Silva hits his stride
- Sun 31 Oct 2010, 11:48AM
- Posted by Tim Oscroft
David Silva admits that it has taken him longer than he wanted to make an impact at Manchester City.
The gifted 24-year-old has become more influential over recent weeks, and his trickery led Richard Stearman to concede a penalty that Silva would have hoped would have put City on the way to victory at Molineux on Saturday.
It was not to be on this occasion, but other moments as the season has grown longer, such as his wonderful goal at Bloomfield Road, show that the World Cup winner is now up to speed with the demands of the Barclays Premier League.
Looking at the comparisons with La Liga, David says, "The Spanish league is quite strong, there are some quite physical sides there as well. On that side of things, it's not too different but where it does vary is the speed of the game.
"Coming off the back of the World Cup, because Spain got to the final I was involved until the very last stages there so I did not have the full pre-season by any means. It has taken me a little longer than I wanted to settle in, but I do feel physically stronger day-by-day and week-by-week . I think that things are starting to work for me, I want to do my bit for the team and continue to be successful so we can all achieve our goals together."
Roberto Mancini is a long-term admirer of Silva ever since he helped Valencia knock Inter Milan out of the Champions League in 2007. The City manager has brought his own approach to training with him from Italy, but Silva feels it has helped him gradually adapt to his new surroundings.
"To be fair, training here does not differ too much from what I have been used to before. We often have two games a week now so training's all about recuperation and getting ready for the next game. We tend to have more time preparing for the next game rather than having heavy duty training sessions once the season gets under way.
"The Manager knows my qualities very well, he's the guy that signed me. He knows the strengths of my game, which is getting close to goal, creating chances for my team mates and having a crack at goal myself."
