It’s no surprise Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany’s return has coincided with an upturn in results and more defensive stability.
The centre-back came back for the Champions League victory over Viktoria Plzen and then marshalled Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney magnificently in the derby, begging the question: who is the most important player for the Blues this season?
For MM, Kompany is the most important player for City. In the three Premier League fixtures he did not feature in this season, City dropped four points. The defence was extremely poor in the defeat at Cardiff where they was a lack of leadership at the heart of the defence and midfielder Javi Garcia had to deputise in the back four.
The Belgian defender is important to the side because the drop in performance when he does not feature is astounding. Matija Nastasic and Joleon Lescott are good defenders in their own right but the presence of Kompany rubs off extremely well on them.
Yaya Toure is another crucial player for City and has been a battering ram at the heart of the midfield over the last four years. He looks to be back to his best this season after falling below his standards last season, like many others at City.
Toure has scored some of the most important goals in the clubs history, netting the only goal in both the semi-final and the final of the 2011 FA Cup winning season and has been on the score-sheet in five of the seven games this season. His free-kick taking has been a huge boost this term, he’s scored three already.
A massive bonus for City will be his presence throughout the whole season after he missed spells of the past two years while on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations. For all their strengths, Jack Rodwell, Javi Garcia and Fernandinho cannot influence the game in the same way that Toure can.
Toure is key to the attacking football new manager Manuel Pellegrini desires. His ability to keep possession is essential when trying to establish pressure and create chances. Having Fernandinho playing in a deeper role has allowed him to use his ability in more threatening areas on the pitch.
Sergio Aguero appears to be the first-choice striker for Pellegrini, who is looking to play either new signing Alvaro Negredo or Edin Dzeko with the Argentine and not ahead of him.
Aguero has repaid the faith shown in him with three goals in his last two games, volleying home the opener at the weekend after scoring a neatly placed goal in the Champions League.
The Argentine has the rare ability to create a goal when the chance appears to be gone. He has incredible balance and his desire to stay on his feet should be commended when many players appear happy to go down under the slightest challenge. His goal to seal the title and his winner at Old Trafford are examples of his ability to stay on his feet and escape the final challenge before finding a way to score.
David Silva, nicknamed ‘Merlin’ for his wizard-like ball skills, is the club’s premier playmaker. The Spaniard is instrumental in creating chances for the array of strikers at the club, having racked up 23 assists in the top flight over the past few seasons.
One area of his game that he does need to improve is his goal-scoring. Silva has not reached double figures in the league since he moved to Manchester City from Valencia in 2010. The Spaniard got off to a terrific start in that regard with a goal in the first game of the season but has been out of action since, picking up a thigh strain on international duty.
This injury has allowed Samir Nasri to step into the starting eleven and the Frenchman has made a claim to start ahead of Silva in future games. A faultless display in the derby, after impressing in Europe, has helped ease the worries that an absence of Silva would damage the Blues title chances.
However, last year’s player of the season, Pablo Zabaleta, is not the most important player for the Blues. Zabaleta plays in a position that cannot influence the action hugely and with the return to fitness of academy product Micah Richards, his loss would not be devastating to their chances this season.
Kompany, on the other hand, is another story. The team’s improvement over the past week was due largely to his return to full fitness. In some of the club’s worst performances of the season the absence of Kompany was keenly felt, particularly in the defeats away at Southampton and Everton.
If he is available for the whole year, City are certain to come closer to the title than last year’s effort when they finished 12 points behind Manchester United.
Image courtesy of Erik Drost via WikiMediaCommons, with thanks.
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