In the Spotlight: Is Yaya Toure really ‘World-Class’?

Callum Meara-Wilson takes a closer look at the growing debate over Yaya Toure’s quality and questions if the Manchester City midfielder is up their with the very best of midfielder men.

Yaya Toure is a name that sends shivers up midfielders and defenders spines throughout Europe, or does it?

Yaya has just come off his most prolific season to date with an impressive 20 goals in the league yet only scored seven in play a feat matched by Steve Sidwell. During his games against the other five in the top six he scored only twice and both were penalties. He also struggled to make an impact in either of City’s games against Barcelona or Bayern Munich. Even though the point cant be argued that Toure is a very good footballer I think putting him in the world-class bracket is a step to far.

Wasn’t it once said that “to be the best you had to beat the best”? Is his form in the first few games of the season a shock or just a re-occurrence of the form he shown in the world cup and the big games of last season?

During his games against Barcelona and Bayern Munich he was pitched against midfielders whose names are etched into the world-class bracket by everyone who watches football. He came up against the likes of Xavi and Iniesta against Barcelona and also the man who took his position of him when he was just 19 years of age, Sergio Busquests. Toure was not effective in either of these games when he had the ball and struggled to use his size to remove others off it.

This pattern also occurred against Bayern Munich when he was pitched against Schweinsteiger, Kroos and Lahm. In his clubs toughest four games of the season he didn’t show up or show glimpses of the form he was showing when scoring hat-tricks against Fulham when other players in his team such as Vincent Kompany and David Silva shone.

Even during these games when he was being outwitted alongside his fellow midfield partner Fernandinho you always felt he could do something by using his power and strength to nullify the superior technicality of the likes of Xavi and Lahm and score or even create a chance for City.

However, the most telling point of his inability to be called world-class for me was his game at home against Chelsea in February when he came up against Nemanja Matic and he wasn’t able to win the midfield battle by using his sheer size and strength and then struggled to make an impact with his ability alone.

This past weeek City have come up against Chelsea and Bayern and once again there was a no show from Yaya. Now I know players often go missing it games, Messi in the World Cup final for example but Toure consistently lets his team down in the big games.

He was rescued by Fernandinho against Bayern due to his reluctance to get back and defend. I’m not saying Yaya Toure doesn’t deserve to be called a very good player because he is however, I think its a bit disrespectful to those midfielders who have won Champions Leagues for their teams and numerous important games such as Xavi and Lahm to be classed in the same catergory as Yaya Toure.


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