Breaking Down Yaya Toure's Form for Manchester City so Far This Season

Last season, Yaya Toure once again drove Manchester City to the Premier League title. In doing so, he scored 20 goals, becoming only the second midfielder (after Frank Lampard) to break the 20-goal mark in the Premier League era.

While only the most optimistic of souls would have anticipated that Toure, now 31, would exceed or even match that kind of contribution this term, few could have foreseen his anonymous start to the new season.

Perhaps we should have done…

The summer was a miserable one for the Ivorian midfielder. First of all, he was present—and impotent—as the Elephants were dumped out of the World Cup. Their group-stage elimination means that the Golden Generation have fallen at the first hurdle at the last three World Cups.

On a personal level, Toure endured tragedy as his brother died of cancer. An already-stretched relationship with Manchester City deteriorated even further when the club reportedly denied the midfielder the chance to visit his brother, Ibrahim, on his deathbed.

There were also indications that the midfielder wanted to leave City—with Paris Saint-Germain reportedly hovering [via David Anderson &  John Cross of The Mirror]—while the well-documented birthday-cake fiasco was as farcical as it was fundamental in demonstrating the tetchy relationship between player and club.

In this context, it’s perhaps not surprising that Toure hasn’t hit the heights of last term.

Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

By the end of December last term, Toure had scored nine goals and contributed three assists in the Premier League.

This season, with only six games to play before New Year, he has scored only three and contributed only one assist.

Manuel Pellegrini was quick to attempt to halt any talk of underperformance on behalf of the player, but he did admit that the summer’s exploits may take some time to get over.

"I don't agree that Yaya has had a bad season.

"Maybe if you compare his performances this year to last season, when he had a brilliant performance, maybe he just needs time to get back to that level,” the coach began, as reported by the Daily Mail.

"But he continues to be a very important player for our team, especially as he showed two games ago against Aston Villa.

"Every game he is playing better. He had a very complicated summer, but I think now he is arriving back towards his normal performance."

Alex Livesey/Getty Images

His reduced goal-scoring contribution has led to talk of a decline, with some such as Adam Bate of Sky Sports commenting that his “contribution is so diminished by comparison to last season’s heroics.”

Bate also goes to—via this handy infographic—to show how Toure’s high-intensity runs—for so long such a trademark of his game—have been far rarer this term. The image seems to indicate a player who appears either physically unable or mentally unwilling to take the same kind of gambles and commit to the same kind of endeavour as he did last term.

Goals and assists aren’t the only area of statistics where his decline can be seen.

According to WhoScored, Toure’s passing accuracy has decreased (albeit minimally) from 90.1 percent last season, to 89.5 percent this.

He has been dispossessed more regularly, losing the ball on average 1.4 times per match, compared to 0.9 times last year.

Defensively, his contribution is also lower. His tackles-per-game average is down from 1.5 to 1.3 while his interceptions-per-match has also decreased, from 0.7 to 0.4.

Tellingly, his shooting has become considerably less efficient.

While there have been a few superb strikes, including the delicious effort against Aston Villa and the recent hit against Southampton, the midfielder has been struggling to deliver the same quality of shot.

Last year, for example, it took him, on average, 1.8 shots to find the net. This season, however, his accuracy and effectiveness has declined to 3.3 shots per goal.

This represents a key area of deterioration. Last term no other player to score 10 or more goals in the EPL (18 players) was more effective in their finishing than Toure.

It’s important, however, not to present a false picture of the player’s contribution.

While the stats noted above demonstrate a decline—albeit marginal in some cases—there are various areas in which Toure is actually improving on last season’s effort.

Aerially, for example, again according to WhoScored, he has averaged 1.2 victorious duels this term, compared with 0.9 last year.

Notably, the frequency of key passes has more than doubled; whereas last term the West African averaged 0.4 per match, this year he is achieving an standard of one per game.

As marked is the increase in the average passes per game.

The stats demonstrate that Toure is seeing much more of the ball this term than last. While over the 2013-14 season he averaged 61.1 passes per match, this year he is managing 87.2. To put this into context, only one player, the revered Cesc Fabregas, is averaging more passes per game than Yaya.

Impressively, the Ivorian can also boast of better pass accuracy than his Chelsea rival.

Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

There are signs, too, that the Ivorian is improving.

Over the last few matches he has been at the centre of the action.

He scored for the Citizens in their disappointing defeat to CSKA Moscow, and was missed during the first half against Bayern Munich where, without him, City struggled to get a handle on the game.

Again, the Sky Blues were underwhelming against Queens Park Rangers, but it’s not an accusation that can be levelled at Toure, who contributed an assist.

He has since scored two in his last two, helping Pellegrini’s boys to victories over Swansea City and Southampton.

Toure proved, during November, that talk of a decline was premature.

It would take a magnificent effort from this point for him to come close to emulating last term, but whether it will be with City or elsewhere, Yaya has shown that he is still, on his day, among the most influential and dominant central midfielders in the Premier League.

It may not be enough to carry City to the title, but it should be enough to silence the doubters…for now.

All statistics courtesy of WhoScored