At last, and eventually, Yaya Toure is coming back to Manchester, and how they have missed him.
There can hardly have been a poorer advert for African football than the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.
First it had to be moved halfway across the continent, to an under-prepared Equatorial Guinea, where the dreadful pitches were matched only by the dismal performances and horrifying crowd trouble.
The skill levels of the final shootout that decided the competition beggared belief, and Boubacar Barry’s play-acting and shouting at penalty takers only served to magnify what was already a footballing farce.
For Manchester City fans, the agony was double as every game that the Ivory Coast won kept brand new signing Wilfried Bony and their main man Toure away from home that little bit longer.
Without him they have lost ground on league leaders Chelsea and been dumped out of the FA Cup. His absence cannot be underestimated.
His last appearance in a blue shirt was in the 2-1 FA Cup defeat of Sheffield Wednesday, which was his ninth consecutive win for City, during which he had managed six goals and three man of the match awards.
It was then of course, like all the best Hollywood films, that Toure was cruelly summoned to Africa, to play Guinea, Mali, and Cameroon, instead of Everton, Arsenal and Middlesbrough.
It is almost beyond credibility how dramatically City’s formed declined, with three draws and two defeats since their midfielder’s departure.
It means that they now have not won a league game without Toure since beating West Brom in April of last year.
Staggeringly, they have not won away from home without his help in over two years, the last occasion being a 2-0 victory at the Emirates. That was January 13, 2013.
The stats are clear: City struggle without Yaya, and frankly who wouldn’t.
However, as Toure has spent more time at City, his role has become more and more of an attacking one, as he has added goals to his game.
But when Toure doesn’t play, it is not only the Citizens’ attack that suffers, but their defensive game as well, despite generally being replaced by a defensive midfield partnership of Fernando and Fernandinho.
In all competitions this season, City have conceded on average exactly one goal per game, but in the nine games Toure has missed, that figure rises to 1.5.
It is obvious that Manchester City have a problem. While you of course always hope your best player is fit and available, it is dangerous to be so reliant on him.
Manuel Pellegrini has denied on a number of occasions after disappointing results this season that City are all about Yaya, and has simply asked all his other players to step up.
But in fact in the way he sets his side up, Pellegrini only asks one man to step up: Fernando.
It is a big ask of a man playing in his first season in the Premier League to come in and replace one of the world’s best midfielders, but that is what the Chilean manager has done.
He has refused to change a system which appears only to have worked because of the influence of Toure in the middle of the pitch.
His presence allows David Silva and Jesus Navas to drift in and out of games without being missed, while his passing range draws them back in. It also means City don’t have to resort to the ‘give it to Silva’ tactic.
City have confirmed that the African Footballer of the Year will miss their trip to Stoke on Wednesday he celebrates a long overdue AFCON victory with friends and family in the Ivory Coast.
The champions have already lost to Stoke this year, even with Toure in their ranks. Without him, they look almost certain to lose.
The saving grace is that Pellegrini showed some tactical flexibility against Hull, putting two strikers up front, even if his players responded with a drab, pedestrian performance that was deserving of defeat but ended in a draw.
If City are to stop the rot at The Britannia Stadium, they must realise that they all have to raise their game in Toure’s absence, and work harder and faster than they would have to with him.
When he finally makes his comeback, they will have to hope a month of football and a week of partying in Africa has not taken it out of him.
They need Toure. Badly.
Main image courtesy of Carl Recine/Action Images, with thanks.
