Manchester City have sorely missed Yaya Toure during his time away on international duty…
How important is Yaya Toure to Manchester City? Manager Manuel Pellegrini is confident that his side can keep up their title chase without the Ivorian midfielder, who will be absent from tonight’s game with Stoke City.
SEE MORE:
Man City Boss Manuel Pellegrini Denies He’s Under Pressure Despite Diego Simeone Rumours
About Time! Man City Ace Frank Lampard Finally Meets New York City Team-mates
‘I Have To Be More Consistent’ Admits £32m Man City Star
Toure has now returned from his successful Africa Cup of Nations Campaign with the Ivory Coast, but his manager has decided that it’s too soon to throw him straight back into the action.
His decision comes despite City having not won any of their last five league games. When asked if his team relied too heavily on Toure, the Argentine responded angrily, saying: “He is a very important player and it is very important to have Yaya back. But we don’t just depend on one player. We must win without him.”
Are City a one-man team? How do they compare with the other big teams from across Europe? We discuss all that and more below:
Manchester City – Yaya Toure
One Man Team? – Yes – It’s hard to argue with the statistics, Manchester City were within touching distance of Chelsea when Toure left for Africa, he returns to find them seven points adrift and almost out of contention.
SEE ALSO: Man City transfer news
Lyon – Alexandre Lacazette
One Man Team? – Yes – Lacazette has been a total revelation so far this season, scoring 21 goals in 22 league games. Lyon have only scored 48 goals in total, meaning their star striker has scored almost half of their overall total, firing them to the top of the Ligue 1 table.
Juventus – Paul Pogba
One Man Team? – No – The French midfielder has been in fine form again this season, with Juventus on track for a fourth successive Serie A title. Despite Pogba excelling, their success has been down to a number of players, including star striker Carlos Tevez and veteran Andrea Pirlo.
Bayern Munich – Arjen Robben
One Man Team? – No – Robben has been excellent this season, scoring 14 goals in all competitions. However, he is just one weapon in the Bayern Munich armoury. Pep Guardiola has a whole host of star players to call upon, with no one player clearly superior.
Barcelona – Lionel Messi
One Man Team? – No – You might once of thought otherwise of Barcelona, but they’ve worked hard to reduce their over-reliance on the Argentine, who is still their top scorer this season. Neymar has been much improved this season, while they also have the small matter of Luis Suarez hanging around too.
Paris Saint Germain – Zlatan Ibrahimovic
One Man Team? – Yes – The defending French champions have struggled somewhat this season and currently sit third in the league table. Zlatan has only featured in 75% of their league games due to injury and PSG have sorely missed his immaculate scoring talents.
AS Roma – Francesco Totti
One Man Team? – No – The veteran forward has still chipped in with a handful of goals and assists this season, but the Totti-era is coming to an end at Roma. They have plenty of other talented players waiting in the wings and they can now survive without their captain.
Wolfsburg – Kevin De Bruyne
One Man Team? – No – The former Chelsea man has been in superb form this season, as have a number of Wolfsburg players. While De Bruyne has arguably been the stand-out star, their surprisingly lofty league position cannot be put down to one player alone.
Real Madrid – Cristiano Ronaldo
One Man Team? – Yes – Real Madrid have an entire squad of world class individuals, but the whole team is based around Cristiano Ronaldo, who has scored 28 of their 70 league goals this term, and 36 in total. One man team or not, Ronaldo has been so good that it hasn’t really mattered.
Chelsea – Diego Costa
One Man Team? – No – Costa has scored 17 of Chelsea’s 54 league goals so far this season, but his three-match suspensions has proved that the Blues can cope without him. While they might lack a quality back-up striker, they have goals all over the pitch and remain the clear favourites to win the Premier League title.