Yannik
Senior Member
I tried to get some actual data on this and stumbled upon his Action zone. It still looks like most of his action zone is glued to the wing with only the occasional coming from vertically behind the attacking rows.
for now these look just like random dots, so I was trying to get some perspective. DonAK compared him to "among the closest things to Iniesta", so I went out to the last game Iniesta played 90 mins, which was vs Villareal
Looks a lot more centered. As expected, holding mid after all.
I also tried to submit passing maps but for some reason Barcaforum tells me my images are too big or so, so we gotta work with this. Basically Iniesta would distribute the ball in midfield towards the wings and the strikers. However, Silva already is on the wings, his passing ways go back into the center to create chances or cross to the strikers.
I see fairly different roles here, Silva is a great playmaker and pacy dribbler, but Iniesta basically made play on the whole pitch. He'd collect balls deep, even from CBs and distributed them. Something Bernardo isn't really doing, except when there's a counter. And this is where I see Barcas problems, not in the attack or in playmaking, but in the transition from defense to midfield. That's why your CBs look so troubled in possession, because noone from the midfield really helps out here. Iniesta was also decent at pressing and winning the ball, Bernardo however is more comfortable in possession than without it. As you said it: He's a number 10 on the wings.
From what I see it Bernardo would be a great asset to your offense, but is that really the priority here? Your forwards are gunning down almost everything ffs. Verratti seemed like ann ill fit for how well he did everywhere on the pitch, but Bernardo Silva is a very different player and I don't see him in the Holding mid role that Barca demands from him. I expect this to work out similar to James at Madrid, who play a similar system. James was also a nice asset to the attack, but in the end you'd want actual specialists for your CMs.
I feel like we've reacheda point where people consider everything that can pass & dribble as the greatest CM evarrr. It's not that easy.
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