Silva: I knew second season at City would be easier
Bernardo Silva always expected his second season at Manchester City to be easier.
Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva pinpointed greater confidence and the chance to settle as the keys to his improved form to start this season.
Silva, 24, has impressed to begin the campaign, helping City win four of their opening five Premier League games.
The Portugal international joined City from Monaco for a reported €50million last year, but started only 15 of his 35 league appearances last term.
However, Silva said he knew he would improve, having had the chance to settle in England.
"The second season is always easier than the first one. When you change it's always more difficult. You have to adapt to the way your team plays, you have to adapt to your team-mates, to the league, to the referees," he said.
"Obviously I have more confidence, I feel better with the team and I hope I can do better than last season.
"I'm happy because I'm helping the team and that I'm feeling well, I just hope that I can continue this way.
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"I can play either in the centre or wide, I can do whatever the manager thinks is best for the team. It depends on the games, I feel comfortable both ways.
"It was a great start for them [Chelsea and Liverpool], for us as well even though we drew one game.
"It's still the beginning, a lot of games to play, we'll see what happens but we want to try and win the Premier League."
: is the most beloved guy in the locker room. He played 90 minutes today but in the beginning, it was a little hard for him; coming from France to England. Even for me, I needed a period to know and understand everything. September 16, 2018
While Silva has starred, his team-mate Leroy Sane has been questioned, although the German attacker netted in a 3-0 win over Fulham on Saturday.
Silva praised the 22-year-old for his work ethic despite a slow start to the campaign.
"Everyone knows how important Leroy is for us, he was one of the best players last season, I hope and everyone hopes he can do the same this season," he said.
"He is doing well, once again he helped us and he's a fantastic player.
"When you play in a team like Manchester City where you have a lot of quality players, sometimes you just have to know that sometimes you won't start, but you have to keep working - that's what he does every day."