David Silva

ESPN pundit Alejandro Moreno believes Manchester City were playing with the hangover from last season’s Champions League quarter final against Liverpool and this contributed to the disappointing result at Tottenham Hotspur. The Citizens had gone into the first leg of the Champions League tie with the aim of securing an advantage, but they could not do so with Spurs eventually sealing a 1-0 triumph at their new stadium.

Speaking after the game, Moreno said that the Citizens were probably fearful after the disappointing defeats to Liverpool at a similar stage last season, and Guardiola may have approached the game with the aim of avoiding a sizeable defeat on the road, he said: “It felt like Manchester City were playing with the hangover of last year’s Champions League result against Liverpool in the back of their heads. They had that in the back of their mind and the way Guardiola approached the match was just to say ‘okay, we’ll take a draw here, or even a 1-0 loss, we just don’t want too much work in the second leg’. In doing so, you start to play more to not lose rather than to win.”

Manchester City attacker Bernardo Silva believes the team can have a special season where they can pursue a historic quadruple. The Citizens have not celebrated more than a League and Cup double in their history but they are currently on course with their aim of winning trophies across all four fronts.

Speaking after City’s FA Cup quarter-final against Swansea, Silva said that the Citizens can end the season in a special way with the chance of bagging three more trophies in addition to the League Cup which they won at the end of last month, he quipped: “I think all the players feel that this season can be special.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has revealed that he wanted more energy and physicality in the midfield against Chelsea and this contributed towards the decision to drop David Silva to the bench. The former Spain international had started in the previous two league games against Arsenal and Everton respectively but he had to adjust to a bench role against the West London giants.

Speaking in the post-match press conference, Guardiola explained: “Sometimes lately I don’t play Kevin or Sergio (Aguero), it’s what I believe is the right decision. I see the opponents, it’s difficult to choose. Dropping Gundo is difficult because of the rhythm he and Kevin have in that situation. Today I thought it was demanding, physically. It was a good decision. He (Silva) played the last two games and was key. Especially in the second half at Goodison. We have a lot of games and we’ll try to have everyone involved.”

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has said that David Silva will decide whether he wants to remain with the Premier League champions beyond the summer of 2020. The 33-year-old has been with the Citizens for the past eight-and-a-half years and during his period, he has transformed into one of the club’s greatest players.

Speaking in a press conference, Guardiola was asked whether Silva would be offered a new contract with his existing deal expiring in 17 months’ time. In response, the Catalan tactician revealed that any decision over the same may have to be made by the player himself as he approaches the twilight of his professional career.

Wolverhampton Wanderers boss Nuno has hailed Pep Guardiola as one of the best-ever managers after reinventing the modern game with his style of play. The Catalan tactician won his seven league title as a head coach with Manchester City during the previous campaign and Nuno feels the 47-year-old has entered a separate bracket of elite managers in history.

He said:“Yes, no doubt, but how far back do you go? RinusMichels? (Arrigo) Sacchi? There are a lot. When someone brings something new to the game – because everybody knows the game – I think we as managers must develop our ideas to help and develop the game. Pep is in that small circle of persons. He’s changed his game. By doing that, he was able to change some mentalities of others, whether it beTiki-taka or whatever.”

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has stressed that his team are still in the Premier League title race and they will fight to the end to retain their English crown. The Citizens came into the weekend’s game with a one-point deficit over leaders Liverpool and that gap extended to four after a shock defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace.

Speaking after the game, Guardiola highlighted that the Citizens were the better side to begin the proceedings but they were pegged back by a moment of brilliance from Andros Townsend before conceding a reckless penalty which ultimately proved the downfall in a 3-2 defeat. He said: “We started quite well and created chances. We scored a fantastic goal and after they passed the halfway line they scored. The third goal...we cannot concede the penalty we conceded. We have to try and avoid it. Football is like this. Three shots on goal and three goals.It's complicated but we fight until the last second. We are in December and we will try and recover and try and win games again.”

Manchester City suffered their first defeat of the Premier League season when they lost 2-0 to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

Pep Guardiola is unconcerned by Manchester City relinquishing top spot in the Premier League after his side slumped to their first league defeat of the season at Chelsea.

Manchester City midfielder David Silva believes the club already have a ready-made replacement for him in the form of Bernardo Silva. The Portuguese footballer has excelled in a central midfield role during the course of the ongoing campaign and Silva feels his teammate has the qualities to take over from him, once he ends his association with the Citizens.

Silva told the club’s official website: “Bernardo is a brilliant player with lots of quality and works very hard. He's got a huge amount of quality. Football moves on, players come, and players go. But there's always someone to come in and fill your shoes and we're lucky that we've got lots of players to do that.”

Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp has hailed the performance of David Silva after he opened the scoring during the Manchester derby. The former Spain international opened the scoring for Manchester City after just 12 minutes into the game and he was thereafter a regular presence in the opposition half as the Citizens romped to a rather comfortable 3-1 win.

Speaking after the game, Redknapp was appreciative of the efforts of Silva, who was constantly a menace in the United half with his distribution. He added that the Spaniard is getting better by the age and he can now be compared with Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta in terms of what he brings onto the playing field.

Graeme Souness and Jamie Carragher claim that Liverpool are lacking in a playmaker and that the club should sign a player like David Silva sooner rather than later. Liverpool were involved in a goalless draw with Manchester City during the weekend. This was seen as a great opportunity for the Reds to take a lead in the Premier League table. However, Liverpool were unable to take most of the essential since the team was disappointing in the final third of the pitch. The draw gives an advantage for City considering that they were playing away from home.

This was the fourth consecutive game for Liverpool without a win after the start of the campaign with a string of wins. The club will now how to hope for a return to winning ways when they take on Huddersfield Town after the international break and it would have been almost a month without a win for the Reds. Even though Liverpool have a strong attacking line-up with the likes of Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah, and Roberto Firmino leading the line-up, Carragher and Souness feel that the lack of a playmaker is making such attacking players quite ineffective going forward. The onus of creating chances and scoring the effort lies within the front three and this is too much of a responsibility, according to the duo.