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Manuel Pellegrini opted to start Pablo Zabaleta for West Ham United's match with Newcastle United, meaning the 34-year-old was directly up against Allan Saint-Maximin.

The decision seemed a little bit strange at the time due to the skillsets of the two players, especially when it is considered that Ryan Fredericks was on the bench, and the events of Zabaleta's 72 minutes on the pitch didn't bring much clarity to the decision.

Saint-Maximin's biggest strength is his dribbling, as per WhoScored, for which he utilises his speed, power and technical ability to drive at defenders, something Pablo Zabaleta struggled to deal with.

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This can be seen by the fact that the Argentinian didn't even attempt a tackle, while Saint-Maximin went on to make 5 dribbles throughout the game.

Anybody who watched the game would have seen the Frenchman twice sprinting away from the right-back, with Felipe Anderson being forced to come in and make defensive interventions, which the speed he possesses allowed him to do.

There was also an incident later in the game in which the 22-year-old cut inside and got a shot off unopposed, with Zabaleta stepping off, perhaps wary of getting taken on down the outside.

Zabaleta's game eventually came to an end when he was substituted off for Fredericks in the 72nd minute with his side 3-0 down.

This was the second game in a row Fredericks started on the bench but, due to the speed and dynamism of Saint-Maximin, the decision was much more perplexing against the Magpies than it was against the Blades.

In order to prevent a similar future mismatch, Pellegrini should consider the speed of his right-back's opposite number before sending Zabaleta to the slaughter.