Manchester City star Yaya Toure rues ‘painful’ defeats but insists dip in form is not due to his absence

The midfielder does not believe his Afcon departure has resulted in Roberto Mancini's side's recent falterings, and suggests David Silva is the best player at Eastlands

1 Feb 2012 09:45:00

By Ross Jackson

More On :  Ivory Coast, Manchester City, Yaya Touré , David Silva
CL - Villarreal CF v Manchester City FC, Yaya Toure
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Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has conceded it is ‘painful’ watching his team-mates get beat while he is absent at the African Cup of Nations.

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Toure’s final game for the club before linking up with the Ivory Coast was City’s 3-0 demolition of Liverpool.

Since then, the ex-Monaco man has seen his side eliminated from both domestic Cup competitions, as well as lose their points advantage in the title race with a 1-0 defeat at Everton on Tuesday.

The 28-year-old has admitted it is difficult watching his team get beat, but says despite the seeming coincidence between his departure and City’s dip in form, it is not due to his absence from the side.

"I've suffered watching the games on the TV and it's my natural instinct to help my team-mates," admitted Toure in the Daily Mirror.

"The defeats have been painful because I wanted to win three titles but I don't think it's because of my absence. I'm not indispensable.

"David Silva is the best player in the Premier League. Without doubt, he separates us from United and Chelsea.

"It's a pleasure to play with him because he's so impressive. Aguero is also a great player and it feels we are connected.”

Despite his insistence that he is not the best player in Roberto Mancini’s star-studded squad, Toure concedes he thinks he has developed since his move from Barcelona in 2010.

He continued: "I left Barcelona to improve as a player and I believe that I have fulfilled my challenge and I am very happy."

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England 1-0 Belgium, Netherlands 4-0 Northern Ireland - follow all the international action LIVE! ahead of Euro 2012
With countries across the continent gearing up for their final warm-up games ahead of Euro 2012, join us for all the action from Saturday's friendlies. Get in touch with us via Twitter with your reaction.

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19:59 BST
Unfortunately for Northern Ireland, they are trailing the Netherlands 4-0 at half-time. Looks like that one's all sewn up then.
19:54 BST
We're still getting plenty of Hazard chat on Twitter. A few are now saying that he's not worth the hype, others saying he was brilliant(!?) and others (which I agree with), saying he created much of his own hype. What do you think? Get involved!
19:46 BST
Joe Hart has also been giving his thoughts after the Belgium game: "It was a really tough game, a good run out. I thought we played well, [but] we were a little bit bitty at times.

"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.

"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
19:38 BST
Here's Roy Hodgson's reaction to the result and some injury chat: "I'm very pleased, it's been a hard week and we've used a lot of players. There was a lot of disruption in the second-half with substitutions – some forced upon us, some we wanted to do. But it's still a very good end to the week playing against a good Belgian team here. Arguably even stronger than the Norwegian team we played last week and I've got to be more than happy that we've come out with another victory."

"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."

Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
19:35 BST
And another point from today: Eden Hazard wasn't great. Don't think you can judge him on one performance though. What do you think? Is it just a case of too much hype around the Chelsea-bound Belgian?
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