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Photo by Rob Newell - CameraSport via Getty Images
Photo by Rob Newell - CameraSport via Getty Images

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West Ham fans tear into Pablo Zabaleta after Newcastle loss

Dom Toner
Dom Toner

West Ham suffered a 3-2 home defeat against Newcastle United on Saturday afternoon – and some of the club’s supporters took out their frustration with experienced defender Pablo Zabaleta.

Manuel Pellegrini’s side were beaten at the London Stadium in the Premier League fixture and they are in dreadful form, despite a late comeback at the weekend.

The Hammers have no victories in their last five league matches and have picked up only 13 points in the opening 11 games.

Newcastle enjoyed a crucial win at the expense of West Ham and took a commanding three-goal lead at one stage.

Ciaran Clark put the visitors in front after only 16 minutes and Federico Fernandez added a second just six minutes later, with both goals coming from set-pieces.

Jonjo Shelvey then struck a long-range free-kick early in the second-half to extend the Newcastle lead and it was a poor showing from goalkeeper Roberto, who is struggling to fill the shoes of injured number one Lukasz Fabianski.

Fabian Balbuena and Robert Snodgrass both scored in the final 20 minutes for West Ham to set up a nervous finish, but ultimately they left themselves to much to do.

(Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)

A selection of West Ham supporters on social media picked out Zabaleta for major criticism for his display and feel he was a real weak link in defence.

The 34-year-old right-back was part of a backline that folded against Newcastle and it’s a surprise that he started ahead of teammate Ryan Fredericks.

He found it extremely difficult to deal with the pace of Newcastle’s winger Allan Saint-Maximin on the counter attack, who gave him a torrid time before Pellegrini substituted him off in the second-half.

Here are some West Ham fans on Zabaleta: