The Manchester City midfielder Yaya Touré said that his form never went away despite a relatively low-key season last season.
|||Manchester City midfielder Yaya Touré said that his form never went away despite a relatively low-key season last time around when his club surrendered the Premier League title to Chelsea and the Ivorian was beset with off-field problems.
Touré scored once in City's 3-0 win over West Bromwich Albion on Monday and had a major role in the first goal, an impressive performance that augurs well for the season. The death of his brother Ibrahim last year, as well as the furore over his relationship with the club and infamous birthday cake saga the previous May cast a shadow over the performance of one of the most influential players in the league.
Touré said: “I think last season people are talking all the time [about his performances]. For me, I'm quite surprised. Last season was not the best season for us, but second in the table I think is not bad at all. There's been a lot of criticism of me but it's not been a bad season. Twelve goals, and I won the Copa [African Nations Cup] for my country, it's not bad at all. I know what I want, I know what I have to do, I don't care what people are saying about me.”
Asked whether he was back in form, Touré said; “I'm not 'back', I'm always there. People have to understand football is not talking about one player, it's about the team. The team did a massive job [against West Brom], we played very well, against a difficult side. West Brom have a good manager, good players and experience in the Premier League and the team played brilliantly. Full credit to the team.”
He added: “Sometimes people [have to] understand we are human beings. Things can go wrong when you're fully focused in your job, when you love your job and want to win all the time. My job is to make people happy and myself happy as well.”
Touré said he would try to claim the first goal that went in via David Silva and Craig Dawson. His goalscoring dropped by half last season and his lacklustre performances, especially in the Champions League, drew criticism from pundits. Nevertheless, his manager Manuel Pellegrini said after the game that he had full faith in the player, who has one year left on his contract after this season.
The former City defender Joleon Lescott, now at West Brom, conceded that his team gave their opponents too much space on Monday night in the first half. Their manager Tony Pulis said afterwards that he had got his tactics wrong with a 4-4-2 formation that allowed City, and Silva in particular, too much space.
Lescott said: “Their movement and technical ability is a very high standard. We knew it would be tough but we were disappointed with the way we went about it.” – The Independent
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