Pretty Boy Lee wrote:Ted Hughes wrote:Pretty Boy Lee wrote:Ted Hughes wrote:Better today than Zabba has played all season imo against the strongest opponent any of our fullbacks will face in this league. Great pity Hazard got an assist due to the team being pulled out of shape & it came through his side, because he didn't deserve it & there was little he could have done..
Got to call bullshit on this one Ted. He was marking thin air, when he was the closest to thee danger man and made very little effort to stop that cross.
Had he been really good attacking not merely competent you could maybe forgive it, but he did nothing better than ZABA and very little on par.
Zabbs was Frank Clarke's shit brother last week , got sent off v Chelsea earlier this season & his arse handed to him by Hazard last season.
His performances recently have not been good enough to play for City.
Sagna was stood where he's told to be.
If it is pre-ordained that a crossfield pass is played to Hazard then he is in the wrong place. But if Sagna goes out there & they play someone inside instead, even Hazard runs inside, he gets replays all over the shop of how he's criminally left a gap between himself & Kompany & cost us a goal.
The whole City defence was too far over because of Clichy losing the ball. It needed the captain to be aware of it & push them across. He is too busy worrying about his own game.
If it was drawn on the board with x and o's maybe you could make case for his positioning being acceptable. That said it wasn't it was their main threat stood outside him and he was oblivious. Even from that spot I don't think it's unreasonable for a fullback at this level to at the very least be aware and have quick reactions to someone of hazards quality.
It's the kind of thing Gary Neville can split hairs about after the event, but the way City were positioned, any choice Sagna made, was potentially wrong. He chose one option; Hazard hit a cross, nobody reacted, they scored. He goes out there, Hazard takes off inside, they pass the ball to him, he scores. Sagna chose to do what he's been told to do all week on the training ground.
It wasn't a terminal decision, until Vinny decided not to risk clearing the ball & let Chelsea score instead. Had he been in the right place, nobody would remember Sagna.
It's easy to pick holes in him afterwards, but it was a lot easier for the other defenders, including Clichy, to do their jobs, than for Sagna to do his.
Watch on 