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Pablo Zabaleta has blasted back at the City snipers who have branded their season a “disaster”.

And the iconic Blues defender has leapt to the defence of manager Manuel Pellegrini, who he says deserves more respect for what he has achieved with the Blues.

The Argentine ace was not trying to sweep a disappointing season under the carpet, but says the reaction to one trophy-less season is ridiculous.

“We must be honest with ourselves and recognise that it was not our best season but sometimes football is like that,” said Zabaleta.

“You look at Liverpool, Arsenal, they are also some of the greatest teams and they’ve not won that many trophies in the last few years.

“But at City it seems one disappointing season is like a disaster. Maybe it’s because we’ve won the Premier League twice, the FA Cup, the Capital One.

“Now it seems like because we have not won something it’s a disaster and we have to change seven or eight players and the manager - that’s what people say.”

City are well placed to finish second in the league behind champions-elect Chelsea, with rivals United and Arsenal still to play each other and the Blues yet to face trips to Spurs and Swansea and home games against QPR and Southampton.

But the fact that they have won nothing has brought intense speculation about Pellegrini’s position, harking back to Roberto Mancini’s final season.

Mancini at least reached an FA Cup final, but one major difference between him and Pellegrini is the fact that the Italian had some serious and influential enemies, both within the dressing room and the hierarchy of the club.

Mancini was sacked because his bosses decided the football had become stale and predictable – which has been the case for Pellegrini as well – but the underlying current of disharmony in the camp, which is not the case at the moment, undoubtedly influenced the decision.

Doubts over the future of Pellegrini are dragged out whenever the team loses - and sometimes when they win, as happened on Saturday!

Zabaleta says: “The manager deserves more respect from everyone. He came last season, he won the league and the Capital One. We cannot blame just the manager for this moment.

“Individual players have not been great in the whole season. Everyone is responsible - when you don’t win titles it can be a little bit frustrating for everyone.

“But listen, we have to wait until the end of the season. Now is not the time to be thinking about what went wrong, it’s the time to finish as well as we can. Then we’ll see what happens.”

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... cs-9127350

Get with the times Zaba, the modern football world has no time for reasoned, rational analysis.

We want hyperbole and frenzied speculation. One extreme or the other, this town ain't big enough for a middle ground.

Zabba makes 1st tackle of the season.

Hazy2 wrote:Zabba makes 1st tackle of the season.

Yes, but it was well-timed.

Peter Doherty (AGAIG) wrote:

Hazy2 wrote:Zabba makes 1st tackle of the season.

Yes, but it was well-timed.

Unless he left the interview with a bloody bandage on his head then he was not fully committed.

Peter Doherty (AGAIG) wrote:

Hazy2 wrote:Zabba makes 1st tackle of the season.

Yes, but it was well-timed.

He got there as quick as he could, not as quick as previous years mind !!

Both him & Hart backing the manager in public in recent times is interesting. Clichy on the other hand is veiled criticism with his 'learn from Chelsea' comments & how they settle for draws.

Clichy is wrong. If Ferguson was around with a decent team, that would be impossible.

A couple of tweaks like Barca and we smash em all. Simple

Hazy2 wrote:A couple of tweaks like Barca and we smash em all. Simple

I think Mourinho is being realistic for once in that there will be too much competition for one team to be 'smashing' everyone else all the time. He did the groundwork with his 'support' for Pellegrini recently; that the criticism City received is ridiculous. He is just picturing himself possibly in the same position a year down the line.

Nothing wrong with competition imo. It's the extra bullshit I don't like. Just stick to our own plan & get on with it.

Fair enough for Zabba to stick up for Pellegrini and blame the collective effort and all that but blaming being tired from the World Cup ???? fuck right off !!! What about every other top team in Europe and all their players being in the World Cup ??? What about Pellegrini,s tactical fuck ups in all competitions this season ???? Hazard has played EVERY GAME for Chelsea this season and he had a long World Cup . Our season has been a shambles and as soon as some cunt in an official capacity comes out and says some truth about it the sooner the better !

I like the fact Pellegrini still has mainstays like Zabba fighting his corner. I suspect the dressing room is in two camps at the moment. Get the dissenters out and with a natural freshening up, pre season becomes a different beast.

nottsblue wrote:I like the fact Pellegrini still has mainstays like Zabba fighting his corner. I suspect the dressing room is in two camps at the moment. Get the dissenters out and with a natural freshening up, pre season becomes a different beast.

I suspect the dissenters are those who know they are on their way out anyway?

City64 wrote:Fair enough for Zabba to stick up for Pellegrini and blame the collective effort and all that but blaming being tired from the World Cup ???? fuck right off !!! What about every other top team in Europe and all their players being in the World Cup ??? What about Pellegrini,s tactical fuck ups in all competitions this season ???? Hazard has played EVERY GAME for Chelsea this season and he had a long World Cup . Our season has been a shambles and as soon as some cunt in an official capacity comes out and says some truth about it the sooner the better !

Oh ffs.

my only criticism of this is that he seems to be defending the season...

..now the end results of our season may not be as bad as people make out IF those players hadn't showed ZERO effort and application for pretty much half the season.

I can take finishing wherever in the table and exiting the cups; if the class players actually give a sh1t. If they put more effort in; we win more games. Its that simple. I don't get why they don't realise this?

But to be fair hes calling out ''big players who haven't performed'' and also maybe feeling his position is under threat in the summer...

Ted Hughes wrote:

City64 wrote:Fair enough for Zabba to stick up for Pellegrini and blame the collective effort and all that but blaming being tired from the World Cup ???? fuck right off !!! What about every other top team in Europe and all their players being in the World Cup ??? What about Pellegrini,s tactical fuck ups in all competitions this season ???? Hazard has played EVERY GAME for Chelsea this season and he had a long World Cup . Our season has been a shambles and as soon as some cunt in an official capacity comes out and says some truth about it the sooner the better !

Oh ffs.

What ?

Nick wrote:my only criticism of this is that he seems to be defending the season...

..now the end results of our season may not be as bad as people make out IF those players hadn't showed ZERO effort and application for pretty much half the season.

I can take finishing wherever in the table and exiting the cups; if the class players actually give a sh1t. If they put more effort in; we win more games. Its that simple. I don't get why they don't realise this?

But to be fair hes calling out ''big players who haven't performed'' and also maybe feeling his position is under threat in the summer...

They do realise though . After a low key start were looking ok January but it went downhill fairly quickly from there ........

Nick wrote:my only criticism of this is that he seems to be defending the season...

..now the end results of our season may not be as bad as people make out IF those players hadn't showed ZERO effort and application for pretty much half the season.

I can take finishing wherever in the table and exiting the cups; if the class players actually give a sh1t. If they put more effort in; we win more games. Its that simple. I don't get why they don't realise this?

But to be fair hes calling out ''big players who haven't performed'' and also maybe feeling his position is under threat in the summer...

'We must be honest with ourselves and recognise that it was not our best season'

Is he?

City64 wrote:Fair enough for Zabba to stick up for Pellegrini and blame the collective effort and all that but blaming being tired from the World Cup ???? fuck right off !!! What about every other top team in Europe and all their players being in the World Cup ??? What about Pellegrini,s tactical fuck ups in all competitions this season ???? Hazard has played EVERY GAME for Chelsea this season and he had a long World Cup . Our season has been a shambles and as soon as some cunt in an official capacity comes out and says some truth about it the sooner the better !

OK, so one of the executive comes out and says "we've had a poor season, we are very disappointed." Then what? Is that all it takes to make you feel better?

dazby wrote:

City64 wrote:Fair enough for Zabba to stick up for Pellegrini and blame the collective effort and all that but blaming being tired from the World Cup ???? fuck right off !!! What about every other top team in Europe and all their players being in the World Cup ??? What about Pellegrini,s tactical fuck ups in all competitions this season ???? Hazard has played EVERY GAME for Chelsea this season and he had a long World Cup . Our season has been a shambles and as soon as some cunt in an official capacity comes out and says some truth about it the sooner the better !

OK, so one of the executive comes out and says "we've had a poor season, we are very disappointed." Then what? Is that all it takes to make you feel better?

Eh ? Are you totally stupid ? Zabba blames the World Cup for the players piss poor efforts this season and Pellegrini,s fuck ups and you swallow it ? Think most of us who go to every home game would like some better answers to be very honest !!! Don't you worry yourself on the other side of the world though it won't seem too bad .

City64 wrote:

dazby wrote:

City64 wrote:Fair enough for Zabba to stick up for Pellegrini and blame the collective effort and all that but blaming being tired from the World Cup ???? fuck right off !!! What about every other top team in Europe and all their players being in the World Cup ??? What about Pellegrini,s tactical fuck ups in all competitions this season ???? Hazard has played EVERY GAME for Chelsea this season and he had a long World Cup . Our season has been a shambles and as soon as some cunt in an official capacity comes out and says some truth about it the sooner the better !

OK, so one of the executive comes out and says "we've had a poor season, we are very disappointed." Then what? Is that all it takes to make you feel better?

Eh ? Are you totally stupid ? Zabba blames the World Cup for the players piss poor efforts this season and Pellegrini,s fuck ups and you swallow it ? Think most of us who go to every home game would like some better answers to be very honest !!! Don't you worry yourself on the other side of the world though it won't seem too bad .

Read the quote from Zaba about the World Cup and it is obvious to anyone with half a brain that he was asked a direct question about whether he thinks the World Cup has affected the team physically. He gives an honest answer, he in no way offers it up as an excuse for our failings.