I don't think or want Silva to be sacked, I'm bloody hoping he can sort out the mess and start building properly.
But as it stands, the criticism is warranted and a lot of posts defending him for his performances must be oblivious to what is going on.
He is without a doubt struggling at the moment.
You can say the players are crap, but that is not an excuse for him.
And I'd seriously question whether they are as bad as a lot of people are making out.
Put this side together better, playing the right tactics, providing the right sort of leadership, he should be able to get them playing in a much better way.
Defence is where you start to build.
He appears to have made ground with his zonal marking but little else.
You cant just wait for Mina to come, you want to actually have Mina dropping into something already organised.
So what are the strengths.
Well four pretty good wing backs with a good mix of experience and youth. So you use that.
It means your going to be vulnerable in areas so address that before anything else.
Silva should have known from previous seasons that the current defensive/centre midfield - which addresses the vulnerability of the wing backs - is not good enough to play 4-2-3-1. It leaves too many gaps because they can be pulled out of position. The only way he could persist with it is if he had two wingers run their bollocks off to keep them more central (Kuyt, Milner for eg), or have the 10 drop often (Cahill), but most importantly, have two CM who are good with the ball to keep possession. You would have to be confident to have at least 65% possession and very good organisation without the ball. Its a very difficult system to play and it is certainly not something you should try and build with, at the very least without world class, experience players in the CM positions (Toure, De Jong). You need a solid core of good players who understand each other and have played together for a while. Even if you play a flat back four you need this type of quality to build from. But Silva know he doesn't have these types of players.
People who are saying, well we got beaten by a howler from Lacazette, have a look at the initial cross that came in, it was 4v4. Not a midfielder in sight, no pressure on two central attackers in loads of space. This is the reason for the goal. And its the reason for only having 6 points.
Silva continues to persist with Sig at 10 in this system. Its one of the major reasons why the are massive distances between the lines, which when we lose the ball makes the team extremely vulnerable. He is much better in space. Yet the 10 in this system, (not so much in 4-4-1 or 4-5-1 or counter 4-4-2) needs to be able to hold on to the ball to allow time and movement not just for the overloads in attack but to allow for the team to close the distance between the lines behind him, so they are not as vulnerable into transition without the ball.
This problem puts massive pressure on the CMs and they inevitably won't be able to sort this all the time. A lot of the times the wing backs have been exposed starts with the CM not being able to respond to transition from Sig losing the ball or playing a poor pass under pressure.
Silva needs to use a system that sees Sig thrive or drop him, he refuses to do either, seemingly content to have an impotent central attacking option.
It looks to me as if Silva cannot see how to play to the squads strengths and is looking at the squad through the lens of a glass half empty, sticking to something (not sure what that is) and relying on the players in hope that it will come together; rather than making decisons that need to be made.
Kenny has really impressed. A young Seamus if you like, performing under more difficult circumstances. With Digne they provide drive from deep and width in the overload. Given Digne is better on the ball and Kenny is better in defence it makes sense the overall setup sees the left higher and right deeper.
To balance that Gana seems the natural player to cover Digne. He was outstanding against Arsenal in this regard. If Digne and Rico can get the best out of him on the ball, it may come to be one of the best right field combinations in the league. If not, it'll do for this season.
Bernard's cameo showed just what we've been lacking. On the left, he hunted down everything, received or won ball in tight spaces and was better on it than any other midfielder this season. It was unfortunate the lack of options he had were not equal to his play. It makes a lot of sense to mirror Kenny and Bernard on on the right with Gana and Digne on the left. It would rule out Bernard in the 10 and LW positions but the side would gain from better cover and better quality build up play. Once Gomes becomes available Bernard would hopefully have developed a pattern, consistency and quality of play that he can drop into.
Davies for all the intent and effort does not offer the levels of quality Gana and Bernard offer. He is a bench player who has the potential to improve. Silva just needs to make this decision and be at peace with it (and stop messing around with the captaincy)
The two CBs are fairly straightforward - Keane and Mina with Zouma as back up. Holgate is a reasonable option on the right if Silva decides to go with three CBs, and not the worst as 4th back-up, if not.
The real challenge for Silva is can he get his head around playing a 3rd midfielder, thereby sacrificing a front three or playing a false 9 instead of a 10.
There is no way round this with the strengths and weaknesses of the squad. It either that or the dreaded 5/3/2.
There is only one player, Schneiderlin that can play it (or Gana with Davies to the left). And I'd argue in that role where he is not doing the work of Gana or Bernard, he would be more confident. With the two of them working their bollocks off he can play to his strengths which is to distribute. He will have more confidence in playing to Bernard and Digne (using Gana to cover) than Davies and Gana, so less of the crabbing and back passes. He's got a better long ball than the other midfielders and in the six position will have the space to use it effectively. He gives the team an out when Bernard or Gana need to play back.
All Silva has to do is coach him into developing a good combination with Mina and Keane.
If he can get the best out of Sneiderlin in that position he have made it difficult for sides to beat us. Go to the transfer window and see what happens from there.
He should be able to do something decent with 3 out Rico, Walcott, Lookman, Tosun DCL and Dowell based on what's around them. And probably needs to convince the powers to get Vlasic back if nothing else.
If you have a look at all these chances we are meant to be creating, how many of them are coming from the deck with the exception of Ricarlison. There mostly crosses and yes, more should of been put away, but its classic low to mid table stuff.
Ultimately he should stop standing on the sidelines looking at the players as if they are letting him down and do something about it. Even with what he's got, he should be doing better. Only 6 games in is not an excuse and there no use pointing to the first half as a good performance when your set up to fail.
