Yaya

[masterwig]

He conserves energy too much and I think the reason is that he's seriously lacking fitness. When an attack breaks down he's often so slow to get back that by the time he's back the defence has dealt with the threat and we are on the break. Problem is he's not quick enough to then turn round and get forward. And so huge chunks of games pass him by as he jogs about folornly trying to catch up with play.

The thing is, when he goes on those storming runs you can see he is very quick. He lacks the positional knowledge of De Jong who despite not being the quickest has the knack of being in the right place at the right time.

There's no doubting his quality but I'm far from convinced that he can be a regular top performer at City.

 

[jay_mcfc]

The world of an English football in summed up in two players;

Zabba- hero/warrior
Yaya- lazy/slow

In truth they are worlds apart in quality and I'd rather 11 Yaya's than 11 Zabba's but I guess I'll be the only one.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

The world of an English football in summed up in two players;

Zabba- hero/warrior
Yaya- lazy/slow

In truth they are worlds apart in quality and I'd rather 11 Yaya's than 11 Zabba's but I guess I'll be the only one.

Zabaleta's not good enough either. His lack of pace and poor distribution hamper us hugely in a narrow system. He's a good battler, is defensively strong (for a slow player) and his versatility is useful in the squad. He's probably our first choice at left back at the moment even though it isn't his natural position. But that's more about our squad deficiencies.

He's the modern day Ian Brightwell in a nutshell. Well worth having around, reliable, veratile, but too slow. A bench player.

 

[Esteban de la Sexface]

Our midfield is too slow. Yaya is good at the odd burst forward against weaker sides.. better sides render him ineffective. He is also a lazy bastard and I think he is unfit too. Two or three runs and his hands are on his knees, blowing out his arse.

 

[Anonymous]

Cannt work this guy out.....

At times he looks like a world beater, able to steam roller past half a team in 6 strides

At other times he looks like he would be knocked off the ball by a stiff breeze and he looks like he is about to pass out die to exhaustion!!! (int eh first 5 mins of a game!!)

His touch is sublime one minute.....extremely poor the next...he can make 25 yd incisive passes (like the one to balo in the villa game) but then he cannt pass a simple 10 yd ball to someone that would give us a chance of a break away

His work with the ball is generally good...but his work rate off the ball (especially winning back after he has lost it is poor)

What does everyone else think...I just cannt work him out at all

That's why he was in and out of the Barcelona first team!

 

[gio's side step]

The world of an English football in summed up in two players;

Zabba- hero/warrior
Yaya- lazy/slow

In truth they are worlds apart in quality and I'd rather 11 Yaya's than 11 Zabba's but I guess I'll be the only one.

Zabaleta's not good enough either. His lack of pace and poor distribution hamper us hugely in a narrow system. He's a good battler, is defensively strong (for a slow player) and his versatility is useful in the squad. He's probably our first choice at left back at the moment even though it isn't his natural position. But that's more about our squad deficiencies.

He's the modern day Ian Brightwell in a nutshell. Well worth having around, reliable, veratile, but too slow. A bench player.

Overall, Id agree with this. Good analogy by the way. Versatile players, who battle are always relatively popular with fans. But in terms of the overall picture, I would agree, if we are to sustain top 3 PL level, we should be looking for much more than Zabaleta. It's only because Kolarov has proven himself to be very average at left back defensively, that Mancini has opted for Zabaleta in certain games. My biggest issue with him, is his poor discipline. I've lost count of how many times he's been booked, and for silly challenges, which could have been prevented easily with a bit of composure and discipline. I always fear he might get sent off in a big game. Equally, I would have Balotelli no where near the semi final. Time bomb who wouldnt give a flying fuck that we have spent money getting to London, put our hearts and souls into generating a sense of optimism and support during such a significant game, and if he feels like doing something silly, he will do it. Selfish player, and easily has the potential to get himself sent off after 10 minutes.

Re: Yaya, it's a tough one, because I do accept the reasons why some people don't take to him, but at the same time, no one can doubt he has contributed well in some games this season.

 

[Soulboy]

The world of an English football in summed up in two players;

Zabba- hero/warrior
Yaya- lazy/slow

In truth they are worlds apart in quality and I'd rather 11 Yaya's than 11 Zabba's but I guess I'll be the only one.

You do love your stereotypes, don't you!

;-))

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Zabaleta's not good enough either. His lack of pace and poor distribution hamper us hugely in a narrow system. He's a good battler, is defensively strong (for a slow player) and his versatility is useful in the squad. He's probably our first choice at left back at the moment even though it isn't his natural position. But that's more about our squad deficiencies.

He's the modern day Ian Brightwell in a nutshell. Well worth having around, reliable, veratile, but too slow. A bench player.

Overall, Id agree with this. Good analogy by the way. Versatile players, who battle are always relatively popular with fans. But in terms of the overall picture, I would agree, if we are to sustain top 3 PL level, we should be looking for much more than Zabaleta. It's only because Kolarov has proven himself to be very average at left back defensively, that Mancini has opted for Zabaleta in certain games. My biggest issue with him, is his poor discipline. I've lost count of how many times he's been booked, and for silly challenges, which could have been prevented easily with a bit of composure and discipline. I always fear he might get sent off in a big game. Equally, I would have Balotelli no where near the semi final. Time bomb who wouldnt give a flying fuck that we have spent money getting to London, put our hearts and souls into generating a sense of optimism and support during such a significant game, and if he feels like doing something silly, he will do it. Selfish player, and easily has the potential to get himself sent off after 10 minutes.

Re: Yaya, it's a tough one, because I do accept the reasons why some people don't take to him, but at the same time, no one can doubt he has contributed well in some games this season.

Interesting post as usual gio. The reason Zabateta gives too many fouls away is because of his lack of pace. If someone knocks it past him he has to bring them down or let them go. I'd say it's a side of his game which has actually improved. I feared for him against Walcott against Arsenal but he sat off him and didn't get too tight, in the same way both the Neville brothers do, and he kept a lid on him. However against Nani all his deficiencies were there and arguably lost us the game.

Have to disagree about Balotelli at Wembley. Yes he's a firebrand, yes he's a maniac. But I'd love to see him running at Ferdinand like Bellars did. I think there's more to come from Balotelli and he's got it all. I think the problem with him is he'll probably be suspended before the game!

 

[Dax777]

Cannt work this guy out.....

At times he looks like a world beater, able to steam roller past half a team in 6 strides

At other times he looks like he would be knocked off the ball by a stiff breeze and he looks like he is about to pass out die to exhaustion!!! (int eh first 5 mins of a game!!)

His touch is sublime one minute.....extremely poor the next...he can make 25 yd incisive passes (like the one to balo in the villa game) but then he cannt pass a simple 10 yd ball to someone that would give us a chance of a break away

His work with the ball is generally good...but his work rate off the ball (especially winning back after he has lost it is poor)

What does everyone else think...I just cannt work him out at all

That's why he was in and out of the Barcelona first team!

Again sticking to the facts here:
In 2007/2008 when he joined Barca, he played 25 league games and was a substitute once. Played 34 games in all. Only 1 as a substitute. When he was fit, he played. Played in every major game.

In 2008/2009 he played 23 league games. Was a substitute 3 times. Played 32 games in all. Played every important CL or league game. And was rested only in games against Smaller teams to give Busquet (his understudy and the future of Spain at DM) some playing time.

In 2009.2010 He played 18 league games was used as substitute in 5. That year Guardiola gave all the big league games to Busquet and the CL games to Yaya. Yaya not being happy at the systematic phaseout decided to leave and join a different team than play backup to Busquet at Barca. Guardiola was right in installing a younger, rising Busquet, and Yaya was right in leaving. That is just life!
Now those stats do not comport with the notion that he was in and out of the first team due to some enigmatic up and down in play. A claim that is mostly untrue, and furthermore one that implies it was his inconsstent performance that caused such, as opposed to the emergence of a young future star in Busquet.

This will be the equivalent of claiming Eto'o, Deco and Ronaldino were sold on because they were were being inconsistent at Barca!

 

[Anonymous]

That's why he was in and out of the Barcelona first team!

Again sticking to the facts here:
In 2007/2008 when he joined Barca, he played 25 league games and was a substitute once. Played 34 games in all. Only 1 as a substitute. When he was fit, he played. Played in every major game.

In 2008/2009 he played 23 league games. Was a substitute 3 times. Played 32 games in all. Played every important CL or league game. And was rested only in games against Smaller teams to give Busquet (his understudy and the future of Spain at DM) some playing time.

In 2009.2010 He played 10 league games was substituted a substitute in 5. That year Guardiola gave all the big league games to Busquet and the CL games to Yaya. Yaya not being happy at the systematic phaseout decided to leave and join a different team than play backup to Busquet in the league.
Now these stats do not comport with the notion that he was in and out of the first team. A claim that is mostly untrue, and furthermore one that implies it was his performance that caused this, as opposed to the emergence of a young future star in Busquet.

This will be the equivalent of claiming Eto'o, Deco and Ronaldino were sold because they were in and out of the Barca team!

The manager often preferred other players to Yaya , and Yaya wasn't happy about that ..... that caused unrest and Yaya also didn't feel that Barcelona did enough to keep him , even though he had real feelings for the club .. and that's why he didn't take much persuading by brother Kolo to join City.