The warning signs were there on August 10.
As Aaron Ramsey drifted through the Manchester City midfield to put Arsenal 2-0 up in the Community Shield, a lackadaisical Yaya Toure could be seen jogging his way back into his own area, oblivious to the fact he should have tracked the Welshman from the half-way line.
The Community Shield is rarely a barometer for how a season will pan out for the respective clubs involved but for Toure it represented something more than a day out at Wembley.
This was his first major game back in a City shirt since the nonsense of absent birthday cakes and blushing at interest from Barcelona that was never there. This was an opportunity for Toure to show City that he did care.
Never mind the nature of the match, whether it is a ‘competitive’ fixture or not, the occasion should have compelled him to deliver. And while by no means was he City’s poorest player on the day, that image of Ramsey running freely into space away from the Ivorian was a glimpse into the not-too distant future.
So far Toure has come nowhere near his excellence of last season when he was arguably the Premier League’s best player.
He is yet to score in 630 minutes of domestic and Champions League action and there is a visible disconnect between him and his team-mates on the field. He did put in a display of gusto in the 1-1 draw against Chelsea and was solid enough last weekend at Hull but he is far from the force of nature we have come to recognise.
Consequently his indifferent form has been emphasised in the Champions League where the standard is so much higher.
Against Roma on Tuesday in competition with a 34-year-old Seydou Keita he was a passenger.
Claims last season he is ‘the most complete midfielder in the world’ are now looking considerably misplaced. And while it is unfair to make him the scapegoat – especially given the tragic death of his brother Ibrahim in June – his own form has come to represent and symbolise the club on the continent.
Deciphering just why City are so average and anaemic in the Champions League against their domineering Premier League form is a difficult task.
In their opening two fixtures they have been outplayed by both Bayern Munich and Roma. But Manuel Pellegrini’s men have not just looked second-best, they’ve appeared second-rate in the wider context of the Champions League.
Without Joe Hart their points haul would surely be zero and their goal difference far worse than the current -1.
Whenever they do have the ball they just don’t look capable of doing anything with it of note. In mitigation, this is the second season in three they have been drawn among the tougher groups in the competition.
Bayern’s brilliance is well-established but Roma’s early-season form implies they are much better than the dark horse label many have hung around their necks. But City are the champions of a league we are frequently told is the best in the world.
Something is not right.
Toure is City’s highest earner and, at numerous times last season, was the man to drag the team up from mediocrity to become mighty.
He has earned the right to be called the main man and is paid handsomely enough where it should be a responsibilty and a requirement.
Since he was signed in 2010, City have consistently pandered to not only his wage demands but the reckless influence and inconsistent whims of his agent Dimitry Seluk.
Why?
Previous results speak for themselves. But the situation is now at the stage where Pellegrini has more than enough justification to drop him from the starting XI.
City are well-stocked in central midfield and it could do both him – if he is still understandably grieving for his brother Ibrahim – and the team some good.
However, such has been his impact over the last four years, Toure has come to embody everything good about Manchester City on the field, and taking him out of the side could be counterproductive.
But then because his status has been allowed to become so fundamental to what City do, paradoxically, he is now embodying their very worst.
