Pablo Zabaleta

[schtipps]

Brilliant options we have available at the moment, Zab was fantastic tonight, NDJ deserved MOM for me. And we've not even got started yet, Lescott still needs to find his feet but im already wetting myself at the players we have at our disposal this year. MH, i salute you!

 

[Damocles]

This is a real selection problem to be honest.

Zab has played excellent when called upon, but Micah is probably the better player on his day. Glad I'm not Hughes at the moment.

Hughes got rid of Dunne for being excellent sometimes, and making silly mistakes. By this criterion, Richards' days are numbered. He should probably get the benefit of the doubt as he is far younger than Dunne and has the potential to be absolute quality if he can get his concentration sorted but in the current atmosphere of 'no excuses' that Hughes portrays I'm not sure if it will. I must admit though, I wouldn't be hugely surprised if we bag a top quality RB in January. It would be a crying shame though.

 

[bornblueegg]

This is a real selection problem to be honest.

Zab has played excellent when called upon, but Micah is probably the better player on his day. Glad I'm not Hughes at the moment.

Hughes got rid of Dunne for being excellent sometimes, and making silly mistakes. By this criterion, Richards' days are numbered. He should probably get the benefit of the doubt as he is far younger than Dunne and has the potential to be absolute quality if he can get his concentration sorted but in the current atmosphere of 'no excuses' that Hughes portrays I'm not sure if it will. I must admit though, I wouldn't be hugely surprised if we bag a top quality RB in January. It would be a crying shame though.

You are probably right, MR needs to get his head right. tThere are signs but MH don't take no crap

 

[Goater10]

Proper defender, really hope Mad Zab gets a decent run in the team now, although next week we'll have Ashley Young flying down the left flank and I'm not sure who would be better him or Richards???

Did you watch us at home last season against Villa, the same contest was won by Zabaleta, no reason why it wont happen again!!!

 

[jrb]

F***ing brilliant. I'd have him over Micah any day. Why? When he wins the ball he can pass it. He's calm, cool and collective and doesn't flap. He never get's pulled out of position, goes drifting or gives the ball away. Sorry Micah, you've just lost your place.

 

[blue b4 the moon]

Twice the player Richards is at the moment. That's not to say Richards time wont come but as others have said by the new year both Zab and Richards may be looking at a very expensive RB in the team in front of them.

 

[Project]

Zabaleta has come in and done enough to retain the shirt.. Richards will have to get his head down, work hard and wait for his opportunity again. And that's exactly how it should be.

 

[Freestyler]

Richards at his best is immense, but even when he's at the top of his game, he still can't pass a ball to save his life, sometimes his first touch is quite bad.

Zabs tonight found a blue shirt 95% of the time and he took down some great long passes from petrov,

also in the first half barry pinged one to him on the right wing, it ended up looking like it was gonna go out for a goalkick, but zabs somehow managed to stretch and deliver an amazing cross, most players would of given up on it.

 

[HongKongBluey]

Zabaleta owned that right back position tonight. Micah is going to have a tough time getting back into the team if he keeps up these performances. The amount of times I thought "Well, Micah couldn't have done that"... His passing was sublime, his tackling and covering great, he closed down a few crosses and didn't seem to get caught out in the air all that much. Goes to show, you don't need to be road runner if your positional sense is good.

 

[rohanthebest]

If zaba were a few inches taller , I think richards would just be out of the equation. Its about having 5 tall players to defend set pieces. Once adebayor comes in , then zab will start every time