Does Yaya still have a role?

[oakiecokie]

The way he moved about the pitch last night I think the fucker ate 50 bread rolls.

 

[Marvin]

There seems to be misconception that Yaya needs to be surrounded by energy and legs.......

That's not a misconception. Football is all about movement. either sprinting into space when we have the ball, or closing the man on the ball down when the opponent has the ball.

Toure's goals and assists are down. And I don't think he has played well for 2 seasons now. He used to carry us at times. Now it's the other way around.

I haven't checked, but I have the distinct impression that our results without Toure are better than our results with Toure this season.

 

[EL APACHE TEVEZ]

Like fuck he as,thanks for the good days yaya time to go mate.

 

[FanchesterCity]

Yes of course he does. This type of thread appears after certain games and normally it tends to be the games where the rest of our technically better players have been rested or are unavailable.

There seems to be misconception that Yaya needs to be surrounded by energy and legs and Manuel seems to prescribe to that notion. In realty he is a much better player when he is surrounded by technical quality and by the type of players who can find pockets of space to play in between the lines.

His best performances come when he has Silva and Dinho close by, maybe with someone protecting the defence and maybe KDB or Nasri floating around. He is able to exert a good influence on the game and is the base for most of our possession based attacks. He and KDB are the only two players we have who can pick apart a defense with a pass from almost anywhere.

Last night he played almost in a two, but only had KDB dropping off to receive the ball. He just wasn't surrounded by very good players. Navas, Delph and Fernando are probably our 3 poorest players.

Kompany's performance would suffer playing alongside Kolarov and Demichellis. Sometimes who you partner plays a part in the quality of your own performance and it takes a team effort to gain control of the game before an individual can take that control further by dominating it. Without certain players, we cannot control it so it means we cannot build anything.

People have short memories when they talk about him being 'finished'. All it takes is one bad game to make them forget how good he has been over the last few months. He's not the Yaya of old, but he's still a very good player, and unless we have absolute top quality coming in by the van load over the summer, he almost definitely (agent permitting) would have a role to play.

He hasn't been very good for the last few months though. Many of us have been wondering how to manage his decline for two seasons, recognising that we needed to start succession planning back then. This isn't news, it is and was predictable (as it is with all players).
He still has great moments - but you have to offset those few, with the many mediocre moments.
'Football intelligence' as they like to term it can help to compensate for some loss of physical ability. The key word there is 'compensate' - not negate. Father time has caught up with him. He's been great for us, but the longer we stick with him, the longer we're hold back his successor.

When you know a horse is dying, you shoot it. You don't wait for it to actually BE dead - that's just prolonging the pain. He's perhaps 16 stone of beast and 32 years old playing in one of the most physically demanding positions on the pitch. We want to improve, and he's in decline. No more needs to be said.

 

[TFC]

Nope.

 

[george22]

Nope.

Stole my post
Nope +2

 

[stevemcgarry]

I have a theory about Yaya. It may be half-arsed and dopey but it's mine and I'm sticking to it.

I think the problem is team selection and it's damaged quite a few reputations this year, not just his. The arrival of KDB has actually screwed things up a little if you think about it. We are at our best when we play 4-2-3-1, not 4-4-2 ... but who do you play in a 4-2-3-1 formation? Aguero up front is a no brainer ... so who are the 3? You can play KDB wide but he thrives in his best position, which is in the hole behind Sergio. That's also Silva's best position but let's say you push him wider to accommodate KDB. That leaves one other wider slot in that three so you can use any from Navas, Sterling or Nasri, all of whom bring different options to that role. (You shouldn't play Delph or Kolarov in that position because they are not as effective there, although that's where they get used from time to time - as in Delph last night.) In any event, the 2 in that 4-2-3-1 should be the two Ferns because they will chase, harry, intercept and cover a lot of ground to protect the back four. And when they do that, the backline isn't exposed and we start to see the best of our attacking fullbacks and a the two central defenders ... with adequate cover Ota and Manga look dead solid.

Unfortunately, this means that there is no spot for Yaya. He is best when he plays ahead of the two Ferns ... but that means shunting KDB wide. So Manuel has attempted to play Yaya as one of the 2 all season ... and it has killed us. In that role, he still looks good on the front foot but defensively he is woeful ... which means his partner is trying to cover too much ground. Fernandinho has coped better in that situation but Fernando has looked poor when he gets stitched up like that. And the knock on is that the backline has been left exposed and they've looked much poorer than they really are.

So for me, you can use Yaya as an impact sub ... or you can use him if KDB is injured ... or you can push KDB wide and use Yaya in the 10 position. But what you can't do, and for the life of me I can't see why MP doesn't get it, is use Yaya in a 2. We got away with it against Chelsea but they have already clocked off for the season.

Of course, it also doesn't help when MP decides to double down and throw Bony into the mix or persevere with MDM or ignore the claims of younger players ... but it seems to me that his loyalty to his players occasionally blinds him to his primary duty, which should be to MCFC.

 

[Dewey6]

Off the bench in the Champions League matches if required but certainly not in the Prem any longer. He has no desire to see us reach 3rd or 4th and simply isnt fighting for us to get there.

I'd say he has personal goals for the Champs League so will still put in but I'd only throw him on for the last 20 if we needed a goal. Otherwise it's a risk we can't take.

 

[almir]

Well, you can say in your opinion his legs gave gone and he's finished. I think he still has a role to play.

Well, few months ago you've shat all over me for saying he'll never be old Zaba again . You said he's just came back from injury and will be back in few games, so not sure you've got much objectivity in this case.

Zaba is finished for top level, last season was a hint, this one just confirmed it. He's nowhere near what is required for a team of City's caliber. Sagna, who is 34 and few years older is twice better player currently.

Zaba is legend but he's done and I doubt he has much of City's future left.

 

[FanchesterCity]

I have a theory about Yaya. It may be half-arsed and dopey but it's mine and I'm sticking to it.

I think the problem is team selection and it's damaged quite a few reputations this year, not just his. The arrival of KDB has actually screwed things up a little if you think about it. We are at our best when we play 4-2-3-1, not 4-4-2 ... but who do you play in a 4-2-3-1 formation? Aguero up front is a no brainer ... so who are the 3? You can play KDB wide but he thrives in his best position, which is in the hole behind Sergio. That's also Silva's best position but let's say you push him wider to accommodate KDB. That leaves one other wider slot in that three so you can use any from Navas, Sterling or Nasri, all of whom bring different options to that role. (You shouldn't play Delph or Kolarov in that position because they are not as effective there, although that's where they get used from time to time - as in Delph last night.) In any event, the 2 in that 4-2-3-1 should be the two Ferns because they will chase, harry, intercept and cover a lot of ground to protect the back four. And when they do that, the backline isn't exposed and we start to see the best of our attacking fullbacks and a the two central defenders ... with adequate cover Ota and Manga look dead solid.

Unfortunately, this means that there is no spot for Yaya. He is best when he plays ahead of the two Ferns ... but that means shunting KDB wide. So Manuel has attempted to play Yaya as one of the 2 all season ... and it has killed us. In that role, he still looks good on the front foot but defensively he is woeful ... which means his partner is trying to cover too much ground. Fernandinho has coped better in that situation but Fernando has looked poor when he gets stitched up like that. And the knock on is that the backline has been left exposed and they've looked much poorer than they really are.

So for me, you can use Yaya as an impact sub ... or you can use him if KDB is injured ... or you can push KDB wide and use Yaya in the 10 position. But what you can't do, and for the life of me I can't see why MP doesn't get it, is use Yaya in a 2. We got away with it against Chelsea but they have already clocked off for the season.

Of course, it also doesn't help when MP decides to double down and throw Bony into the mix or persevere with MDM or ignore the claims of younger players ... but it seems to me that his loyalty to his players occasionally blinds him to his primary duty, which should be to MCFC.

this is very similar to the thread on the two striker problem... which has morphed into great players vying for the same spot whilst poor ones have a secured position..