Pablo Zabaleta has backed Manu Lanzini to bounce back from his injury ravaged season and contribute towards much needed points at Leicester City.
His endorsement came after manager David Moyes dug him out – as he had done Declan Rice the week before at Arsenal – for an error he claims he committed during the build up to Fernandinho’s goal.
Moyes was hit by booing from around the London Stadium as he replaced the side’s most creative player and despite accepting the abuse went on to explain it was influenced by the midfielder;s involvement in Fernandinho’s goal.
He said: “Yeah totally accept it. But everybody should look at the fourth goal, and then they’ll maybe see why. The players here have got to understand, we play players to keep the ball, to defend.
“Manu had a great chance to keep the ball for us and we end up losing the fourth goal for it. But hey, no problem – it happens.”
But Zaba told the Evening Standard: He’s probably one of our most creative players in the team. It hasn’t been a good season for him in terms of injuries but, of course, to have Manu back in the team is good news so hopefully he can help us to get some points in the next game.”
Lanzini is probably the best footballer at the club, and he probably won’t want to stay if we are going to stick with Moyes. I get that. But, and this pains me, Lanz was pants against City. He gave the ball away numerous times, either through misplaced passes or being tackled and not tracking back, so I can see where Moyes was coming from when taking him off. A week ago, after Rice messed up, we threw on attackers when 2-1 down to try to recover a point and in that last 10 minutes we looked like a complete joke of a side, losing 4-1 (yes, twice in two weeks).
So the pattern is every manager we get is defensive, turns good players into poor ones and cannot build any spirit in the dressing room. Well that leaves just two common denominators, the players and the owners. And there is the problem for me. The squad just isn’t good enough, individually or collectively, and the owners are not fit to deliver the change the club needs.