Player topic : Yaya Toure (2015/16)

[1961_vintage]

Well deserved accolade for one of the greatest footballers to ever wear the City shirt. Well done Yaya Toure.

 

[cleavers]

It really irks me when I see him not giving it his all in games though

I've rarely seen it, I've seen him have poor games, I've seen him look bewildered when things are going badly, I've seen him look unfit (recently I'm sure he has been carrying a knock). He's never been the most nimble footballer, be pretty hard being his size, and one of his lung bursting runs will always make him look lethargic for a while, and those lung bursting runs were always likely to become more sparse with age. Anyway seems we largely agree so no point dwelling on it.

but the bbc award is nothing shout about and I don't like to tag people with from this country or that and when football is trying to kickout racism we still one have a africain footballer of the year. can we just have a football player of the year please its 2015 and I don't see black or white green yellow just a football player

Sorry your English isn't easy to follow, but its AFRICAN PLAYER OF THE YEAR, it was intended to be, and was voted for, by Africans, and was heavily pushed by the BBC in Africa, where its one of the major news and sports outlets, both in TV and online via smartphone/internet.

Africa is not a race, its a continent, and its full of very diverse people who love football, they voted for a player who has recently won the African Nations Cup for his country, so to them it is something to "shout about".

 

[CrownPointBlue]

A wonderful player for City in our recent history.

Right at the centre of all our greatest moments in recent times......just think about them all

A true giant in every way. We are privileged to have him and will miss him when he goes. There is nobody else in world football that can do what Yaya has done.

Congratulations Big Man.

 

[Keepingthefaithsince1976]

Congratulations Yaya. A wonderful achievement. Hope you get a few more goals soon.

 

[super_city_si]

Delph and Dihno biting at defenders and midfielders in their half with Yaya behind then playing the Pirlo role is City at its best.

Agree completely. Delph and dinho have the legs to harrass and do the dirt work.

 

[cleavers]

Agree completely. Delph and dinho have the legs to harrass and do the dirt work.

I would imagine that PG would see it that way too, which is why I doubt the he would get rid of him, though I suspect we'd bring in a stronger reinforcement than Delph for the job. Delph has the chance to make a place here his own, but I doubt it will ever be first choice, especially if PG arrives.

 

[ojeme]

If you watched the game, you just let me know which wide players you're talking about? Would it be Fernandinho and Delph who had to protect Yaya in the middle or the extremely narrow front 3 of Silva, De Bruyne and Sterling? We only moved Sterling out wide left when Bony and Navas came on, haha!!

Delph and Fernandinho were running about like idiots trying to cover central and wide areas because Yaya was so
static, the centre backs were having to
step out because he wasn't shielding them and that was a factor in both goals. Before you say he's not picked for his defensive contribution, you play as a team, every man whether it's a defender or striker has defensive responsibilities. No one is knocking his attacking contribution, in terms of the last 10-15
minutes Yaya was back to his best in that respect but you're letting that completely overrule your head in terms of a complete performance over 90 minutes.

I respect your views but I'd like to make a few points. I think we did OK in the first half, certainly not worse than the possession stats would have us believe. They were very good in their team passing - they actually tapped the ball really good and through that, kept a lot of possession. We certainly had problems on our right hand side (and honestly I cannot say for certain why) but I definitely won't put it all on the big fella except there's concrete reason to do so. I believe, as you do, Yaya and our wide forwards aren't exempt from defensive
responsibilities but where I'm afraid I'd have to disagree with you on is that Yaya
was static. He wasn't moving as gingerly
and speedily as Fern and Fabian but he
also did put the effort. The reason why they got past us time and again on the right was down to their very impressive
passing especially in the first half (might
be something they've been seriously working on in training). The issue was not that they outnumbered us whenever they 'outpassed' us. I recall one time close to
the touchline on the right when they passed the ball so expertly for a protracted period (barca-esque) despite that there were enough blue shirts around that small area. The issue was not
our numbers but their good passing. We certainly blew them out of the water in the 2nd half and it was only a matter of
time before we were going to score. It was certainly not a 10 minutes good showing from us and even in the first half I thought we were unlucky to be a goal down. That said, I believe Yaya has underwhelmed this season but his performance on tuesday, in fairness, was very different. You could see him in deep
areas putting the effort, making sliding challenges here and there, even though
he was supposed to be our must advanced
central midfielder (or number 10 if you
like). Finally, the moves that led to the two goals we shipped are typical examples of how we did, when BMG came knocking on our door. We didn't stop them early on before they got to dangerous areas. Yaya was running, Delph was running, Fern was running, every body else on blue around the area was running but there was little else so I won't put it all on Yaya, no I won't.

 

[fatbloke]

I respect your views but I'd like to make a few points. I think we did OK in the first half, certainly not worse than the possession stats would have us believe. They were very good in their team passing - they actually tapped the ball really good and through that, kept a lot of possession. We certainly had problems on our right hand side (and honestly I cannot say for certain why) but I definitely won't put it all on the big fella except there's concrete reason to do so. I believe, as you do, Yaya and our wide forwards aren't exempt from defensive
responsibilities but where I'm afraid I'd have to disagree with you on is that Yaya
was static. He wasn't moving as gingerly
and speedily as Fern and Fabian but he
also did put the effort. The reason why they got past us time and again on the right was down to their very impressive
passing especially in the first half (might
be something they've been seriously working on in training). The issue was not that they outnumbered us whenever they 'outpassed' us. I recall one time close to
the touchline on the right when they passed the ball so expertly for a protracted period (barca-esque) despite that there were enough blue shirts around that small area. The issue was not
our numbers but their good passing. We certainly blew them out of the water in the 2nd half and it was only a matter of
time before we were going to score. It was certainly not a 10 minutes good showing from us and even in the first half I thought we were unlucky to be a goal down. That said, I believe Yaya has underwhelmed this season but his performance on tuesday, in fairness, was very different. You could see him in deep
areas putting the effort, making sliding challenges here and there, even though
he was supposed to be our must advanced
central midfielder (or number 10 if you
like). Finally, the moves that led to the two goals we shipped are typical examples of how we did, when BMG came knocking on our door. We didn't stop them early on before they got to dangerous areas. Yaya was running, Delph was running, Fern was running, every body else on blue around the area was running but there was little else so I won't put it all on Yaya, no I won't.

Now we all know you weren't at the game on Tuesday night, Yaya was played in a very deep defensive midfield role behind Fernandinho and Delph with Silva in the No.10 (or false 9) role. De Bruyne and Sterling were played as forwards who drifted wide occasionally so there's very little to discuss. Maybe the pre match formation BT Sport showed had him in the No.10 role and Sterling up front which is how I thought we might play but it was evident from the first whistle that wasn't the case.

No matter how good their passing and movement was in certain areas on Tuesday night, it wouldn't have happened to Barcelona or Bayern because their aggressive pressing would have killed it. We can't press that aggressively because of Yaya, he just can't keep up with the rest of the players energy and it badly affects our defensive structure if one player is not fit enough or doesn't have the fight to cover his teammates when they press.

 

[Jonsilfab]

Congratulations, Yaya!

 

[ped]

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