Yaya Toure will definitely go down in the history books as one of City’s greatest ever players. Signed for a reported fee of £24m from Barcelona in the summer of 2010, it’s hard to argue against the excellent value for money that the club has received. But over the last 12-18 months his role in the team has been one that is constantly questioned or debated whether that’s on Facebook, Twitter or on Manchester City forums. But why is this happening?
When City signed Yaya Toure the perception of most was that the club had signed a defensive central midfield player. Indeed, he had even featured at centre back for Barcelona in the 2009 Champions League victory against United and performed extremely well in the process too. But we were soon to learn that this certainly wasn’t the case and Yaya had attacking qualities too, which few expected.
I think it’s fair to say that Yaya’s early impact at City was limited. He scored some goals and performed reasonably well on occasions but didn’t live up to the expectations of the fans. But that was all to change when Roberto Mancini changed Yaya’s role to a more attacking one.
Mancini evidently had clear views on Yaya’s best position after observing for a few months and he was asked to undertake more of a box-to-box midfield role within the team. This was a role that Yaya excelled in and it’s fair to say that in this role Yaya probably became one of the best attacking midfield players in the world. But he wasn’t limited to this role only. Although Mancini preferred to initially play him alongside the more defensively disciplined Gareth Barry or Nigel DeJong, he wasn’t adverse to playing Yaya right behind the striker with no defensive duties. This almost became Mancini’s plan B tactics in the season that the club first won the premier league in 2011/12. And Yaya was a key contributor during that season scoring a number of key goals particularly late in the season.
He had played just as important a role in the 2010/11 season scoring important goals as the club secured the FA cup and achieved its first silverware for more years than we wish to remember. Indeed, Yaya scored the winning goals in both the semi-final against United and the final against Stoke; firmly establishing himself as a club legend.
All the above facts are unquestionable. Yaya Toure has been one of the best players in the world and possibly contributed to our success more than any other player. But his current playing position in the team has been one of much debate among the fans including myself. The debate relates to whether Yaya should be doing more defensive work for the team. Critics will point to the space that Mesut Ozil exposed behind Yaya in the recent game away at Arsenal and in other big games where City don’t necessarily have the bulk of possession. Again, during the weekend game away at Watford, fans were debating on twitter whether he should be subbed as it appeared his contribution was limited in the game. But then he scored an absolute world class goal which gave us the platform to go on and win the game with the late Sergio Aguero winner.
So why are we having a debate? My view is a little controversial. Fernandinho has been City’s best player this season in my opinion. But I do not think Fernandinho is necessarily a holding midfield player which therefore means fans like myself look at Yaya and say that he isn’t necessarily doing the defensive work required particularly when Fernandinho is out of position too. When City signed Fernandinho from Shakhtar Donetsk he was described as a box-to-box midfield player. This is complicated too by the fact that some of the other attacking players in the team like Silva and De Bruyne are not renowned for their defensive abilities.
Admittedly Yaya is now five years older than when he joined City. But if he was playing now alongside a disciplined midfield player like Sergio Busquets, a young Gareth Barry or Nemanja Matic, I’m not sure we would be having this debate. I think to get the best out of Yaya we need to provide him with a free role in the team possibly with the introduction of a holding player alongside Fernandinho, who himself can then cover all areas of the pitch and undertake a box-to-box midfield role. Yaya in my view continues to be our best passer of the ball. But particularly in the bigger games, I don’t think we can afford to start him in a central midfield pair. But he certainly does still have a role in the team.
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