does he ever give the ball away ????.....

[aguero93:20]

He's the greatest Spanish wizard
That the world has ever seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen

...we'll drink a drink a drink...

Remember to flush the sink!

 

[1998 blue]

I read that Merlin has lost the ball 64 times this season for us! It has to be a lie, someone spreading it around to detract from his class. Love him, he's easily the best midfielder in the world and would WALK into any team.

One of the best footballers I have ever seen.

As fantastic as he is he does give the ball away.he gave it away on Sunday a few times in the first half.

Considering he has to play perfect through balls I think onlu 64 is pretty good. I would be dissapointed if yaya did that because he is not as creative and does more simple passes more often. If you do the maths its roughly 4 bad passes per game (very quick calculatuin in my head)

 

[kenzie115]

Spanish Dave....just watched him against Italy n he ran the game. I don't remember him giving the ball away once but then again thinking about it he never gives the ball away. better than iniesta tonight !!!

I don't know the stats but if I had to guess I'd suggest Silva gives the ball away more than most of our midfielders, certainly if you compare the playmakers, he gives the ball away more than Nasri, and probably more than Yaya.

The reason for this is that he's looking for the difficult, incisive pass all the time, he's the man tasked with finding the killer ball that splits the defence open and so he's going to give the ball away. Compare this to Garcia whose job is to give the simply give the ball to one of the more creative players, who usually drop deep next to him to collect it, and you can see why it's more likely that Silva will give the ball away.

EDIT:

Just checked the stats and they're as follows:

Passing Accuracy - League
Yaya Toure - 91%
Samir Nasri - 90%
Javi Garcia - 90%
David Silva - 89%
Fernandinho - 88%
Jesus Navas - 86%
James Milner - 84%

Passing Accuracy - Cup
Samir Nasri - 94%
Javi Garcia - 92%
Yaya Toure - 88%
James Milner - 88%
David Silva - 87%
Fernandinho - 87%
Jesus Navas - 84%

Obviously Navas is near the bottom of both lists because he puts in more crosses than the others which are much more likely to be intercepted. The Fernandinho figures surprise me, although he's not solely played the holding role for us and does like to attempt the odd chipped through ball over the top.

 

[Eds]

Does anyone think that when the PFA team of the year is announced Merlin will just sneak in ahead of Carrick and young Tom? Can't see it myself

 

[Wio Gumflapdinand]

The thing is you must remember though the quality of players Silva plays with at club and international level, so for me Cleverley is the better as he does it week in week out with far inferior team mates. Imagine what TC would be like in that Spanish team

 

[bluemooninho]

I read that Merlin has lost the ball 64 times this season for us! It has to be a lie, someone spreading it around to detract from his class. Love him, he's easily the best midfielder in the world and would WALK into any team.

One of the best footballers I have ever seen.

As fantastic as he is he does give the ball away.he gave it away on Sunday a few times in the first half.

Considering he has to play perfect through balls I think onlu 64 is pretty good. I would be dissapointed if yaya did that because he is not as creative and does more simple passes more often. If you do the maths its roughly 4 bad passes per game (very quick calculatuin in my head)

He has played for us 25 times this season so far, so he averages just 2.56 misplaced passes per game (or one misplaced pass per 35 minutes). Considering he has also created that same amount of chances this season speaks volumes.

Keep it up Dave.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

Rarely. He reminds me of a slightly less-able Kagawa.

That Jordan guy from the Dippers showed him how to run a midfield.

 

[M14Exile]

He's the greatest Spanish wizard
That the world has ever seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen

...we'll drink a drink a drink...

Wasn't that song retired with the King.

 

[wythenshaweblue£££]

He reminds me of messi in some ways the ball literally sticks to his foot and when surrounded by 2 or 3 players he still managed to get away with the ball.

 

[SteWadda]

He gives it away almost every time he takes a corner usually to the their first man.