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Roberto Mancini told his Manchester City squad, 'Without Yaya Toure you are s**t' following a 1-0 defeat to Everton in their 2011/12 title-winning campaign.
In January 2012, City were beaten by a solitary strike from former Manchester United midfielder Darron Gibson at Goodison Park.
The result, coupled with United's win over Stoke that same night, meant City were only ahead on goal difference having had a healthy lead at the top.
City's midfield metronome Toure was away with Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup Of Nations and his absence was sorely missed.
And during an interview with his former defender Micah Richards, Italy boss Mancini recalled his brutal put-down to the squad after that loss.
"We were in a difficult moment and I needed to get a reaction from you all," Mancini said in the Daily Mail feature.
"Oh Everton… A very, very bad stadium! Always we had a problem there, we lost 1-0. I was thinking to myself: "How do I get a reaction from these players?" So I said to you: 'Without Yaya Toure, you are a **** team!'
"I walked off. All the players were going crazy at me, shouting! But after this game, we won nearly every game to the end."
City won the next five games but dropped points against Swansea, Stoke and Sunderland before a 1-0 defeat to Arsenal left them eight points adrift in the title race.
But City took advantage of United losing to Wigan and drawing Everton and then beat their city-rivals at home in what was more or less a title decider.
Then, on the final day of the season, Mancini's men scored twice in stoppage time vs QPR to win their first league title in 44 years on goal difference.
Sergio Aguero wrote himself in City folklore with the dramatic 93rd minute title-clincher and Mancini admits he still gets goosebumps every time he watches the game back.
"All the time… I get the goose-bumps – one of the best victories ever," Mancini added.
"Someone showed me a clip of the goals recently. I was so emotional seeing it. The goal Sergio scored was for every one of us. In the last two minutes, I'm thinking to myself: "we cannot lose this game, we just cannot lose this game." But football is like this.
"Nobody remembers that Yaya was off the pitch, injured. Nigel De Jong was on. The last 10 minutes, we had five strikers on the pitch. They had one man less, as (Joey) Barton had been sent off. We had a lot of chances to score but still we are losing 1-2."
Mancini was sacked the following season but remains a City legend for delivering that first Premier League title.
He led Italy to a Euro 2020 triumph in the summer after the Azzurri beat England on penalties at Wembley.
Topics: Manchester City, Yaya Toure, Roberto Mancini, Premier League, Micah Richards
Josh Lawless