Time catching up with Zabaleta?

sir baconface said:
I would hope his dip this season is down to injuries and then lack of match sharpness. I would hate to write off such a fantastic Blue before his time.

Sent from the motorway hard shoulder, kecks around ankles.
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The reality is he's aged before our eyes with a few others in tandem.... Questions need to be asked, once again, as to the balance of experience and youth..... A good few of the players from the 'first! mansour era have been run into the ground...

Zab, as a person, will be one of the hardest to replace, he ingrained himself in the city culture from day dot, he's one of us, however, I don't think (imo), physically, he has it in him to get back to previous levels!!!
 
We need new full backs for both left and right sides. We need younger, fitter and pacy players who can keep the ball under pressure and get up and down the flanks for 90 minutes as well as defend.
Not one of the four we currently have are capable of doing any of those things anymore for the whole game. In drips and drabs sure, they've still got a bit in the tank but there's no doubts it has become a position which is long overdue an overhaul.
Hopefully the people who get paid the big bucks are on it and there are players in mind. If we do manage to get the right players in then Sagna and Kolarov would be the two to go with Clichy and Zabaleta being the back ups to offer some respite to the first choices. They could still easily chalk up 15/20 games over the season in cups and some league games.
I wholeheartedly disagree that Zabba is like Neville in is last few days. It's a nonsense statement.
 
Pablo1 said:
We need new full backs for both left and right sides. We need younger, fitter and pacy players who can keep the ball under pressure and get up and down the flanks for 90 minutes as well as defend.
Not one of the four we currently have are capable of doing any of those things anymore for the whole game. In drips and drabs sure, they've still got a bit in the tank but there's no doubts it has become a position which is long overdue an overhaul.
Hopefully the people who get paid the big bucks are on it and there are players in mind. If we do manage to get the right players in then Sagna and Kolarov would be the two to go with Clichy and Zabaleta being the back ups to offer some respite to the first choices. They could still easily chalk up 15/20 games over the season in cups and some league games.
I wholeheartedly disagree that Zabba is like Neville in is last few days. It's a nonsense statement.
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Sagna is head and shoulders above zaba today mate, it's the same argument with vinny, yaya etc... What is best for the team???
 
Agree to varying degrees about the comments on Zaba. Going forward hopefully he can be part of the club one way or another.
But Sagna is not the solution. He's always been a downgrade, won't be needed under Pep who will overhaul our right flank.
Before you say it - yes I've watched him, disagree about this 'great season' he's had, he's completely average.
 
Zin 'messiah' Zimmer said:
Sagna is head and shoulders above zaba today mate, it's the same argument with vinny, yaya etc... What is best for the team???
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I don't think Sagna offers us anything in possession or going forward. He's a solid defender and that's it. He's had a decent season, but it's been a season where one of our main threats has been curtailed due to him not having anything like the awareness of Zabaleta.
If we were to choose only one of them as a bit part player it wouldn't be close for me.
 
Pablo1 said:
I don't think Sagna offers us anything in possession or going forward. He's a solid defender and that's it. He's had a decent season, but it's been a season where one of our main threats has been curtailed due to him not having anything like the awareness of Zabaleta.
If we were to choose only one of them as a bit part player it wouldn't be close for me.
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Great post.
 
Pablo1 said:
I don't think Sagna offers us anything in possession or going forward. He's a solid defender and that's it. He's had a decent season, but it's been a season where one of our main threats has been curtailed due to him not having anything like the awareness of Zabaleta.
If we were to choose only one of them as a bit part player it wouldn't be close for me.
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ehh????? isnt this the thing we want from defenders to...ehh....defend?????
 
mcfcfc said:
ehh????? isnt this the thing we want from defenders to...ehh....defend?????
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Amongst other things yes.
I'm taking it from the severe overuse of question marks you've not noticed the game has evolved a touch over the last decade or so.
 
Pablo1 said:
We need new full backs for both left and right sides. We need younger, fitter and pacy players who can keep the ball under pressure and get up and down the flanks for 90 minutes as well as defend.
Not one of the four we currently have are capable of doing any of those things anymore for the whole game. In drips and drabs sure, they've still got a bit in the tank but there's no doubts it has become a position which is long overdue an overhaul.
Hopefully the people who get paid the big bucks are on it and there are players in mind. If we do manage to get the right players in then Sagna and Kolarov would be the two to go with Clichy and Zabaleta being the back ups to offer some respite to the first choices. They could still easily chalk up 15/20 games over the season in cups and some league games.
I wholeheartedly disagree that Zabba is like Neville in is last few days. It's a nonsense statement.
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Leftback Gaya, RB Mitchell Weiser. Please pay attention to the portion I purposely did not put in bold :-)
 
Pablo1 said:
Amongst other things yes.
I'm taking it from the severe overuse of question marks you've not noticed the game has evolved a touch over the last decade or so.
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at the same time i noticed that zabba legs have gone in the last 2 years or so it s clear he is not the same player anymore...i know that a lot of blues let the sentiments run their judgement but like it or not football these days is a bussines and if we want to be the best in it we need to be ruthless in my opinion sentiments should not play big parts in football when a player has run its course(like a big part of the squad) then wish him well and goodbye...we need young players on both flanks and all 4 FB needs replaced not relly on palayers over 30 s just because they have the status they have here for what they most likely used to do
 
Zin 'messiah' Zimmer said:
The reality is he's aged before our eyes with a few others in tandem.... Questions need to be asked, once again, as to the balance of experience and youth..... A good few of the players from the 'first! mansour era have been run into the ground...

Zab, as a person, will be one of the hardest to replace, he ingrained himself in the city culture from day dot, he's one of us, however, I don't think (imo), physically, he has it in him to get back to previous levels!!!
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It's understandable that there's a level of sentiment involved with the old guard but Zab'a regression is the most startling. IMO he's finished at the highest level. He'll put in the odd big tackle, his brain and technique will help him be dangerous in the final third at times, but he will always be on the edge of being rinsed. Absolute must we get another r/b to add to Sagna.
 
Think of him similar to how I view Hart, while they may not be top quality there is a long list of players who should go before them e.g Fernando, kolarov, Delph, bony, navas, demichelis, mangala etc

See no reason why he cant play as back up role unless his form really does deteriorate, plus hes had no consistent football this season so im not going along with the view that hes finished just yet.
 
mcfcfc said:
at the same time i noticed that zabba legs have gone in the last 2 years or so it s clear he is not the same player anymore...i know that a lot of blues let the sentiments run their judgement but like it or not football these days is a bussines and if we want to be the best in it we need to be ruthless in my opinion sentiments should not play big parts in football when a player has run its course(like a big part of the squad) then wish him well and goodbye...we need young players on both flanks and all 4 FB needs replaced not relly on palayers over 30 s just because they have the status they have here for what they most likely used to do
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Clichy is the only fullback I trust for next season. The Demichelis disease will hit one of the other 3, I'm certain of it. People expect a gradual decline. But it wouldn't be. While the decline has begun for all our fullbacks, the Demi sudden drop disease will hit at least 1 of them.

If it were up to me, ID keep Clichy and cut the other 3. Denayer in at RB. Gaya and Weiser as competition for them.
 
mcfcfc said:
at the same time i noticed that zabba legs have gone in the last 2 years or so it s clear he is not the same player anymore...i know that a lot of blues let the sentiments run their judgement but like it or not football these days is a bussines and if we want to be the best in it we need to be ruthless in my opinion sentiments should not play big parts in football when a player has run its course(like a big part of the squad) then wish him well and goodbye...we need young players on both flanks and all 4 FB needs replaced not relly on palayers over 30 s just because they have the status they have here for what they most likely used to do
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But that's my point. If I thought Zaba wasn't capable of being a second choice to a new lad coming in I'd say so. I think people are quick to call it sentiment because we're talking about players who've given us their all for 5/6/7 years when for me it's a simple case of Zabaleta game being more suited to a quick possession based game than Sagna. I don't think he should be first choice, I think we desperately need two new full backs. I don't think Zaba has fell off anywhere near as much as it's fashionable to say.
Like I said, given the choice of Sagna or Zaba as back up it wouldn't be close. It certainly wouldn't be sentimental.
 
Pablo1 said:
But that's my point. If I thought Zaba wasn't capable of being a second choice to a new lad coming in I'd say so. I think people are quick to call it sentiment because we're talking about players who've given us their all for 5/6/7 years when for me it's a simple case of Zabaleta game being more suited to a quick possession based game than Sagna. I don't think he should be first choice, I think we desperately need two new full backs. I don't think Zaba has fell off anywhere near as much as it's fashionable to say.
Like I said, given the choice of Sagna or Zaba as back up it wouldn't be close. It certainly wouldn't be sentimental.
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i respect your decision but by me if we have to keep 2 FB will be clichy and sagna but like you said we need desperately 2 new FB...this position in this modern game is one of the most important and we can go on and on without addresing it
 
mcfcfc said:
i respect your decision but by me if we have to keep 2 FB will be clichy and sagna but like you said we need desperately 2 new FB...this position in this modern game is one of the most important and we can go on and on without addresing it
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It should have been adressed before now but we are where we are and hopefully it'll be sorted in the summer. I've read on here that we could go down the route of dropping Delph to left back and other scenarios where midfielders can play fullback/CB, and whilst it's not beyond the realms of possibility with Pep in charge, I'd much rather buy two players who are made for the role.
 
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