Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has too easily been cast to the side according to Pablo Zabaleta.
The Chilean tactician led City to the Premier League/Capital One Cup double in his first year in charge at the Etihad Stadium last season but is now on the verge of being tossed on the managerial scrapheap.
City are second on the Premier League table and although they are 10 points behind champions-elect Chelsea, and without any other form of silverware, Argentine defender Zabaleta feels Pellegrini deserves to be valued more strongly by the general football public.
"The manager deserves more respect from everyone. He came here last season, he won the league and the Capital One Cup," said Zabaleta.
"We cannot blame just the manager for this moment. Individual players have also not been great in the whole season.
"Everyone is responsible - when you don't win titles it can be a little bit frustrating for everyone. Now is not the time to be thinking about what went wrong this season, it's just the time to finish as good as we can. Then we'll see what happens.
"It's not for me to say what should and should not happen. For the players, the owners, the manager and the staff, we are 100 per cent focused on what we are doing now.
"Then at the end of the season the right people will analyse what went wrong. The people responsible in every part of the club will decide what is best for the future."