The mancityfans.net football forum

by **Green & Blue** » Wed Dec 15, 2010 7:57 pm

Plenty of coverage for city on his sky sports pick of the week blog

PLAYER - Yaya Toure
Yaya Toure has got to be the most improved player in the Premier League. That sounds fairly condescending when you consider he's on something like £220,000 a week, but for the first two to four months of his Manchester City career you couldn't see what they had bought. But now that he has adapted to the pace of the game in this country, he's starting to shine and he was superb against West Ham, netting two goals and playing brilliantly. At Barcelona, he played as a defensive-midfielder but he's playing further forward for City and his power and pace is hard for opposition defenders to deal with. I'll be honest; I would play Adam Johnson over him in that advanced position, but his performance on Saturday, coupled with the way he has been playing, means he won't be dropped anytime soon.

GOAL - Yaya Toure
Andy Carroll's goal for Newcastle was a belter and put the gloss on their win over Liverpool, but I'm going for Yaya Toure's first goal against West Ham. He thundered the ball past Robert Green from the edge of the area, and that highlights just how much confidence he is playing with at the moment.

GAFFER - Roberto Mancini
Mancini is beginning to show people what a good manager he is. Not only is his side starting to score more goals, he is getting the best out of his players. People laughed when he put Toure further forward, but they're not laughing now! He has also dealt with David Silva very well. He gave him time to settle in and now his quality is shining through. And he also handled Mario Balotelli superbly, taking him off when he was beginning to lose his cool. Mancini has showed by that decision - and the one he made by taking off Carlos Tevez against Bolton last week - that he is focused on the team and not pandering to egos. With him in charge, City have a great chance of winning the Premier League.

GRIPE - Carlos Tevez and player power
The Tevez issue is alarming for me. He is one of the highest-earning players at that club, as well as the captain, and he hasn't behaved well. If he is genuinely homesick then he'll go to the board and rip up his contract, but I doubt he'll do that. It must be really disappointing for all Manchester City fans that the heartbeat of their club says he has played his last game for them. Like City, Barcelona pay above the going rate in terms of wages and all they expect in return is a bit of loyalty from their players, who are privileged that they are held in such high regard. Tevez should act the same way and for him to want to escape a club when it's on the up, is weird. But like we see time and time again in modern day football, players are determining their future and not the clubs - and that's wrong.