TOURE: FAIL AND WE’LL ALL BE FIRED
Etihad stars must win trophies... or quit
YAYA TOURE has admitted Manchester City’s players and boss Pep Guardiola are facing a makeor-break season – with all their futures on the line.
The Spaniard’s much-heralded arrival at City fell flat last season, when he failed to win a trophy for the first time in his glittering managerial career.
As well as ending their first season under Guardiola empty-handed, City could manage only third place in the Premier League, 14 points behind champions Chelsea.
Against that backdrop, City midfielder Toure admitted the focus is on Guardiola and his players to deliver success next season – or risk being shown the door.
Asked if there was extra pressure on Guardiola after last season’s trophy-less campaign, Toure said: “It’s the same for the players as well.
“If we don’t, then we’ll be removed very quickly. City is now a club that has to win something every year, you know.
“I don’t want to say how many trophies we must win, but it’s important to say we have to win something.
“We’re a team that creates more chances than the rest, but our finishing was not so strong last season.
“We need to start the season quickly. If we have the chances, we have to score.
“We have to show that killer instinct and be more clinical. When the chances come, we need to score.”
At the start of last season, Toure was an outcast at City, Guardiola refusing to pick him unless his agent apologised for disparaging remarks made about the ex-barcelona and Bayern Munich boss.
Toure’s City future looked bleak, but he was eventually recalled by Guardiola three months into the season and rewarded with a new one-year deal.
Asked how close he came to leaving, the 34-year-old Ivorian said: “People have been close to sending me off. But I wasn’t close to leaving.
“It’s always difficult when you don’t play. When you’re not enjoying it, it’s always difficult. When everything is good, you’re always happy. We just have to do our jobs through the ups and downs and deal with that.
“I was delighted to stay for one more year and we will see what happens. For me, in the last three or four years, I’ve always dealt with the doubts about my future with this club.
“But I’ve proven that I want to win. In the last two years, we’ve not been able to win too many trophies and it’s been quite difficult. So, this year we have to do something because we know most of the teams in the Premier League have a lot of money and are very strong. They can buy big players. We’ve seen this with Manchester United, so we know it is going to be very tough.” Toure is no longer the free-scoring midfielder, who bagged 24 goals in City’s 2013-14 title-winning season, and has had to adapt his game in recent years. Now deployed as a holding midfielder, Toure is confident he can still play a key role for City, even if he is not as attack-minded as he once was. “To be honest, I’ve not played how people, like the fans, want me to play,” said Toure. “But I’ve been here long enough to have achieved a lot of things. “Now, I’m playing the way the manager wants me to play. “It’s only the manager that decides and he can do what he wants.”
I’ve not played how people, like the fans, want me to play