And? Name me a player who has never been 'nullified' in a game. The face Willian was in there to press Toure shows the respect Mourinho had for his ability.
Yaya Toure
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Mourinho played for a draw last season against the weakest United side in the past decade. Doesn't really say anything.
He's been pretty much invisible in CL for City. There was that one great run away at Real Madrid, but even then Javi García and Barry were tasked to do the dirty CM work in that match. Considering he's clearly one of their main players, the way top European sides have made him useless is very disappointing.
Yaya 'Shooting the Breeze' Toure.
I remember the same happening to Cantona
. Yaya is definitely one of the best midfielders to play, or even appear, in the PL but it is hard to understand why he has been less effective in CL.Teams with better midfielders and who are more tactically disciplined deal with Yaya fine in the CL.
He excels in England because of his physicality.
He excels in England because of his physicality.
There have probably been at least 15 better than him in the league.I remember the same happening to Cantona
This should be funny. Name those 15 players then.
Keane
Viera
Fabregas
Gerrard
Lampard
Scholes
Ummm... struggling a bit now
Viera
Fabregas
Gerrard
Lampard
Scholes
Ummm... struggling a bit now
Gerrard, Alonso, Mascherano, Scholes, Keane, Lampard, Fabregas, Vieira, Essien, Makelele, Ince and Speed. There are some other ones that I could argue too.
You could argue whoever you like if you're that way inclined. Yaya Toure has just scored 20 goals as a central midfielder. He has played in a Champions League final as a centre back. Yet here we have a claim that there have been at least 15 players better than him in the Premier League for his position. Absolute nonsense and there is no other way to describe it.
Yaya Toure is better than Makelele, Ince and Speed. Arguably better than Essien too.
He's definitely better than Mascherano
Mascherano and Ince better than Yaya?
Mascherano was the best defensive midfielder in the world for us. Then he went to Barcelona and they fecked him by playing him at centre back.
Mascherano and Makelele are very different players to Yaya, but I'd definitely have them over him. Ballack, too.
You can think Yaya Toure isn't as good as Vieira, Keane, Scholes. Fair enough, they were truly elite players. But Ince, Mascherano, Gary Speed? Essien soon dropped off as well and even at his best I'd argue he wasn't as good as Yaya Toure. Makelele was a wonderfully effective player but I'd also say Yaya was better. I'd say he's better than Alonso and Fabregas as well but not much between them really.Mascherano and Ince better than Yaya?
He was never the best defensive midfielder in the world. This was proved when he went to Barca and found they had one far better than him already.
Who was better while he was at Liverpool? Busquets has surpassed him, no doubt, but while Mascherano was at Liverpool Busquets was just breaking through.
You care too much about goals. Playing as a midfielder is about much more than your goals, otherwise you start thinking stupid things like Yaya is better than Xavi.
Yaya Touré is extremely talented but his performances are often poor, covered up by 1 or 2 moments in a game.
Bullshit. He typically starts games in a deep role and dictates the play, linking the midfield to the attack. He is excellent in possession and almost never loses it and has wonderful vision. The problem is because of his goals you get people who evidently think that when he isn't scoring or assisting then he's had a poor game. But they are headline grabbing aspects of his game. Anyone who plays DM for Barcelona clearly has more to them than that and that tells you all you need to know about his ability.
Yaya Toure (was a DM then), Alonso, De Rossi
He is great in possession, agree with that. It's when he's not on the ball that his weaknesses are shown up. He's lazy and/or has awful stamina, doesn't track runners from midfield, doesn't press, doesn't make an effort to find space.
At Barcelona he didn't show as much on the ball but until his last year or so he was much better than at City for my money, just not as flashy.
It'd frustrate me if I was a City fan. He's shown at Barcelona he can do the dirty work, he's shown at City he can do the nicer stuff and yet he's never put it together. Too lazy for that.
People call him a luxury player which is fair enough but when he is the stand out player for a team who have won 2 league titles and 2 domestic cups then he is clearly worth the 'luxury'.
Mascherano was a better dm than Toure, Alonso was hardly a DM, De Rossi wasn't as good as Mascherano.
He is lazy, admittedly. And he doesn't really press, but that's not his style and I presume the fact he rarely does it suggests the management aren't telling him to either. He does track runners or he simply wouldn't play. He can be lethargic but it's overhyped and he makes up for it throughout the game. He isn't that lazy, he's just a drama queen more than anything, pretending to be injured or completely gassed.
And I completely disagree that he doesn't find space, he is always looking for the ball. Look at how many passes he completed last season.
Yaya Toure was and is a much more complete CM than Mascherano. Give Yaya to Barcelona and he'll displace Mascherano in any position.
Yaya can give you an exquisite ten or twenty minutes in which he runs amok and can single handily win a game, but he doesn't compare to the greats. No chance.
I think you are overrating him to be honest. In Rafa's system there were two defensive/deep midfielders (two of him, Alonso and Lucas) so the job was a lot easier than someone like Toure's at Barca.
I would definitely take De Rossi over Mascherano, a far more complete player. The best defensive midfielders in world football can handle the defensive game but are also contributing far more going forward than Masch is capable of.
I'd place Mascherano slightly above Carrick to be honest, nothing outstanding but great nonetheless.
Mascherano is the best out and out defensive midfielder there is playing today but there is a reason he plays centre back for Barca and that is because isn't that good on the ball.
Busquets is better.
Martinez and Busquets are better. I'd take Busquets over every midfielder in the world probably. When he's on form he's ridiculously good and underrated.
I forgot Modric from my list too.
I am more on about the defensive skills where I think Mascherano is best. Very similar to Makelele in that regard. As an all round player though I agree Busquets is much better.
Modric was never better than Toure in England your list is pointless because it is utter dogshit, to put it simply. You're just naming any player of above average ability who happened to be a midfielder. Gary Speed better than Toure? Jesus wept.
Like I said, Yaya can sometimes give you that ten to twenty minutes in a game, but he's never really a presence throughout an entire game. Which separates him from the greats, in my opinion.
I think even us United fans recognized that Yaya was a cut above anything in the PL over the last few years. He has had a similar impact on City to what Viera had on Arsenal. In his position i think it would hard pressed to find many that are better. He is not the best, but one of the best.
Yaya not performing is good news to the rest of the PL. He was absolutely brilliant last season and was the top performer alongside suarez and silva.
At 31 or 32 maybe time is not on his side too.
At 31 or 32 maybe time is not on his side too.
Ince was great!
He had just come back from playing 2 matches in Africa and looked leaden-footed from the off. Shouldn't have started against Bayern. I doubt we are going to see a major decline from last season to this. Which means he'll still be brilliant over the course of a season.