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A fairytale season it’s been for the Ivorian playmaker, Gnegneri Yaya Toure, who has been the stand-out goalscoring midfielder this season, with a whopping 17 goals in the Premier League, and 21 goals in all competitions. With City set for another strong finish this season and favoured as title contenders, the contributions of this African behemoth have been instrumental to their success, scoring, not only at ease, but also at key junctures.
A major share of the credit should go to him for winning these key games, but, this does not acquit him from any of the blame that the City defensive unit has garnered this campaign. He has scored his fair share of goals this season. He has also had more than his fair share of defensive slip-ups this season. Let’s analyse defensive contributions statistically.
The Sky Blues have conceded 28 goals in the league so far this campaign, which is just one short of the total number of goals they conceded in their title-winning 11-12 season. And with 8 more fixtures left, that is far from impressive. Compare this to Chelsea’s 24 goals and you wonder how they’re still so strongly placed in the table. Yaya Toure’s complete disregard for his defensive duties as a holding midfielder has surely played a major part in this. His thirst and hunger for scoring goals, keenness to make the forward run, and constant looking out for that incisive pass at the expense of staying back have left City exposed defensively with only the two centre backs and the industrious Fernandinho ahead of their shot-stopper.
With Zabaleta and Kolarov being more like secondary wingers than full-backs, the responsibility of shoring up the defence falls on the mighty shoulders of the two defensive midfielders, Yaya Toure and Fernandinho. And while Fernandinho has diligently laboured to prevent City from conceding, Yaya has hardly cared to even enter his own box, let alone stay there.
In a side teeming with attacking stars the likes of Sergio Aguero, David Silva, Jesus Navas and Alvaro Negredo, none of whom are overly fond of defending, one would not think they’d need their defensive midfielder to stray into the opposition box so often. Sure, he does have goals to show for his efforts, but he has also been directly or indirectly responsible for the goals City have conceded this season. Most notably, against bottom of the table sides Fulham, Aston Villa and Cardiff. Having scored in all three of these games from open play, Yaya Toure was often spotted in the opposition half, rather than going back to defend as is expected of him.
The Citizens managed to scrape through with wins against Fulham and Cardiff, but were not as fortunate against Aston Villa. Yaya Toure was the main culprit in these disappointing performances. His showing against Arsenal was deplorable; his only contribution was one clearance, and one shot. At a colossal 6 foot 3 inches, he lost the only aerial duel he was involved in, and the number of tackles and interceptions he made summed up to the grand total of… ZILCH.
That’s not all. He has failed defensively in all aspects, and consistently, at that. Take his surprisingly low aerial challenges won, for instance. Being arguably the most intimidating player in the Premier League in terms of size and physique, Yaya Toure has been a real pushover, yes, you read right, PUSHOVER, in the air this season. He has won 0.9 aerial duels per game which is meagre in contrast to his diminutive teammate, Fernandinho’s 1.4 per game. 0.9 aerials duels won per game is a real shame for any player with decent heading ability (Crystal Palace’s Mile Jedinak has 4.5 per game, Chelsea’s Nemanja Matic has 2.9 per game, Peter Crouch has 8.0 per game).
And we all know, from his centre back days in Barcelona (note Champions’ league victory), that Yaya Toure is one of the most difficult players to beat in the air. Which makes us wonder, why has he been so tame defensively? The only possible explanation for that question is his utter disregard to his defensive duties and his lack of commitment, again, defensively.
This has been the story with the Ivorian all season. He yielded similar statistics in six-point games against Chelsea (home and away fixtures) and Liverpool. Statistics apart, it was quite apparent how poor a showing he put in, in these crunch games. Yet, his total of 17 goals have saved him from criticism. He has been continually outshone defensively by his Manchester City counterpart, Fernandinho, who has bettered Yaya at all aspects, save, goals scored.
There are rumours doing the rounds that Yaya Toure is favourite to win the PFA player of the year this season. While he’s no stranger to winning awards (He won the African player of the year for three seasons straight), and he has lit up the Premier League with some truly spectacular goals and attacking displays that are on par with Luis Suarez and Eden Hazard. I for one, believe that his defensive listlessness and indifference do not warrant a player of the year award. Not for one second am I saying that Yaya Toure is an underwhelming player who is overrated, he is an amazing player, once in a generation kind of player. Yaya is right up there with the Schweinsteigers and the Vidals.
I would even go so far as to say that he is the best box to box midfielder in the world right now, solely on the basis of his attacking genius, and goalscoring prowess. I can only imagine how terrifying and mercurial a player he would be if he was as dedicated to the defensive side of the game as he is to the attacking side of his game. But that’s all it is, imagination. Unless Gnengeri Yaya Toure decides to prove me wrong.
