Why Yaya Toure's the Most Disappointing Manchester City Player so Far in 2014/15

Before we get into why Yaya Toure is the most disappointing Manchester City player so far this season, a quick apology is appropriate. Eliaquim Mangala has tried his damnedest to earn this dishonor, but Toure's consistent disappearing acts have wrested the title right out of the defender's mitts.

Mangala came to City as the most expensive defender in the history of Premier League transfers. For the loot that City dropped to acquire Mangala, the presumption had to be that City's pesky fallibility at the back would be last season's distant memory.

But Mangala has only been special once this season, in his debut against Chelsea. The rest of the time, he has been either sidelined with injury or dropped. The one thing Mangala has going for him, though, is the one thing Toure ought to be running out of.

Time.

Warning bells have been ringing since September, when City star of yore Niall Quinn called Toure out for his indifferent effort against Bayern Munich in City's first Champions League match of this season.

Matthias Schrader/Associated Press

"His application last night could be questioned. Man City haven't hit full flow and I suppose it's time for him to step up to the plate now," Quinn said on Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast on talkSPORT (via Arash Hekmat in the Mirror).

You know it is bad when your manager comes out in the media and tacitly begs you to show up for a Champions League match for a change.

“I don’t agree exactly with the media that Yaya has had a bad season," Manuel Pellegrini said in advance of City's fall-from-ahead 2-2 draw with CSKA Moscow, per Jamie Jackson in the Guardian. "If you compare to last year, when he had a brilliant performance, maybe he just needs time to get back to that level," Pellegrini added.

Here's the thing, Manuel: When you concede from the outset that everyone thinks Toure is having a bad season, you have already lost the argument and nothing you say after that much matters.

In case you really do think Toure's play to date this season has been sufficient, though, here are some inconvenient truths to consider.

Toure has one Premier League goal and zero Premier League assists this season. He has as many league goals as Martin Demichelis, and one fewer than Frank Lampard.

In the Champions League, i.e. the most important matches on City's schedule, Toure has been virtually useless. No goals, no assists, only one shot on target out of three taken in three matches. If Toure is not tracking back to defend, and he is not putting the ball in the net or creating chances, exactly what is he doing?

At least against CSKA Moscow, he was passing:

As City fell apart in the second half, though, Toure did little to keep the disaster from unfolding. Besides, look at that graph again. How many of those passes are heading into the final third of the pitch? Just a handful.

And we are not even going to discuss Cakegate, or Toure's stage whispers about wanting to go back to Barcelona, or any of the other noise from Toure's 2014 summer of discontent as reasons for his poor beginning to this season. Why?

For one thing, Pellegrini apparently thinks all that is behind the big Ivorian.

"Yaya has the quality to make a difference. He had a difficult summer but every game he is getting better," Pellegrini noted recently, per an ESPN FC report.

Primarily, though, there is no reason to go into any off-the-pitch theories about why Toure is playing so poorly because they are all completely irrelevant.

Toure is paid like an elite player, and for the 2014/15 season to date he has not played like one.

Last season at this time, Joe Hart was City's biggest disappointment. Toure was one of the Sky Blues who pulled the side through Hart's crisis of confidence and kept them afloat until he figured it out.

Now Toure is City's biggest problem, and to their credit his teammates have worked tirelessly to carry the team through his lackluster early season.

For all of City's troubles—a probable early exit from the Champions League and an early five-point deficit in the league to Chelsea—the fact remains that City have lost just twice since the league season began on Aug. 17.

Remarkably, there is still time for City to set things right on both fronts. They are only two points off qualifying for the Champions League knockout stage with three matches to go, meaning their destiny is still in their hands. Chelsea might not be catchable in the Premier League, but it is too soon to give up that chase, either.

This much is certain, though. If Toure continues to wander aimlessly around the midfield, City will not be able to go 10-on-11 against excellent opponents and win.

City need Toure to get sorted, right now.