Pep Guardiola can presumably expect a phone call this week from Yaya Touré’s agent, the Spaniard’s bête noire Dimitri Seluk, demanding his client is handed a pay rise. After all those much publicised “misunderstandings in the past”, for which the player had recently, if belatedly, apologised, Touré is restored to the fray and contributing significantly once again. The absence has done little to blunt his dramatic timing.
He was decisive with two goals to condemn Crystal Palace to yet another defeat, a fifth in succession, while hoisting Manchester City on to the shoulder of league leaders Liverpool. Touré was clapped back into the visitors’ dressing room by his team-mates and already boasts as many Premier League goals this season as Paul Pogba across Manchester with United. He will be aching on Sunday, his body screaming in protest after a first league start in six months, but a player who had felt a fading memory of a bygone era only a few weeks ago suddenly appears to be an asset again.
“I was desperate to play because it has been so difficult for me,” said Touré in the aftermath, with that a brief acknowledgement to the months of exile which were finally ended with an apology. “My team-mates are very important to me and have always been brilliant, and I was prepared mentally. I knew, one day, my manager would need me again.”
That day arrived here. Guardiola will never see eye to eye with the unrepentant Seluk, whose outbursts had prompted the schism, but the cessation of that stand-off with the midfielder could yet prove significant in this team’s title pursuit. This was a slog against a Palace side desperate to arrest a recent alarming slide, the contest degenerating into a scrap from its opening exchanges. But, where City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo kept out Christian Benteke and Jason Puncheon poked wide, Touré capitalised on the visitors’ clearest sights of goal.
He had been sauntering on the periphery up to the moment another member of the old guard, Vincent Kompany, trudged off dizzied by a head injury. With him went leadership, with Touré filling the breach. The hosts had always felt vulnerable when Raheem Sterling tested the unconvincing Martin Kelly, though Palace did not help their makeshift left-back. In the 39th minute there was indecision from James McArthur and a poorly directed pass from Andros Townsend before Kelly, unnerved by Sterling’s presence, blindly scuffed a clearance in-field to Kevin De Bruyne on the edge of the box. City patiently pulled markers out of position before Touré swapped passes with Nolito and saw his shot flick up from James Tomkins and in.
That was his first league goal since March though a second, seven minutes from time, would be required to claim victory. City had been stung by Palace’s 66th-minute equaliser, their pressure oppressive thereafter, but would end up prospering from a set piece as so many have against the home side’s rearguard to date this term. De Bruyne’s corner was clever, slid into the six-yard box with Palace braced to repel an aerial assault. The hosts had not replaced the substituted Benteke at the near post, but more mystifying was their slackness in leaving Touré, a man-mountain, unattended in the centre. Even he looked surprised to be presented with a tap-in.
“He is a special player,” said Guardiola. “I would say his performance is not down to my decision [to select him], but it’s about his quality. Yaya’s physical condition is better than ever. He’s now a real part of the team again and can help us achieve our targets. We need this kind of player. But you know the reason why he has not been playing up to now…”
Guardiola’s admission that City had been “lucky”, having been made “so uncomfortable” by Palace’s aggressive approach, was no consolation for the locals. Some of the home support, united pre-match and during the game in memory of those who lost their lives in the Croydon tram derailment earlier this month, took their frustrations out on Alan Pardew, with the team now hovering a point above the relegation zone and pointless since September.
This was a more combative and even organised performance, with Connor Wickham’s rasping shot having deservedly forced them level midway through the second half. But there is disorganisation and panic at key times, with Touré’s winner now added to a lengthy list of unforgivable concessions from set-plays. Pardew claimed that “is not us” but recent history suggests it has become the norm.
Saturday’s trip to Swansea already feels critical. “It doesn’t look good at the moment with the results we’ve had,” added Pardew. “And yet our performances suggest we can turn it around. We need to do that quickly. I’m comfortable that we have a good distance to get ourselves in a better place, and we have games coming up where we need to take points.”
Pardew’s side were watched here by the major shareholder, Josh Harris. These are tricky times.
