How good was Yaya?!

[malg]

World class and extremely intimidating for opponents.

When he decided we were winning a game, we were winning a game. He loved doing that in big, important games.

That goal in the league cup v Sunderland was his best imo.

To think, we had him, Kev, David and Fern in midfield together at one point is fucking insane.

Ooph, that one v Palace!

 

[malg]

And the chant is spot on - pay me some more.

A greedy fuck, all about self, but hugely gifted - but lazy... mostly on defense (but when he set his mind to defend he was world class).

For me, if Yaya put 100% into his game, he'd have been among the top 3 in the world. But he never did this throughout a game.

Yaya was potentially the best footballer in the world, but he lacked the mental discipline (mostly) and drive to make this so.

Fuck me, give it a rest

 

[The Mighty Marmoush]

He was the beast that destroyed the north east

 

[Lavinda Past]

Ooph, that one v Palace!

Yaya never scored 'ordinary' goals, and the majority of his goals were genuinely important goals. The king of the big games. The best.

 

[The Mighty Marmoush]

The Ginger Prince
Merlin
Lampard

All put on the shirt and did a shift above and beyond and I would take any of them over the

I don't know. It is international week after all so flexibility should be allowed a little bit :)

As long as the Kit Symons appreciation thread does not start :D

I'm more in barry conlons corner

 

[The Mighty Marmoush]

The Ginger Prince
Merlin
Lampard

All put on the shirt and did a shift above and beyond and I would take any of them over the idiot.

Lampard? Seriously, Ya Ya was class, a club legend, Chelsea had lampards best years, we got him in his twilight

 

[carlosthejackal]

Immense

 

[Lavinda Past]

 

[johnevans]

Yaya never scored 'ordinary' goals, and the majority of his goals were genuinely important goals. The king of the big games. The best.

If I really HAD to choose one from among all our greats, then peak Yaya would (as Rugby League's Eddie Waring used to put it) 'take some stopping!'

This thread reminded me of my post on another thread, 'The Greatest African Player Ever', from five years ago:

"Yaya for me too..

A guy who sits near me always used to make laugh when Yaya would do a full ninety minutes controlling a game and then in injury time go on one of his lung-bursting runs from defence to the opposition box and collapse after being tackled. As The Big Man would pick himself up, said Blue (who clearly likes his ale and pies) would shout ‘Get up and get back you lazy f**ker!’ and so on.. every time, without fail.

But I have to say it’s a close run thing with the brilliant Drogba and (be still my beating teenage heart!) the amazing Eusebio.

To me, City without Yaya is like Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band without Clarence Clemons.."

 

[mexico1970]

Lampard? Seriously, Ya Ya was class, a club legend, Chelsea had lampards best years, we got him in his twilight

Plus Frank wasn't and isn't a **** :-)

 

[Craig]

How about blaming the club for not being able to see his dying brother?

Calling Pep a racist?

His agent was his mouthpiece and Yaya could have silenced him at any time; he never did while he was at City.

Yeah, inexcusable nonsense from him. Great player but a bit of a knobhead.

 

[Dubciteh]

What was the furthest we got in the CL with him in the team? And someone claimed hes in top 5 players of all time? Mental.

A great player for us, at a great time and a big game player but the off field stuff will always tarnish him.

Does he get into a midfield ahead of rodri, kdb and silva?

He won us a league or two but the others went even further not only winning leagues but smashing them, breaking record after record, trophy after trophy inc the big one.

 

[mexico1970]

Does he get into a midfield ahead of rodri, kdb and silva?

No mate he doesn't :)

 

[Fading Memory]

I go back a long way and I have seen many great players. I have never seen anybody better than Yaya.

 

[SamTheGuru]

The boy can take a free kick:

 

[big gaz]

Still the same answer from me.... Nope.

Peak Yaya Toure was in the top 5 players I've seen in my lifetime; Maradona, Pele, Ronaldo, and Messi. The only reason Yaya never won the Ballon D'or was that he hadn't been in a CL winning side.

The only other City players in my top 10 would be Colin Bell and David Silva (another player who would almost certainly have won the Ballon D'or if we had won the CL in his time)

As good as they were, Rodri, De Bruyne, and Fernandinho don't even come close to Yaya, Colin, or Spanish Dave in my opinion.

Since KDB left I've had to drop Tevez to the bench playing with one striker now and 5 midfield bastards :-)

 

[Bob Hope]

Those goals v Newcastle! Was listening on the radio as we were travelling and at that point I was confident we’d win the league. Then the goal v Villa. Just Wow! One of the greatest goals I’ve seen scored by anyone. Watched it over and over since.

What about the goal against Palace was even better imho

 

[Bob Hope]

Great player when he wasn’t eating cake.

Our wasn't eating cake

 

[evianglass]

For me, he's our greatest ever footballer. He could pass like KDB. He had a touch like Sivla. He could dictate a game like Rodri. Then when he got bored, he could just run past everybody else with pace and power, before finishing like Sergio. Added to that were his wonder free kicks and never missing a penalty.
He was a truly gifted footballer and I don't think he gets the credit that he deserves.
Hes the best midfielder that has ever played in the Premier League.

THIS!
When this debate arises, I always propose a simple comparison: Name one thing a player like Rodri or Busquets can do that Yaya Touré couldn't. Then, list all the things Yaya did that you will never see from them.

I'm setting personality traits aside—if we only selected saints to play football, the game would be boring, and we wouldn't be having this argument in the first place.

 

[Craig]

What was the furthest we got in the CL with him in the team? And someone claimed hes in top 5 players of all time? Mental.

A great player for us, at a great time and a big game player but the off field stuff will always tarnish him.

Does he get into a midfield ahead of rodri, kdb and silva?

He won us a league or two but the others went even further not only winning leagues but smashing them, breaking record after record, trophy after trophy inc the big one.

Yeah, fair points. Was a liability at tim s against good teams in Europe. At his very best he was possibly better than all 3 of them.Was consistency, work rate etc you’d pick the other 3 over him