a player who understood the game very well, but playing in different positions makes you read better all those situations,” he added.
“I think I’ve changed quite a lot, thanks to my teammates and to Pep and the way that he puts me in different positions and he saw these different things that I have that can help the team.
“My job honestly is to make my teammates better because I know that with the players that we have up front… if the defenders and midfielders control the game, with the players that we’ve got up front, with Kevin, with Erling, with Jack, with Riyad, the chances of winning the game are very big.”
Silva working constantly to make Haaland better is a scary proposition for opponents. Sometimes, the easiest way to do that will simply be to get out of his way and watch the mayhem unfold.
