Pablo Zabaleta: The Risk of Resting Manchester City's Beating Heart
Over the coming week the dressing rooms of Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Chelsea will be delighted if they receive a Manchester City team sheet lacking Pablo Zabaleta.
Zabaleta is a long-established terrace hero at the Etihad Stadium for his heart-on-sleeve, blood-on-collar performances.
But over the past two seasons, the 29-year-old right-back has shown how pivotal he is to the Premier League champions at their very best. City rarely hit top gear without him.
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An injury-ravaged couple of years and Zabaleta’s general excellence combined to make Micah Richards seek pastures new.
City’s results when Richards deputised for Zabaleta on the right-hand side of defence last season are somewhat instructive.
In 10 matches started by Richards, Manuel Pellegrini’s men lost on three occasions.
Although all other games produced victories, in two of those— the 3-2 Champions League triumph at Bayern and a 4-2 FA Cup fourth-round win over Watford—City were 2-0 down at the point Zabaleta was summoned from the bench to replace Richards.
At left-back, Aleksandar Kolarov and Gael Clichy shared duties in a way Pellegrini felt Zabaleta and Richards were unable to in light of the latter’s fitness and form issues.
Zabaleta started 34 league matches to Richards’ two, while Kolarov and Clichy’s numbers were 21 and 18, respectively—the Frenchman filling in at right-back when Zabaleta and Richards were both sidelined for December’s 4-2 win at Fulham.
Pellegrini’s tactical methods make his preference for full-back rotation pretty clear.
With the exception of Jesus Navas, City’s attacking midfielders prefer to operate as “interiors.” David Silva and Samir Nasri are incredibly effective when ghosting in from the flank to cause damage in the pockets of space in front of an opposition defence.
As such, a nominal 4-4-2 becomes more of a 4-2-2-2 in reality. This places the onus on the full-backs to provide the majority of City’s natural width. They get through a hell of a lot of work.
Zabaleta notched six Premier League assists last season, as did Kolarov. For context, they both had one more than Raheem Sterling and Adam Lallana and double the figure returned by Jack Wilshere.
Clichy lacks Kolarov’s attacking weapons, no assists in 2013/14, but his pace and crisp passing mean City get by as an attacking force when he starts.
The right-flank reliance on Zabaleta prompted Pellegrini to bring in Bacary Sagna over the summer.
Demonstrably a fine attacking full-back during seven seasons with Arsenal, the clear intention is for his presence to give Pablo a touch of R&R between head injuries.
It was unhelpful that Sagna’s debut came in the listless 1-0 loss to Stoke.
The Potters’ largely lacklustre record on the road means their visits should fall into the “routine” category for title aspirants. If squad players are unable to step up for Stoke at home, it is fair to wonder when they might.
To list Sagna among City’s main offenders last time out would be harsh in the extreme. But this was just the type of team performance Richards paid for being involved in too often.
Despite his upgraded deputy, this version of City sans-Zabaleta looked just like last year’s spluttering model on first viewing.
This is because Zabaleta’s worth cannot be measured by a bulging highlights reel of bone-shuddering tackles. Nor are assist statistics enough to underline his prowess in opposition territory.
City are at their most effective against packed defences when they pop and fizz short passes at a high tempo, probing for an opening with intent. Silva and Yaya Toure tend to instigate the passing triangles, often bringing the full-backs into play.
This is where Zabaleta excels, his stirring performance against Aston Villa in May standing as a prime example.
Not only can he burst destructively around the back of a defence, but his interplay with the likes of Silva, Toure, Nasri and James Milner is nigh on flawless.
The contrast between this and the lack of tempo and angles to City’s plodding attack versus Stoke is all too clear. Sagna can certainly be an effective understudy in time, but the transition could be troubled.
Zabaleta also has a value that is not so tangible.
He joined City the day before Sheikh Mansour’s millions sent ambitions skyward and altered the club’s reality forever. No superstar, no fanfare.
Erratic early displays were gradually smoothed by an insatiable work rate. His winning goal from midfield as 10-man and relegation-troubled City battled past Wigan 1-0 at the Etihad Stadium in January 2009 sowed the seeds for a love affair.
In a period when City were starting an unimaginable transition and fears abounded around a loss of identity, the fans had Zabaleta.
His unswerving commitment to the cause has seen off a raft of rivals. Home-grown favourites Richards and Nedum Onuoha and international stars Jerome Boateng and Maicon all operated at right-back for City during Zabaleta’s time. He is the last man standing, unquestionably one of the best in the world in his position.
This hard-earned, lofty status is not why City fans love Zabaleta. They love him because they see a man who cares. A man who cares like they do.
In our time of millionaire players living in gated communities, the links between the terraces and the pitch feel more strained than ever before. But Zabaleta has come to feel like the fans’ representative on the field.
Key victories at City do not happen anymore without supporters screaming themselves hoarse with songs in his honour. Sometimes he has a go at singing himself.
Pablo Zabaleta is Manchester City’s beating heart. They are a far less formidable foe without him.
All appearance data and playing stats for 2013/14 appear via WhoScored.com
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