Toure back with a bang and a brace
YAYA TOURE is back! And back with a bang. In fact, the biggest of bangs.
For so long, sorry was the hardest word for Toure. But yesterday, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was glad it came.
The midfield star’s apology at the start of the month, for those prolific snipes from his outspoken agent Dimitri Seluk towards Guardiola, seems to have smoothed over the friction.
As a result, Toure was handed his first domestic appearance of the season at Selhurst Park, Guardiola lifting his vow not to select him until he received an apology.
And, in his comeback, the Ivory Coast international put City level on points with leaders Liverpool, scoring a brace on his shock return to the starting line-up.
Afterwards, Guardiola praised ‘very special’ Toure.
‘His performance was not about my decision,’ said the manager. ‘It’s about his quality. For the last two months, he trained really well. His physical condition is better than ever.
‘Yaya is now a real part of the team and can help us achieve our targets. We need this kind of player.’
But while one surprise selection worked a treat for Guardiola, the other did not go according to plan.
Starting in only his second league game of the season in place of the rested John Stones, Vincent Kompany was once again forced off suffering from an injury.
This time the Belgian complained of blurred vision after a sickening collision with his own goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.
Similarly, Palace boss Alan Pardew is wondering when his luck will change. It’s now five consecutive defeats for his side, who have now slipped to within one point of the relegation zone.
They will count themselves unlucky not to have earned a point yesterday.
City dominated possession but lacked conviction in the final third.
Palace held their own, Wilfried Zaha giving Aleksandar Kolarov a few uncomfortable moments.
The afternoon, though, belonged to Toure. His first moment to savour arrived in 39 minutes as Palace failed to recover from James McArthur giving the ball away on the edge of his box.
Receiving a pass inside the area, Toure exchanged a one-two with Nolito before firing an unstoppable shot past Wayne Hennessy to give City the lead.
This was a statement from Toure, a significant riposte after months of being left out in the cold by Guardiola.
Pardew sought a response of his own at half-time as he replaced Andros Townsend with Connor Wickham in search of greater physical presence in his attack.
And his side would have been on level terms if it wasn’t for Bravo, who produced a brilliant stop to deny Christian Benteke’s bullet header in 56 minutes.
This should have been way more comfortable for City had Sergio Aguero been more accurate with his finishing from Kevin de Bruyne’s cross.
Aguero was denied again in the 65th minute, this time brilliantly by Hennessey who got a vital hand to the Argentine’s effort before Joel Ward completed the job by clearing off the line.
And seconds later Palace were level. Zaha fed the ball to Wickham just on the edge of the box and he fired a near-post shot past Bravo.
But the home side threw it all away seven minutes from time. De Bruyne’s corner was not cleared and Toure, just three yards out, tapped home City’s winner.