Zabaleta confirms he will stay at City

[jimmygrimblesboots]

Zabs is still one of the best attacking right backs , but his lack of pace leaves him vulnerable when defending , Pep is no mug , if Zabs is showing he can still play at the top level in training , he will stay , which will please virtually every blue on the planet , if he isnt good enough , cant't see Pep or the club showing any sentiment ,but lets hope his niggling injuries are behind him and he turns the clock back a couple of years.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Patrice Evra's thirty-five, did a creditable job for France during the Euro in his position (i.e. in his own one), and has done a more than creditable job for Juventus. Zab's four years younger. Just saying…

 

[ancoats]

Patrice Evra's thirty-five, did a creditable job for France during the Euro in his position (i.e. in his own one), and has done a more than creditable job for Juventus. Zab's four years younger. Just saying…

true but everybody got there own limits and the body says time not the mind. i just think zabba played to much when he should have been rested with a little injury and playing through the pain barrier for the good of the team just like Kompany. the hardest thing to do in football is rest and when your in a winning team you want to play every game in fear you will lose your place. now that little knock you picked up takes longer to heal up and the pain is now hard to mask with pain killers or a injection

what i see with pep is he wants to build a new first team with younger and fitter players that can last the next 5 years and the likes of zabba and kompany may need to move on to get first team football and free up places for the youth to learn from the bench. zabba is a great professional and money is 2nd to playing the game we all love

 

[Deleted member 58678]

Now before i start i am not saying everyone and i aint saying this is necessary true,Its just the City lads i know and having a chat about Zab and players,History etc in general.
But to me its the newer/younger fans we have who are quite happy to see Zab go,whether its the winning mentality and the moving on wards thing i dont know.
The older mob..cough like myself,(39+) who have been and seen the shit times are more loyal to players.Maybe because back in the day we had lads who lets say weren't gifted with the ability of Silva etc.But put in a big effort and did there best for the club....hence why Zab is such a popular figure,Big Vincent the same.
As i stated this is my humble opinion and i'm not having ago at any one.

How do you equate 39 to "older"? Looking around at home and away games at our fan base, 39 is fairly young.

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

Sadly, the answer's staring us in the face, not just with Zabaleta, but for a few others as well.
We can't just put it all down to niggling injuries, and temporary loss of form

 

[worsleyweb]

Come on zabba! One last title medal.

 

[Gaylord du Bois]

Zab's a proud man and a consummate professional. If he didn't think he could pass muster I'm pretty sure he'd call it a day. If he's still here for the coming season you can guarantee that he's convinced there's a lot more in the tank.
Him being the best ball playing fullback at the club won't have passed Pep by. Those writing him off will have plenty of time to repent, I'm sure.

 

[BlueMojito]

Maybe he's just waiting to see if we get Roma in the champions league qualifier first?

 

[warpig]

I think quite a lot just see that we're at a period in time at our club where loyalty can only be kept if the player maintains a high standard of performance. Granted i'm 22, so i'm partly in both camps, I remember us in the old division 2 and old division 1 where loyalty and hard work was what endeared us to the players, the Goat being my favourite player. Zaba has shown us that and kept a high standard bar the last 18 months but if we want our club to continue to succeed and thrive then we have to recognise the right time to move players on. If Pep has seen something in Zaba that makes him believe he's still useful then so be it, he's the world class manager. Personally, going just off of his performances in the past 18 months, I don't see it anymore, he's regressed more than any other player in our squad. Of course i'd be happy if Zaba proved me wrong, I just don't see it happening though.

You've got a very good memory of seeing us play in division 2, seeing as though you were 5 at the time.

 

[MCFC1993]

You've got a very good memory of seeing us play in division 2, seeing as though you were 5 at the time.

My first football memory is from the 98 World Cup on tv, 98/99 alright maybe just a couple of moments although admittedly not great but I remember how my family felt about certain players. I do remember a decent amount about the 99/00 team though (my first champ manager game too that season) and most of that team was from old Division 2.