Man City out to prove a point: Defender Kompany

Raheem Sterling’s Manchester City debut was overshadowed by the old guard as Yaya Toure and Vincent Kompany made the decisive contributions in an impressive 3-0 win at West Bromwich Albion on Monday.

He said: “I always said last season it was a unusual season for Yaya, he started with a lot of problems, the death of his brother, his agents”.

When on song the imposing Toure is one of the most dominant players in European football but those games were few and far between as City finished well adrift in second place last season.

“There has been a lot of criticism about me but it was not a bad season”.

Toure has pointed out that he scored 12-goals, and won the African Cup of Nations, with the whole Man City team below par and personally he didn’t think he was that bad.

“Sometimes people criticise you unfairly, but we don’t care what they say”.

“When you’re fully focused in your job, you love your job and want to win all the time”. It’s part of the game.

“I think that now he is more calm and we will see the same Yaya that we know”.

Kompany sealed City’s victory, which immediately fired Manuel Pellegrini’s charges to the summit of the Premier League, with a second-half header after Yaya Toure had taken centre stage with a double strike in the opening period. “I don’t worry what people are saying about me”.

West Brom started brightly but once the first City goal went in the team looked dejected and already out of the game from then on.

Toure’s ability to score goals from midfield was a crucial factor in City’s title win of two seasons ago, when he managed 20 compared to only 10 league goals last season.

“But we don’t care what they say”. The important thing is we have a target.

Asked whether he needed to answer his own critics after a disappointing campaign last term, Kompany added: “More than anyone else, I think”.

“With the world-class players we have here, we are capable of winning things year in and year out”, the England worldwide told City’s official website.

“I’m not disappointed because Raheem plays 70 minutes very well (before he was substituted)”, said Pellegrini.

Toure concedes there’s a long road ahead, but added: “We don’t know what will happen on Sunday, but we want to start well in front of a stadium of 50,000 fans”. “We will not go there thinking about the title but it will matter”.