More Similar than you think
Paul Scholes and Yaya Toure are very similar and I am not talking about football, I am talking about public perception.
Scholes is now widely held as one of the finest footballers the British Isles has ever produced. Personally apart from George Best, I cannot think of another British player I will put ahead of Scholes, he is simply a special footballer. All those Xavi, Iniesta, Barcelona style and success and the consequent media agenda to indoctrinate and impress on the general public that a particular style and look, I dare say, is the way to go when it comes to assessing the value of a footballer may very well be linked with Scholes. So the public is now made to believe or now allowed , yes that is the profound word, ''allowed'' to believe that a player can be judged on appearance and not on their actual talent. I am saddened to say that the media agenda is working ... and it is easy achieve to be honest because they are just exploiting the inclinations and tendencies of the majority of the society with deep rooted preconceived beliefs and ideology about the value and worth of footballers and humans in general all over the world.
Does that make sense? No? well thats a different topic but back to Scholes. He is similar to Yaya in that during his playing days he was constantly under-hyped and under celebrated compared to the other so called heroes like Beckham. This can be attributed to a number of issues not least the fact that Scholes by person is very reserved, quiet and not appealing and does not seem to have that star personality so the media did not really hype him or celebrate him in a overt and outrageous manner as the did the aforementioned footballer. His praise and respect, which he had in abundance from the media and those that know football was more subtle, subdued, unspoken but strong nonetheless. This is not just by the media but other footballers as well. Everybody talks about C. Ronaldo, Messi, Ibrahimovic and other big names. But if you go around and whisper to current great footballers like Xavi, Iniesta, Zidane Viera, etc and be like '' pisst, pisst, dont tell anyone but who is the best footballer you have ever played against'', I am certain that the majority of the footballers will say Paul Scholes and that encompasses and summarizes everything about Paul Scholes: he is an unspoken genius.
The parallels with Yaya Toure is for entirely different reasons. Although his appearance , like scholes in a way has something to do with it but it is more about the media thingy i talked about earlier. So Yaya even at this very minute is still undervalued and under-hyped by some and many even in this forum are giving him proper credit and appraise with gritted teeth. They are lurking and waiting for naught but a snippet of an opportunity to call him a lazy bastard and other preconceived names. I guess it provides comfort and soothes them like a pill. Anyways there are some people in the media, the general public and in this forum that are still fighting it!!!, ;like ''no , no he is just a holding midfielder, no no , he must be just a holding midfielder, nothing else'' and Yaya has become naught but a threat to their indoctrinated and natural believe and stereotypes about footballers. Ah he looks like that, he comes from that area in the world therefore he is just a holding midfielder. If anybody watches his games in his former clubs including Barcelona, it is will be clear to everybody that is willing to accept and believe that Yaya is more than that.
Besides this holding midfielder thing is fallacy, it does not really exist. Some players are more adaptable to certain roles in the midfield position than others but that does not mean they have spent their whole lives dreaming and training to sit in front of the back four. Most are as technical and as creative as any but have adapted their role to suit the overall strategic and tactical objectives of their respective teams. As there is no physiological correlation between the physical size of a player and his ability to be creative, there also no correlation between a good tackler and his ability to be a good creator or attacking midfielder. Just because a player can put in a tackle that does not mean that he can not play with the ball. This has to be the biggest misconception, convenient misconception I might add, in today's game.
I told many people 3 years ago, when Yaya signed for us that there is going to be a progression or evolution of perception of Yaya. I said that at first, he will be seen as the stereotypical ''just a holding midfielder'' media nonsense, then by the second year, the general public will, begin to see more and more and see that he has the ability to influence games in advanced positions. By the third year people will begin to see, not accept and appreciate (in public anyway) but see that this is a player that is capable of anything and one of the best at anything he does i.e his passing, his technique, his construction and tangents in passing, decision making, his shooting, heading, finishing, is not only world class but rather unique. Now in his forth year he is now silently seen as one of the finest players on the planet. So just like Scholes, if you go around and whisper to great footballers and great managers alike and be like ''psst psst, don't tell anyone but who is the player you fear the most or who is the player you will like to have in your team'' i reckon that all of them, any of them that know football will say Yaya Toure.
So the two players are rather more similar than you may think but there is an inevitability to their eventual appreciation and respect by everyone. Scholes is rightly and silently respected as an English midfield genius. As for Yaya he is getting there in terms of perceptions and it will reach a point that even the bent, wicked media and peoples in population, afflicted by the media influenced stereotypical and socio-fanatical disease and are still fighting it now will have no choice but to admit that the Ivorian is the best player in the world save Messi and Ronaldo and is also the most creative, the best passer, the best shooter , the best header, the best finisher and ultimately the best all round footballer and a City great.
He also has pace and power.... So Yaya is essentially Scholes with pace and power.
So who will I prefer, well what about a midfied duo of Scholes and Yaya or maybe a trio with another great footballer that can genuinely do some holding or defending, that would be something. I am just glad and grateful that a player like Yaya Toure is playing for us.
