Manuel Pellegrini hailed Yaya Touré’s dynamic performance at West Bromwich Albion and believes the midfielder is in the right frame of mind to put last season’s problems behind him and recapture the form he showed when Manchester City won the title last year.
Touré scored twice – the second an absolute beauty – and Vincent Kompany added a third as City won 3-0 and sent out a statement of intent before Sunday’s meeting with Chelsea. Pellegrini, as ever, refused to get carried away with victory and what it could mean in a wider context but the City manager was quick to praise Touré for his contribution.
“I always said that last season was a strange season for Yaya, he started the season with a lot of problems, the death of his brother, afterwards there was a lot of problems with his agents, so I think that he was not focused on what he had to do last year,” Pellegrini said.
“But we spoke a lot before the season and I am sure we are going to see the same Yaya we saw a couple of seasons ago. So I’m very happy for him and for the team because he’s a very important player.”
Touré’s second, which was curled into the top corner from the edge of the penalty area after a lovely exchange with Wilfried Bony, was the highlight of his performance in a match when Raheem Sterling made his Premier League debut for City. Pellegrini is hopeful it proves to be a sign of things to come with Touré, who was short of his best last season.
“First of all I don’t think that Yaya deserved the amount of criticism that he received last season, maybe it was not his best season but he didn’t play as bad as everyone said,” Pellegrini said. “But he’s important for us, so maybe he has more responsibility. But I am sure his head was not in his best moment and it’s very difficult for a player when you have so many problems.”
Pellegrini confirmed Touré had a slight problem with his groin but there is no suggestion the player will be a doubt for Chelsea’s visit to the Etihad Stadium, when Sterling will need to be more ruthless in front of goal than he was against West Brom. The most expensive English player squandered two decent chances either side of half-time.
“I’m not disappointed [he failed to score] because Raheem plays 70 minutes very well,” Pellegrini said. “It is not easy for him to play a new style with new team-mates, but he worked a lot and he had two clear chances. Maybe not any player at the start of season is certain to score. If he continues to play like this I am sure he will be the player we are sure that we bought.”
Tony Pulis accepted he got his tactics wrong by starting with two strikers and giving the brilliant David Silva far too much space. “I take responsibility for the way we set up,” the West Brom manager said. “The fact we had Saido [Berahino] and Rickie [Lambert] up front together pulled us away from what we should do. I said to them afterwards I’d take responsibility.”
The one encouraging note for Pulis was the confirmation he has completed the signing of the Venezuela striker Salomón Rondón. The 25-year-old arrives from Zenit St Petersburg for a club-record £12m. “He comes highly recommended from Manuel [Pellegrini], who had him at Málaga, and André [Villas-Boas], who had him at Zenit. He’s quick and powerful. We just hope he’s a good investment for the club.”
