For Bernardo Silva, his notable success
with Manchester City confirms the
abundant natural talents which were
mysteriously overlooked when as a child
he joined the Benfica academy, his
grandfather actually paying a fee for
the supposed privilege.
A dozen years later the then-manager
thought him too small and relegated him
to a left-back position in the B team. He
entered himself at university but was
saved for football when a perceptive
Monaco came in for him and transported
him to the French league.
There, as a right-sided attacker, he
flourished and became one of the salient
players in an outstanding team. And he
still looks back on the time when Monaco
held off substantial challenges to win the
French title, fondly recalling: “In France
nobody expected we could do it.”
His present contract lasts until 2025
and he seems very content at City.
One man, as we all know, doesn’t
make a team, but losing their
commanding centre-back Aymeric
Laporte to injury has clearly unsettled
Saka and
Greenwood offer
hope for the future
For Arsenal, who for too many seasons
have failed to produce first-teamers
from their junior ranks, it now looks
as if the tide has emphatically turned.
When Mesut Ozil was left out of the
side that played at Eintracht Frankfurt
in the Europa League, Joe Willock and
Bukayo Saka displayed exceptional
promise, though the team as a whole was
greatly flattered by a 3-0 win in Germany.
At a mere 18 years old, Saka is already
displaying a poise, skill and confidence
which make him a formidable attacker.
This is a winger who shows the classical
gifts which can distinguish the role.
However flattering the ultimate margin
of victory in Frankfurt may have been for
the Gunners, they plainly have an attack
of real consequence.
For all his experience, vast salary and
undoubted skills, Ozil was simply not
missed. In this game, an irrepressible
Saka not only scored his first goal for
the club, but set up the other two in
the admittedly flattering victory.
But however impressive their attack,
led by the experienced Pierre-Emerick
Aubameyang, it is plain that Arsenal
will not always be able to rely upon
the accomplished goalkeeping of their
second-choice keeper Emiliano Martinez,
who was making his first appearance of
the season. Arsenal could plainly do
worse than to make him first choice.
Meanwhile, Manchester United were
rewarded for deploying 17-year-old strikerMason Greenwood in their home match
against Astana in the Europa League.
In pre-season matches, Greenwood
had already scored against Internazionale
and Leeds United. Now he gave a far
from fluent United a narrow success
against modest opposition. His manager,Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, had already
eulogised the youngster as one of the
best finishers he had ever seen – and
goodness knows he has seen quite a
few and was no mean finisher himself.
Almost casually, Greenwood glided
past one defender and then coolly shot
through the legs of the visiting keeper
against Astana.
“Get him inside the box,” said his
enthusiastic manager, “and you know
something is going to happen.”
Filling the boots of Romelu Lukaku,
sold in the summer, may have seemed
a substantial demand, but the omens
are distinctly positive.a previously triumphant City team.
John Stones, who stepped into the
breach but hardly filled it, carelessly gave
away a goal and belied his expensive
reputation against Norwich City, a team
supposedly weakened by injuries who
inflicted City’s first Premier League defeat
since January.The Tottenham
Hotspur mystery
Hard to make sense of Tottenham,
lurching from what you might call
the sublime to the ridiculous.
Thrashing Crystal Palace 4-0 on the
Saturday at home, the virtue seemed
mysteriously to go out of them when four
days later they were held to a 2-2 draw
in Athens against an Olympiakos team
who were able to recover from 2-0 down.
How to explain the abrupt fall in form
of Christian Eriksen, the chief motivator
of the team? He was the worst player
for a team he has so often inspired, and
none of the Spurs side remotely matched
the coruscating form of the home team’s
Daniel Podence on the wing, going round
Ben Davies time and again at will.Bernardo Silva shines for City but Laporte is big loss
ORead Brian Glanville’s
weekly online column
at worldsoccer.com
Injured...
Aymeric
LaporteFormidable...
Bukayo Saka“Get him inside the box and you
know something is going to happen”
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on Mason Greenwood