Silva is so grateful for massive support
POCH PUTS TOGETHER WISH LIST FOR BOEHLY
BERNARDO Silva admits the love of his Manchester City team-mates helped him cope with the misery of his Champions League penalty shocker.
Silva was left devastated after chipping his spot-kick straight into the hands of Real Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin in last week’s shootout defeat.
The Portuguese was roundly criticised and mocked on social media.
But he bounced back to score the winner in Saturday’s FA Cup semifinal win over Chelsea — and thanked his colleagues for helping him through the dark times.
Silva said: “Well, it’s like a family, like brothers the way we support each other when someone misses.
Manager
“It’s unbelievable and the guys were unbelievable with me this week. And yeah, we stick together and we go for it. The manager and the players, they were unbelievable. Now we have the FA Cup and the Premier League to go for, we’re gonna do our best to win those titles.”
Silva admits he shot down the middle because he was convinced Lunin would dive to one side early.
He added: “I had two options. I had in my mind one of the sides, I’m not going to tell you which, and the middle. I was waiting. I wanted to be the second or the third penalty to see the reaction from the keeper in the first or the first two penalties.
“And he moved early, that’s why I thought middle was good because in moments of pressure, the keepers, 99 per cent of the time they move. But he chose not to move and fair play to him, well done. And yeah, it is what it is.” and had five days waiting for us and thinking about our game.
“There was no excuse to not have the game on Sunday. It’s not acceptable. For all of us, as a team, that’s how we feel.”
Guardiola said he couldn’t “understand how we survived”. A mild exaggeration, perhaps, but as his players travelled home on Saturday night he told them to spend two days with their families to rest.
City face another trip south to play Brighton on Thursday night and Guardiola added: “I just want to protect my players. It’s common sense. I’m not asking for something special
BACK TO WINNING WAYS: Bernardo Silva and City boss Pep Guardiola and Bernardo Silva celebrate victory over Chelsea at Wembley or have a privilege.”
But will it ever change? And what will it take for those in charge to decide enough is enough?
Health
“I don’t know,” added Silva. “It looks like they don’t care because we’ve said it many times. It’s not about wanting to be favourites. It’s about health.
“This is not fair for Manchester City. This is not fair for us. When I say Man City, maybe other clubs have gone through it, I’m just talking about personal experience.
“But I think they have to pay more attention to these little details.”
MAURICIO POCHETTINO will outline his demands for next season in a summit with Chelsea’s hierarchy after gathering “all the information” about his squad.
And the head coach again pointed to his young side’s “inconsistency” after they squandered a glut of chances against tired Manchester City.
Spurned
Striker Nicolas Jackson spurned three big opportunities, while €125m Enzo Fernandez failed to make a mark in midfield.
But the rest of his team performed well against the Cup holders.
Pochettino said: “In too many games we are very competitive but the problem is the consistency.
“It is about maturity, to know the quality of the group of the players we need to improve for the next season.
“The good thing is after almost one season we have all the information and we will be talking with the club to voice our opinions and how, together, we can build a stronger team for the next season.”
Pochettino, who expects to make changes for tomorrow night’s Premier League game against Arsenal, believes the “potential quality” is already in the squad but says fans must wait and see how some of the starlets develop.
“We need to see in the way that they evolve and the level that we can get to,” he said.
“At the moment we show we are capable of competing in the games like this but we need to be more consistent in the whole season.
“That is the most important thing if we want to challenge for different things.”