Okay, wrong words, wrong comparison, let's see how he pans out, Honestly I hope Zavs proves us all wrong and really turns it on, and it is not just mean spiritedness and fully agree hindsight is 20/20.
Cheers
Originally Posted by
ensco
^You are doing it too. Calling him Semenko is just another backhander.
In 2017 Zavaleta started 29 games, was 4th in minutes played overall, played more minutes than any defender ex Morrow. He was no role player, and that was a team that was bulletproof at the back. I am not going to go through every game thread in 2017 but I'd like someone to show me any serious discussion that got engagement about how he was protected by others, or there because of nepotism, in 2017. (there was definitely some of that earlier, but not in 2017.) He was a bubble player when we did our expansion protection lists but few argued with the logic that a youngish domestic starter had to be kept.
There is is absolutely no question that keeping him and paying him at the end of 2017 was a mistake. We should have protected Edwards and let him go. But it is all 20/20 hindsight. And nothing compared to the Aketxe or Beita/vdW decisions
It makes me angry. If you did the job on our championship team, you deserve better than this. Zavaleta is on thin ice now, but that in no way diminishes the vital role he played throughout the hallowed 2017 season.
I'm hoping this is just confusion (given that there were early questions about Zavaleta), rather than mean spiritedness. I am not sure.
If he goes he deserves to be remembered fondly, and should get the same warm reception Beita and Nico Hasler got when they come back.