Iniesta vs Silva

Lord SInister

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I have this debate with a friend of mine, who is claiming that David Silva could have easily played in Iniesta's role in Spain.

He is apparently a Man City fan, the guy probably can't name a single Man City player pre oil money era, but that is not what we are to discuss.

David Silva is no doubt a fantastic player and one of the greatest Spaniards to grace Premier League and one of the best midfielder of PL era. But does he really rank alongside Iniesta?
 
Iniesta was much better. I'd argue Silva was one of the weaker links of that 2010-2012 Spain teams (got displaced by Pedro in 2010) while Iniesta was probably their best player in both of those tournaments (I'd give 2010 to David Villa though).
 
Iniesta by a mile. Silvas lack of performances at the highest level hurts him. We are barely through the season after his retirement and hes already getting forgotten
 
David Silva is a PL legend and one of my all time favourite players to watch, but his CL record goes against him here.

City have largely struggled in Europe. He gave his prime years to City, as did Agüero. Both's legacy (overall) will suffer from that. Although their PL status can never be in doubt.

Silva became surprisingly prolific for Spain in his latter years. 35 goals!

The fact that Real Sociedad have gone top of La Liga since he joined them, speaks volumes.
 
Iniesta is one tier above Silva, if not two. He's one of the best central midfielders of all time.
 
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If there is a Spanish player you can compare to Iniesta on similar playing ability and style then it would be David Silva.... Then players like Cazorla/Mata/Joaquin in the pecking order behind.

Silvas game consisted off playing between the lines linking with the attackers, great vision and passing.

What I'm trying to say Silvas role in Euro 2008 can't be dismissed as he was one of the stand out players at the tournament and overall his performances for City and Spain put him in the Xavi/Iniesta/Villa bracket of Top Spanish players.
 
No disrespect to Silva but Iniesta was comfortably a cut above.
 
To put it simply:

Charmander -> Charmeleon -> Charizard
Mata -> Silva -> Iniesta
 
Silva was a great player but Iniesta is easily a level above. You're talking about a very good PL player who ranks alongside plenty of other very good PL players in his position, versus one of the very best to ever play the position anywhere in the world, ever.
 
No. Iniesta was a devastating penetrative dribbler and ball carrier in transition, the only one Spain had, and Spain *needed* a world class dribbler. David Silva never had the dribbling or the pace to replace Iniesta. He was however a more incisive player in the box, hence why for Spain he played as a forward
 
As far as I know Iniestia is the only player to have been MOM in a WC final, CL final and Euro championship final, probably spanish cup final too if you want to include that. Not to mention scoring winner in 2010 WC final. One of the all time great midfielders, Silva doesnt come close to him.

How Iniesta didnt win Ballon dor in 2010 I'll never know.
 
Silva was excellent but needed to do things at a slower pace, Iniesta could play tiki taka and then explode off on a mazy dribble and slot it in the net.

For me Iniesta is one of the best midfielders of all time. Tell your mate to watch this and then ask him again.

 
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Iniesta

Almost everything he did was silky smooth. I loved the way he just with one feint created basically a whole free pitch for himself. His turns were incredible and his passing/vision was top tier. He would make any team instantly 10x better
 
Iniesta was better, but I gained new respect for Silva since he moved into a CM role, didn’t see it coming at all tbh. Makes me think he could definitely have player the role at a high level in his prime for Barca, think he’d have made a better fist of it than the likes of Cesc or Thiago did
 
Iniesta, easily. Silva doesn’t even come close.
 
Falcow said:
As far as I know Iniestia is the only player to have been MOM in a WC final, CL final and Euro championship final, probably spanish cup final too if you want to include that. Not to mention scoring winner in 2010 WC final. One of the all time great midfielders, Silva doesnt come close to him.

How Iniesta didnt win Ballon dor in 2010 I'll never know.
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Was player of the tournament in that Euros too.
 
Lord SInister said:
But does he really rank alongside Iniesta?
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Short answer: no.

He ranks below. How much below is up for debate - but my guess is that the gap between those two will only widen over the years in terms of how they're perceived (as historical players). Iniesta will be included in all-time discussions (just like Xavi and - I suspect - Biscuits too, once the dust has settled) - Silva won't.
 
Skills said:
Iniesta was much better. I'd argue Silva was one of the weaker links of that 2010-2012 Spain teams (got displaced by Pedro in 2010) while Iniesta was probably their best player in both of those tournaments (I'd give 2010 to David Villa though).
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Silva was great in EURO 2012. 2 goals + 3 assists.
 
Lord SInister said:
I have this debate with a friend of mine, who is claiming that David Silva could have easily played in Iniesta's role in Spain.

He is apparently a Man City fan, the guy probably can't name a single Man City player pre oil money era, but that is not what we are to discuss.

David Silva is no doubt a fantastic player and one of the greatest Spaniards to grace Premier League and one of the best midfielder of PL era. But does he really rank alongside Iniesta?
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Great player but still behind Iniesta.
 
Iniesta is only 2 years older than Silva and Silva couldn't even get a look in for that Spain team on route to winning the WC, he made 2 appearances all tournament, granted one was in the semi final.

If Silva got played for Spain when Iniesta was around he replaced other players mainly, not Iniesta. If Iniesta didn't play for Spain ever, I don't think they go on to win 2 out of the 3 tournaments they won back to back.
 
Chesterlestreet said:
Short answer: no.

He ranks below. How much below is up for debate - but my guess is that the gap between those two will only widen over the years in terms of how they're perceived (as historical players). Iniesta will be included in all-time discussions (just like Xavi and - I suspect - Biscuits too, once the dust has settled) - Silva won't.
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To be honest these discussions are always extremely biased. Barca has huge fanbase and Pep's team was possibly the greatest ever. Then these fans choose to use stats when it fits them - like when Striker Y scored less than Striker X but that doesn't matter because Striker Y was a 'big game player'. But overall people should count all aspects: trophies won + productivity + NT performances + 'big moments' + longetivity. But of course I agree Iniesta was a better player than Silva.
 
The thing is Silva never got that central role for Spain, because of Iniesta and Xavi and not having a system like City ended up having with 1 DM and 2 CMs who could get forward a lot. As a winger he wasnt very good for Spain but as a central midfield-ish player at City he ended up being top quality and being more productive than Iniesta from the same role.

I'd take Silva of the past several years in City's midfield over Iniesta without Xavi for Barcelona. He could keep the ball but he could also hurt teams more than Iniesta did.
 
Falcow said:
As far as I know Iniestia is the only player to have been MOM in a WC final, CL final and Euro championship final, probably spanish cup final too if you want to include that. Not to mention scoring winner in 2010 WC final. One of the all time great midfielders, Silva doesnt come close to him.

How Iniesta didnt win Ballon dor in 2010 I'll never know.
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This! However, he didn't win the Ballon D'or because Messi scored 47 goals and had 11 assists in 53 appearances. I think them numbers put up couldn't really be ignored at the time.
 
Pep's Suit said:
Silva was great in EURO 2012. 2 goals + 3 assists.
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True but tbf 1 goal and 3 assists came in one match against Ireland. Which obviously still counts but as an Irishman I can tell you that definitely wasn't a stern test for Spain. I mean Fernando Torres was on the bench for most of that tournament but still managed to claim the Golden Boot, largely off the back of his goals in that Ireland game.
 
Falcow said:
As far as I know Iniestia is the only player to have been MOM in a WC final, CL final and Euro championship final, probably spanish cup final too if you want to include that. Not to mention scoring winner in 2010 WC final. One of the all time great midfielders, Silva doesnt come close to him.

How Iniesta didnt win Ballon dor in 2010 I'll never know.
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Can’t think of a more clutch midfielder in big games like that. Guy was the definition of unfazed.
 
Pep's Suit said:
Barca has huge fanbase and Pep's team was possibly the greatest ever.
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Many think so (I don't necessarily agree) - and that idea is certainly not limited to Barca fans.

Point is, though, that players who feature in crucial roles for undoubtedly (historically) great teams will inevitably be considered in a different light to players who...well, did not.

Silva's City isn't a historically great team - nowhere close. And that will influence how he'll be perceived in the years to come. Unfair to him - certainly. But that's how it goes.

Anyway, the above is a bit moot when it comes to the actual Silva vs Iniesta debate - because the latter's just better in almost every way. There isn't a contest there (in my opinion).
 
Ekeke said:
The thing is Silva never got that central role for Spain, because of Iniesta and Xavi and not having a system like City ended up having with 1 DM and 2 CMs who could get forward a lot. As a winger he wasnt very good for Spain but as a central midfield-ish player at City he ended up being top quality and being more productive than Iniesta from the same role.

I'd take Silva of the past several years in City's midfield over Iniesta without Xavi for Barcelona. He could keep the ball but he could also hurt teams more than Iniesta did.
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They had different roles

Silva at City had Sterling, Sane, Mahrez, etc. Dribblers and scorers, mostly

Iniesta had Messi, dribbler AND scorer AND playmaker

For Spain Iniesta was the dribbler

I agree there isn't as much difference between them as people make out and Iniesta definitely was elevated by playing in the perfect setup for his skillset

Still, one guy was a pivotal player for world conquering barcelona and Spain, was best player at a EURO, MOTM in a world cup final

The other was a bit part player on that same Spain side and a pivotal player for a team that only conquered the PL
 
Silva was top, top class, but Iniesta is a very high bar.
More than anything, big game performances, how many MOTM in finals does Iniesta have?
Always the man for the biggest occasions, you simply couldnt take the ball off him no matter what.
 
Silva was brilliant in his own right...see no need to slag him in a lopsided comparison, but Iniesta was different class — probably the best needle playmaker of this century, and I wouldn't hesitate to include him in a list of Top 20-25 players to ever kick a ball. Arguing that the former could appropriately replace the latter within a well-oiled system is reminiscent of claims that midfielder XYZ could do what Xavi did — and as we have seen since his decline/retirement, the man was pretty much irreplaceable because of his influence...not even illustrious and profoundly talented/intelligent midfielders of his era like Pirlo or Scholes would be optimal replacements for Spain or Barcelona in a similar capacity.

Even if one surmises that Silva-Iniesta were roughly equal from a qualitative standpoint (they weren't for what it's worth), they had fairly diverging strengths so it wouldn't work out on a conceptual level — with regard to those Spanish teams in particular, Xavi would recycle possession and set the tempo of the game as the primary architect while Iniesta would use his brilliant dribbling skills to endlessly advance the ball forward and disorganize the opposition — it was a mesmerizing and symbiotic combination, both on and off the ball.
A needle player is used to maintain ball possession in tight pockets – mostly in the central attacking midfield. The player moves like a needle through the opposing formation. As the increasing athletic abilities lead to tighter spaces and give the attacking players less time to receive the ball properly, needle players have become important. Particularly smaller players can utilize their low body’s centre of gravity to be more agile. Moreover, a needle player must be able to receive fast passes without misplays and should have a good vision to see in which direction the player has to move to maintain ball possession and lead the attack on.
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https://spielverlagerung.com/glossary/player-roles/needle-player/

Silva absolutely couldn't fulfill that function at an optimal level because he was not as gifted or quick or precise as an individual dribbler (mostly excelling in pass and move routines to bypass markers toward the final third) and also didn't have a comparable collective understanding of the fulcrum-like structure in midfield...so the ever-present threat of someone suddenly exploding from midfield zones as a magnetic ball-carrier, which was time an again the key to systematically and ruthlessly unlocking the opposition, would be blunted to a considerable degree.
 
The holy trinity 68 said:
This! However, he didn't win the Ballon D'or because Messi scored 47 goals and had 11 assists in 53 appearances. I think them numbers put up couldn't really be ignored at the time.
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Yeah fair enough I guess. I'm sure many of those 47 goals were Iniesta assists but he was never a great goal scorer himself.
 
Does anyone else find it is amusing how everyone is talking about Silva in the past tense meanwhile he has moved to Real Sociedad and helped inspire them to be top of the table in La Liga?
 
Silva was brilliant at his best and it's not a coincidence that he has earned 125 caps for Spain at the most competitive period in their history. He was a fantastic player and a very consistent one, but Iniesta was simply better. I'd say that even in general he was a tier above, but when we consider his insane performances in key games, it probably elevates him even higher up.
 
David Silva was the 2nd best player ever to play for my club but Iniesta was a full level above. You are comparing a great midfielder (Silva) with an all time great midfielder (Iniesta).
 
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