Having given myself time to calm down I've come to the conclusion that some of our players have run out of steam, lost the will to put the effort in or are just past their peak. One that stands out amongst them is Yaya Toure, what a great player he used to be and even greater player he could have been. Had he not the innate ability to go missing and become lazy, his twilight years at Manchester City will be tarnished by his walking around the pitch like a spectator as our opponents break on us. If that wasn't enough we as a club also suffered every time we lost him to the AFCON, one of many reasons why we came up short in 2012-13 and 2014-15. This is a significant strain so if an elite club is to have African players, then they need to make sure there's adequate cover.
He's not alone though as Aleksandar Kolarov has been quite atrocious of late, as has Wilfried Bony and Jesus Navas continues to try use his speed and touch to hide the fact he can barely score goals. Yeah Navas can whip a ball in but a 10 year old youth player can do that too, the best players actually find their target when they cross a ball whereas Navas just hits it and hopes someone gets on the end of it.
I've never really rated Kolarov much myself, he's from day one always left space in behind himself when bombing forward, we didn't suffer much for it when James Milner played in front of him and covered his backside. A wing Back that can't defend is no defender in my book, relies too much on his speed and quite frankly he's losing it so he's without a doubt going to be one of the first departures under the Pep Guardiola reign.
Although Mangala and Otamendi have upped their performances in the last few games, they are also guilty of failure. A few good performances should never out way an inconsistent and below par season.
Demichelis pretty much has an excuse so it's tough to be hard on the guy, he's nearing retirement age and will be departing anyway.
I have the feeling Yaya has thrown in the towel knowing he won't be at the club much longer, which would explain his embarrassing performance against Real Madrid where even Stoke City's players were condemning him. I strongly believe he threw us under the bus but it doesn't stop there.
Manuel Pellegrini has also been guilty of some awful decisions, why didn't he take Toure off the moment he started causing problems for us? We were doing so well without Yaya in Europe, then Pellegrini ruins all that hard work and what happens? we were effectively playing with 10 men against Real Madrid who I strongly believe we should have knocked out of the Champions League. I will without a doubt take solace in knowing Athletico Madrid will win the Champions League.
Wilfried Bony, Pellegrini has consistently persisted with the Forward despite the fact he can't score goals to save his life, the fact he's continually snubbed Kelechi Iheanacho who can and has been scoring goals from the bench in favour of Bony just makes me angry. It's been one almighty slap in the face for Iheanacho, but the lad has taken it in his stride and has shown maturity beyond his years. Wilfried Bony is as far as I'm concerned the most expensive flop in Manchester City FC history, we were well and truly robbed.
As far as I'm concerned next season can't come soon enough, I really want to believe Pellegrini and Yaya Toure are deliberately derailing us this season but. I put it down to believing Pellegrini just hasn't got what it takes to consistently sustain Champions League football and that Yaya Toure has given all he's got and has no more to offer.
Now this sounds like I'm having a pop at them all and in all honesty I am but, I haven't forgotten all the hard work Manuel Pellegrini has done for our club. He cleaned up the mess left behind by Roberto Mancini and Co, he matched Mancini's success rate. Yaya Toure gave some of his best years early on in his City career so we have to thank then both for that, they can walk away with their heads high.
On the other hand we have suffered of late by poor decision making, under performances and ignorance. Pellegrini this season has jeopardized our Champions League spot for next season which hinges on us beating both Arsenal and Swansea City, Yaya Toure has been guilty of not turning up on more than one occasion.
But we can take comfort in knowing we're still in with a chance of qualifying for the Champions League for now, we can also look at our poor performances over two legs against the mighty egotistical Real Madrid as a positive. We almost knocked out the mighty Real while playing atrociously and only lost by one goal with the players we have.
As always our fans will support our club until the end, my only hope is that if Pellegrini persists with Yaya, that he doesn't produce another poor performance like he did against Real when we face Arsenal. Otherwise Pellegrini's and Toure's legacy will be tarnished, all that hard work and go out with a whimper.
COMON CITY.
A good insight which few covered.
ReplyDeleteToure inclusion was a disaster of a decision. Fernands were doing absolutely fine.