Yaya Toure owes it to the Manchester City fans to play well as Chelsea arrive

A disgruntled Yaya Toure cannot complain of workload because he was given an extended break after the World Cup. Jon Super / AP Photo

It is an infuriatingly catchy song, but a suitable one. It had the sort of unstoppable momentum its subject, Yaya Toure, possessed as he surged forward time and again last year.

In many ways, the song served as the soundtrack to Manchester City’s season.

The choruses of his name, with the repetition of “Yaya”, to the tune of 2 Unlimited’s No Limit, have not been heard in the current campaign, though, and it is no surprise.

Toure has not found the form he demonstrated in the more prolific season of his career. Neither is his popularity as sky high as it was a few months ago.

If City fans are not celebrating Toure, they are not publicly castigating him either but there is the growing sense that the midfielder owes the club.

Not so much after a substandard showing in Wednesday’s loss to Bayern Munich, though that hardly helped, or a below-par display in defeat to Stoke, when most of his teammates found their best form similarly elusive, but because of the summer’s events.

The needless unrest caused by Toure and his preposterous parody of an agent, Dimitry Seluk, means he owes the club.

To recap, the Ivorian had just helped propel City to the title when Seluk made the bizarre and incorrect claim that the club had shown his client a lack of respect by forgetting to celebrate his birthday on a post-season tour to Abu Dhabi.

A stand-off escalated, with hints the midfielder wanted to join Paris Saint-Germain and the reprehensible claim that City, who are accommodating employers, denied him compassionate leave to be with his dying brother, Ibrahim.

The diplomatic Manuel Pellegrini preferred to ignore Toure’s summer comments, just as he has suggested grief is one reason for his malaise.

The club are wearily accustomed to Seluk’s antics and the former Barcelona player is not regarded as a troublemaker; he was one of the few the outspoken Roberto Mancini did not antagonise.

Yet, another bond is in danger of being broken. While players may not realise it, such sagas serve as a rejection of the fans who have embraced them and whose loyalty is unchanging.

When the loyalty of others fluctuates, it means they need to perform on the pitch.

Short-term memories dominate in football, the cliche that you are only as good as your last game reigning unquestioned.

Toure’s last game did not proceed to plan. He had been liberated from his defensive duties since Pellegrini’s arrival but when he had to put in a shift for his side, in Munich in midweek, he looked a weak link.

The selfless Fernandinho protected his back four tirelessly. The same could not be said for his sidekick.

The energetic Fernando was missed but he will not be fit enough to face Chelsea on Sunday, which means Toure again has a task to do for his team.

They have lost three of the five games he has played, though there are mitigating factors. Like the rest of City’s World Cup contingent, he was granted more time off than many a counterpart at other clubs.

Rather than rushing his players back, Pellegrini took the long-term view. It explained why Toure was not at his sharpest in August’s Community Shield defeat to ­Arsenal.

International duty also explained why he missed last week’s rematch with the Gunners but in a week of three defining fixtures, Toure has missed one and underperformed in another.

It heightens the focus on him in the third.

It should not be forgotten that Toure is arguably the most significant footballer in their rise, a big-game player whose 2011 FA Cup final winner ended their 35-year trophy drought and whose habit of overpowering Manchester United became symbolic.

Toure became only the second central midfielder in the Premier League era to score 20 goals in a season last year. He has been a ­colossus.

Now there are mumblings of discontent among the fans. His name is on their lips, but not for the right reasons.

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