Pablo Zabaleta - 2016/17 performances

[Andouble]

Past it :(

Wonder if we will act in January for fullbacks or wait until summer.

 

[super_city_si]

Shame. He was never fast but he's managed to lose a yard of what little he had. Love zabba.

 

[Heart.net]

No surprises. We need fullbacks that are more comfortable in possession against teams that press.

 

[Ethan23]

The contrast between the first 2 pages and the last 2 pages is remarkable. It's only been a month as well ha. He'll be born 'to play as a pep fullback' again in October.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

Surely the full back positions will be the next on the pep "to do" list.

Our defence is too old. Too many players over 30 who have no pace.

We are getting away with it mainly due to the possession we are having but it needs sorting.

Stones should be playing every game for me.

 

[City_Sean]

He's absolutely finished at the top level and should have taken the move to Roma when it came this summer.

Positionally all over the place, and his support for Sterling on the right was completely non existent.

 

[waspish]

Pep has had a look our academy fullbacks he has played them a few times, be interesting if they are the solution long term or we go out and buy for those position.

 

[Manchester_lalala]

Should of left in the summer, liability at right back these days. He's served us well, my favourite player over the last five years. I shit it when I see him on the team sheet, what a difference two years make.

 

[Neville Kneville]

Pep has had a look our academy fullbacks he has played them a few times, be interesting if they are the solution long term or we go out and buy for those position.

Maffeo has a good chance but he's not a first choice rb at this stage. He is at the 'bringing through & learning' stage, where he should play occasionally, & was a year ago. Not ready.

Imo The Pelle could have trained Denayer to do that job & Pep would now be putting the icing on the cake rather than him being destroyed by David Moyes.

 

[abellwillring]

As I said all summer, we really should have politely shown him the door. Age has taken his toll and he just is not good enough any more -- that much was very, very clear last season. At a minimum, we have to manage the games he's played in very carefully. I understand that Pep felt like Sagna would be more important in the Spurs game so he held him back for that, but having two right backs of the age where you have to carefully manager their games due to age is a recipe for disaster.

Zaba is a legend, but unfortunately there is no room for sentimentality if you want to be an absolute top club. Squad restrictions are too important to carry a player who is a notable step down from the first team player. The amount of space that he was yielding yesterday was tragic. He can still put in a shift on attack and had a nice moment or two in that regard, but we're seeing the same problem that we saw in Micah's last season. If Pablo gets too far forward, he simply can't get back in time to be effective defensively. Let alone getting out of position when he is in the right vicinity to start.