Has Yaya Toure simply become surplus to requirements at Manchester City?

15 April 2015 10:07

It is not often that I agree with Gary Neville’s opinions on football since he has become a pundit. It is hard to agree with former players statements on the game sometimes but especially when they are speaking about their, formerly, direct rivals. However, everything that Gary Neville has spoken about in regards to Yaya Toure in the past couple of days was validated after the performance he put in against City’s crosstown rivals. Just a few days prior to the game I wrote about Manchester City’s tactics hindering some of Toure’s ability to perform this season. Although I do think some of this still rings true his performance on Sunday was inexcusable. Gary Neville wrote:

“He does that much for the team in an attacking sense you live with maybe the consequences of that defensively,' he added.

'But when the balance tips to a point when going forward isn't quite as effective as it once was, you've got to do something different because the defensive side is poor.”

Neville was completely correct in his assessment on a number of levels. Toure has not tracked back this season to the same effect as he had all of last season. It seems that he is only interested when the ball is with or ahead of him. Additionally, given the task to mark Fellaini in the air on Sunday I do not think there was a single ball he was able to win; and although Fellaini performed well I also do not remember many times where he even contested the Belgian in the air.

Toure simply has to go at this point because he has shown his disinterest all season and it is doing no party good. It is a shame after all he has done for The Citizens, single handedly winning trophies. But, with City also boasting the eldest squad in the league, as hard as it is to believe, he has become surplus to requirements.

Source: DSG