Yaya's Goal - Was It Really "Out Of Nowhere"?

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MotownBlue

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Please merge if you mods think this can go somewhere else! I know there are tons of post-Cup threads in this forum right now.

OK, so I have been watching Yaya's goal over and over (admit it - so have you) and I have a theory about it that has formed tonight. Hear me out and tell me what you think.

You will need to be able to view the match as it happened to see what I am about to explain. Here is a link to the match that you can easily use for this purpose. Using the fifth Full Match Video down on this page, you can get to the spot you need. You just need to go to the 52:20 mark on the match clock and watch from there.

http://livefootballvideo.com/fullmatch/england/league-cup/manchester-city-vs-sunderland

So we're breaking up the pitch. Zabba gets the ball from Vinnie and breaks across the halfway line (where he is actually fouled by Colback who then grabbed and blatantly held Pab's leg (they did more of this shit than is being talked about) and eventually it ends up on Merlin's foot and he is cut down by Cattermole. A free kick is awarded.

Now, in the moment on the match broadcast, Tyler and RagBoy GoatFeeder have a little chat about how something is afoot. Nasri and Kolorov are over the ball with Yaya and Silva, initially. At the 53:00 on the match time, Silva walks away toward the edge of the 18 and positions himself at the right edge of where the penalty arc meets the box, where he just kind of loiters. During the following close-up of Yaya, Alex and Sami, Yaya appears to shout something toward Silva. Yaya moves just inside of Merlin but out and away from the box back toward midfield in space.

When the free kick is taken, the ball is played in to Silva who lays off back to Yaya but a Sunderland player shades out with the ball and tightens up to mark Yaya whose touch also lets him down. He can't shoot. He breaks to the right and plays the ball back to Fernandinho. Tyler and Neville whinge disapprovingly about how bad the free kick is executed. We cycle it around a bit...

Yaya eventually has a touch on the ball and then plays it outside to PabZab. At this moment, he raises his hand to signal that he wants the ball back. Also at this moment, watch Silva and everyone else's runs, as they basically clear the area just outside the box for Yaya. He calmly moves back TO THE EXACT SAME PLACE where he was for the free kick. Notice Ki Sung-Yueng enjoying a little ball watching here, leaving space for Yaya...

...who nonchalantly scores one of the greatest City goals of my life. Happy Days.

So having heard so much earlier in the season (when Yaya was ripping in free kick after free kick) about how he and Samir were working together so hard on this technique, I really wonder if the entire passage of play simply lent itself to them trying out a set piece that was flubbed, reset and then executed to perfection.

Thoughts?
 
Well spotted and it is possible.Ya Ya said afterwards that it is important to shoot sometimes as it is hard to break down defensive minded teams,so as we were struggling to do so maybe the idea was to take a few more shots?

This is something i wish we would do more often as we have some fantastic strikers of a ball,just whack the thing and follow it up,better than trying to create space through eleven men at times.
 
Agreed. It was clear they were trying something a bit different with that free kick. I was expecting some short sharp passing move we tried once and Aguero narrowly failed to score - Everton this season at home? As Captain Mainwaring would say "well done Wilson, I wondered when you were going to spot that".
 
100% correct. He had also taken up the same position twice before that passage of play. It had obviously been worked on in training as MP knew how Sunderland would set up to restrict overlapping fullbacks and intricate short passes through the middle. If you watch Yaya's interview he alludes to the fact that the team knew this would be Sunderlands tactics which it makes it even more satisfying that his shot was executed to perfection. Nasir's goal was special too.
 
Don't think it was pre planned. Don't think Zaba was deliberately trying to set him up for a shot. But the pass was just the right pace for Yaya to fancy the shot.
 
The first thing that makes me disagree with your theory is the fact that when the team 'cycle it around' as you say, when Samir clips the ball into the box, does he know its going to come straight back out, or was Edin's backwards header deliberate? If he was looking to keep possession and set Yaya up this was quite a risky pass to play.

However, something that supports your theory is the way in which Silva and Dzeko BOTH move to follow up the shot at EXACTLY the same time, just as Yaya connects with it. I don't know if this was just a coincidence that they both had such good reactions and were just instinctively both on the shoulder of the defence when the pass was played to Yaya, or whether it was deliberate.

Also, Yaya hardly has to shout (by the look of it) or signal to Zab that he wants the ball, as if he justs expects it.

Ps does anyone think its hilarious that Larsson is complaining of a high boot in the build up to the goal? fucking karma you snide twat!
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