It’s a touch of the old Toure
THIRTY-EIGHT minutes into his shock Manchester City return another Yaya Toure pass went astray.
Inside the penalty area, Sergio Aguero scrambled to recover the loose ball and played it back into the midfielder’s feet.
From there, it was a the old Toure: another pass — this time razor-sharp — was sent into the feet of Nolito, came back to Toure and he crashed his shot into the top corner.
Sure, it took a deflection but it was a glimpse of the talent that has powered so much of City’s success in the Abu Dhabi era.
This is supposed to be a new era under Pep Guardiola, although any suggestions of this being the end of the road for Toure have been shot down. The 34-year-old Ivorian has been frozen out of the side August and even after he apologised for the comments of his agent, Guardiola said ‘nothing has changed’ for Toure. The pair spoke on the training ground but there was little indication of a return.
But Toure was back in the side yesterday — a shock for the many who thought his 267th City appearance would be his last.
‘It’s good to be back,’ Toure said before the game. ‘I’m very lucky to be back in the team.’
The ‘luck’ of his selection looked evident early on: he was left behind in the opening stages of play and, when the ball finally did come to his feet, he misplaced a first, simple pass.
Soon after, a sliding tackle on Scott Dann was side-stepped easily. It was more spluttering old banger than Rolls Royce.
But his passing became increasingly smarter and his link-up play with Kevin De Bruyne improved. Then, when the opportunity presented itself, he made no mistake, flashing in a right-foot finish that skimmed off Scott Dann’s legs and into the roof of the net.
Come the hour-mark though, Toure began to lose energy and Connor Wickham’s equaliser came against a defence left wide open.
But Palace would have been unwise to count Toure out and with seven minutes left Kevin De Bruyne sent a corner low into the box and Toure smashed the ball into an empty net.
A £200,000 per week investment that was worth little to City for the start of this season is now paying dividends: most notably three points to restore them to the Premier League summit.
What comes next for Toure is a mystery but on this form he is right back in the mix under Guardiola — against all the odds.