COMMENTARY
West Ham defender Pablo Zabaleta had a nightmare first-half against Fulham on Friday and it didn’t escape anyone’s attention. The 34-year-old played a pass to put Fulham attacker Ryan Babel through on goal in the opening minutes as if he was trying to help them score. Zabaleta was then caught out and exposed moments later in the build up to Babel putting Fulham ahead, and it’s safe to say he should take a lot of the blame for why the Hammers had to come from behind in order to be winning 2-1 at the break. Many Hammers fans on Twitter clearly wanted to make sure Zabaleta knew how he had let his side down as several didn’t hold back when criticising his display. One even claimed that the player was still in Marbella, when the Hammers’ squad recently spent some time, while another even boldly claimed the veteran could retire. While Zabaleta did have an awful first 45 minutes, he has come to the rescue of the Hammers on numerous occasions this season as well as in his 2017/18 campaign. Therefore perhaps Hammers fans should cut him a little slack for a poor showing as it is out of character, also he will no doubt quickly get back to doing what he does best.
This Is Futbol has rounded up some of the best tweets below:
https://twitter.com/dondeccers/status/1099033182865895424
https://twitter.com/lorduglyflacko/status/1099036294842339329
awful from Zabaleta again
— The West Ham Way (@WestHamWayCom) February 22, 2019
Zabaleta for fredericks why?
— Chuhckie (@Chuhckie) February 22, 2019
Babel makes up for the early mistake scoring now in the third minute!
Zabaleta and Diop got caught out. Deserved lead for Fulham. #PL #WHUFUL
— Zaman Siddiqui (@ZamanWHU) February 22, 2019
https://twitter.com/PebbleMillNige/status/1099034193810604032
4 mins gone and Zabaleta is still in Marbella.
— Hammers Chat (@hammers_chat) February 22, 2019
https://twitter.com/NeilDkw/status/1099033385643790341