Eamon Dunphy came in for quite a bit of criticism when he, somewhat legitimately, criticised an under-performing Yaya Touré last month. The phrase 'an obvious waster' was used to, in turn, criticise Dunphy in the aftermath of the criticism, however, as the weeks go by, Dunphy's point of view becomes more and more understandable.
Toure is a lazy footballer and not in an endearing Dimitar Berbatov kind of way. He regularly looks like he doesn't care and although you may not always agree with the RTÉ pundit, Dunphy was right when he said Touré won't work. Whether you agree with his assessment of Touré as 'a waster' is beside the point, but there's no denying the Man City midfielder is not the player he once looked.
With Man City now firmly out of the title race, perhaps the floodgates are open for criticising the kind of performances from Touré which have been well below par this season. When everyone's favourite punditry team take the knives out, you have to think the jig may be up.
Speaking on Monday Night Football last night, Jamie Carragher was scathing in his criticism of Touré's role in Crystal Palace's second goal. Jason Puncheon's free-kick was excellent but Carragher turned his attention to the wall in front of Joe Hart.
It's a huge wall. Sometimes you look at walls, and that is one of the biggest you'll ever see.
As he (Puncheon) connects with the ball, if you look at the knees, they're all crouching ready to jump. Yaya Toure doesn't look in the same position as the rest to start with.
Looking at the above screenshot, you might say that Touré's desire to get his head in the way is less than what might be expected from someone in his position and Carragher didn't hold back with his criticism of the Ivorian.
The only thing I was thinking was, does he think it is going to hit him in the face?
The more I look at it, everybody else is looking at the ball, doing everything they can. It's not in Kompany's line. It's not in Fernandinho's line. They're stretching their necks trying to get something on it. That's just damning for Yaya Toure.
