Yes but don't overlook the opponents and the situation of the game. It's no surprise that "we did that" and the "pressing worked to some extent" against a team who were 5-0 down and hadn't got a snowball's chance in hell of getting anything from the game. If you stick Yaya in against Real or United or Chelsea or even Southampton and ask him to play Pep's pressing game against high quality players, he'll be shown up for the plodding, past-it player he has become. I have respect for Yaya's achievements and frankly he almost singlehandedly won us a couple of trophies in his stint at the club, but it is most certainly time to move on now.
Or he might be the bloke who opens them up with the pass or shot which wins the game, if he has the quality alongside him to work with. Yaya is more of a danger to the opposition, around their penalty area, than Silva.
But if Yaya's main purpose at City, is seen as a general midfielder legging it around recovering he ball, then we all know he's fucked as a City player. He was fucked in that respect at 27.
Of course you could play him where Kroos plays, in that role, something a percentage on here were wanking themseves stupid Kroos might sign to do, that we needed such a player in the team. We could play Yaya there, picking up loose balls & knocking passes around, under no pressure whatsoever, barely breaking into a jog, like Kroos does, if we require that option.
The other possible role for Yaya, is coming on as an alternative later in games, when Silva or KDB are fucked or if Pep plays a different formation, which he has often done in his career, Yaya as an extra mid.
Yaya did plenty of running last night. That's actually a fact.
If we don't want a player who does the stuff Yaya can do, then fine. But for the kind of player he is, he covered easily enough ground last night & if Pep wanted to, he could make a team work, with Yaya in it. If he doesn't value what Yaya does, & is only concerned with what he can't do, then he'll ditch him.
