Balbuena the victim of Pelle’s left/right decision

Manuel Pellegrini’s decision to team Angelo Ogbnonna with Issa Diop started to pay off against Norwich City as the Irons kept their first clean sheet of the new season.

And it looks likely the boss will stick with the pairing, assuming the fitness of both, as they both produced their best performances of the season.

It doesn’t explain, however, how Fabian Balbuena has fallen out of favour although insiders believe they have an answer to that.

They reckon  Pelle identified a weakness in the partnership last season with both the Paraguayan and Diop being right sided which restricted their effectiveness.

However, the fact remains that whilst Balbuena was injured the current partnership failed to keep clean sheets on anything like a regular basis.

However, it looks certain that they will continue at the heart of the defence for the Villa game and probably beyond that as the manager looks for a new understanding to bed in.

Claret and Hugh followers gave a big thumbs up to the Diop/Oggy when casting their ratings on the site for the Norwich game with the 22 year old receiving an average 6.95 rating and Ogbonna 6.5.