Gareth Barry has blasted criticism of team-mate David Silva, saying that it has been unfair (City face Wigan on Sunday and are 4/5 to grab the win).
The Spanish striker was one of the high-profile big-money moves conducted by Manchester City over the summer but he has failed to set the Premier League alight thus far.
His most impressive City performance came in Thursday evening’s Europa League win against Salzburg in Austria and the club clearly feel that Silva has an influential role to play at Eastlands this season.
Barry agrees with this view and points to mitigating circumstances as to why Silva has not yet found his form.
He said: “Any criticism of David is unfair because we all know the quality he has.
“He was always going to take time to settle because he has come into the Premier League from a completely different type of football.
“Against Salzburg he only showed small glimpses of what he can do. We know he will get better.”
Silva was one of Spain’s star players as they won the World Cup in South Africa over the summer. This meant that his season did not finish until the middle of July and he did not start training with City until the beginning of August.
Added to this was that he was required to go on draining trips to Mexico and Argentina. This means that there are clearly good reasons why Silva has yet to find his feet.
The man himself is confident he will succeed in the Premier League but Barry has been quick to point out that a timescale should not be put on his acclimatisation.
“The more he plays the more he will improve,” he continued.
“We know his qualities from training with him every day.
“But he is still adapting. The more time he spends in England and around our players, the better he will become.
“Sometimes it takes a player a season to settle before you see the best of them, but in the end I am confident his will be obvious to everyone.”
Manchester City have had a poor start to the season when compared to their lofty aspirations. They have only won one game so far in the Premier League and come into Sunday’s clash against Wigan on the back of a defeat to Sunderland and a draw against Blackburn.
Some have cited that the team has failed to gel and Roberto Mancini has pointed to six pivotal games which will influence their season.
The first was against Salzburg – a game which they won – and the second is the clash at the DW Stadium. City’s stars know that they will need to start performing soon if they are to realise their minimum aim of qualifying for the Champions League this season.
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