Hello Zinchenko: Page 12 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

Hello Zinchenko

daredevil

If you view Zinchenko as a fullback who supports the midfield, you will never be happy with him as he's defensively weak. If you view him as a midfielder who supports the defence, then it's easy to overlook his weakness because he's not a defender like that.

Meatwad

daredevil
i can't view him as a midfielder that supports the defense because he's not good enough to be a midfielder at our level and that's why he was converted by city and only plays in midfield for a weak national team. midtable midfielder.

JazzG

Going forwards he was fine, did have some sloppy passes though. Defensively was more of the same, a shame as he had looked better in recent weeks

Gazza M

tonight his passing was below par. he had acres of time and space alot of the time, but his passing wasn't progressive enough.

Burnwinter

Gazza M The dilemma of this faux-versatility … the fragility Zinchenko introduces defensively means he has to be absolutely decisive in his other aspects … if he has an off day as a part time midfielder, it's hardly worth having had him as a ring-in defender.

Havertz has gotta do more to cover him and track back, but it's gonna be a bit hard for the German when he's also supposed to be making those drifting runs into the box at the other end.

Once again, this is turning into the season of awkward left-handed Arsenal, not mercurial right-handed Arsenal … even watching Øde struggle onto his left foot for those big chances was hard on the eyes …

Pepe LeFrits

I kind of feel that his future utility in big games might be as a Jorginho replacement; as a full 6 with Timber inverting and Rice playing as an 8.

Coombs

Zinchenko was a means to an end. He's no longer of much use.

DiabyKungFu

Our lockdown left back:

He sooooooo fucking good, man. Is Alex Zinchenko the best defensive left back in world football?

KingslandBarge

you'd think a skills merchant would have institutionalised and cultured his right foot enough to use it in this situation

goon

I don't actually have a huge issue with him defensively. He's not great but he's passable.

It's his decision making on the ball in our own third. He's not making the smartest play, he's making the riskiest.

Burnwinter

goon He's not great but he's passable

Oh, he's very passable.

Claudius

Love this guy. So fundamental to our offensive game. Which is where our strength lies.
And even then, despite all the criticism, we still have by far the best defensive record in the league, so this guy is far from our biggest issue - really just an availability heuristic issue that makes fans target him.

Far more important for us is how do we turn possession and territory into more chances.

Meatwad

Claudius
our strength lies in our offensive game? i haven't seen this offensive game so far. zinny doesn't offer anything special in attack that allow you to ignore the defensive liability. our attack didn't look worse with tomi playing.

Qwiss

If Tomi and Timber were available he'd barely start for us. He's useful against a low block to overload midfield and allowothers to push forward. I'd still upgrade in the summer though, incredibly brain dead player.

RocktheCasbah

Qwiss I'd still upgrade in the summer though, incredibly brain dead player.

I don't think the issue is Zinchenko is "brain dead", that's a ridiculous thing to say about him, it's that he's a midfielder doing a midfielder's job in the team but doing it whilst playing from left back. Though I do agree that Timber would almost certainly be starting games ahead of him if he were available. Tomi would be a rotation option in my view, for example at Anfield.

Clrnc

He's actually very smart, a proper playmaker. Some of his passes and field spread are ridiculously delicious.

His defending is brain dead I agree. That's all.

Qwiss

He switches off playing the ball too, reminiscent of pre-last season Xhaka. Great technical ability fools people into thinking he's smart IMO. Concentration is poor, positionally suspect, defensively clueless. Just look at him showing Salah into a goal scoring position this week. It's such a basic mistake. Very emotional player too, fell apart last season after that City game where their players bullied him after the match.

awooga83

I think he's a brain dead defender. He's a good player in an attacking sense but not good enough to be a full on midfielder and too much of a defensively liability. Against Salah kept shaping up to run outside when he obviously wants to cut in. It's why city moved him on and even when he played in their team he never played full matches either subbed on or 50-60 mins taken off because they knew he wasn't a full 90 minute player.

Coombs

Zinchenko is a unique footballer. Very few in the world like him, and the way he plays the fullback position has truly transformed the role, perhaps worldwide.

He the definition of avant-garde. He paved the way, but it's up to others to take it from here.

goon

I reckon people confuse him giving the ball away in defence with him being a bad defender. Don't get me wrong, he's not a great defender, but neither are TAA or Cancelo and that never stopped them. I can't actually remember that many defensive mistakes. What really sticks in people's minds is him losing the ball once or twice a game in our own half.

I do think medium-long term we can phase him out, but in the meantime he just needs to learn to play it quicker in defence and cut out the low percentage crap and the downsides will be a non-factor.

Coombs

goon generally agree, but Salah literally walked past him for the goal. In the moment, it was enraging.

Meatwad

goon
TAA's attacking contributions are in a completely different world to zinchenco's. you make those sacrifices for someone like TAA.

and pep got tired of cancelo too.

flobaba

goon he is shit and has to go. Would be on the bench more often than not if Timber was fit. He'd definitely not have made the first team for the Liverpool game if Tomiyasu were available. Arteta wants his defenders to defend first. Soon as our other defenders are fit, he becomes a rotation/squad player.

Qwiss

goon TAA isn't a great defender but I haven't seen him make a glaringly stupid decision like showing someone like Salah onto their strong foot the way he did last week. You could pick most championship left backs and they wouldn't make such a grevious error. It's so basic I was utterly shocked by it. Salah is like Saka, you give him that and he'll destroy you. I haven't seen defenders offer Saka onto his left like that. It was amateur defending.

I don't think he's gonna change either. He is what he is. Like I say he's a benefit when we dominate possession but against the top teams he's not it

goon

Coombs

It was really weak, but I don't think even a good full back should be left alone out there with Salah of all people. Look at the difference when we got the ball to Martinelli vs Trent, Konate was out there like a shot.

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