Calafiorication: Page 8 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

Calafiorication

Claudius

He’s not a gazelle. It’s why Bologna moved him from left back to centre back. They liked his qualities but worried about his speed. So flobaba is not imagining things. I just think we have different dynamics that mask that

Seeing him and Timber is the first time I’ve felt like we can move past Zinchenko

flobaba

Claudius Seeing him and Timber is the first time I’ve felt like we can move past Zinchenko

Ha, but you're a Zinchenko Stan. His number has been up for some time now. Soon as his defensive limitations started getting exposed and exploited regularly a year or two ago, I knew he was done here and said as much. Tomi, as injury prone as he is, was a clear improvement defensively, and Arteta would always rather you defend first, invert / contributions to attack is secondary. In Afro American parlance, we've been moved past him.

Gazza M

tbh, defensively he looks like white when he first arrived. in his first season white was also getting caught out a fair bit against tricky wingers, and had some sus moments under the high ball. calafiori has the tools and support to polish that side of his game like blanco did.

flobaba

Gazza M there are some parallels. I was never worried about whites pace though. Just his initial shaky one v one defending (which he tightened up considerably to his credit), and the way better opponents were often able to disrupt our possession when they pressed on the right side vs on our left as his passing out of defence is good, but not exceptional, and he lacks the ability to consistently dribble out of danger (and is mid at inverting).

Burnwinter

flobaba Arteta would always rather you defend first, invert / contributions to attack is secondary.

Arteta invented "the Zinchenko role" at City so I reckon he's got a few more ideas than that.

Gazza M

flobaba one other thing I notice about him is his instinct is to drive with the ball, have a bit of a think, then release. like 90% of the time. even if there's an easier quick pass on. I realise we've bought him for his ability to carry the ball and create transitions, but hopefully he learns how to judge when a pass is the more effective option

Clrnc

Burnwinter Arteta suggested Zinchenko to play LB at Citeh during the injury crisis but the inverted LB crap was by Pep I think with Delph

flobaba

He says it all the time. "First of all, as a defender, you have to love defending".

Burnwinter

flobaba Who says what you love first is what you love most? Arteta's the king of inversion. He's the invert-o-mat. No fullback is left right side out. The reason Zinchenko is on the way out is because we recruit and select for athleticism now—even if we didn't when we signed Zinny, Jesus, Vieira and others. But before that we scrapped Tierney because he couldn't even invert.

Claudius

Zinchenko has been a massive contributor to this team. But you look at fullbacks like Calafiori and Timber and can see the evolution and continuing improvement of this team.
We want more physical players, but also more versatile players who allow us to keep changing formation throughout a match. That’s the next step.

A team isn’t static. As much as I’ve appreciated Zin, Jesus, ESR, Ramsdale, etc., when opportunity to improve comes, you take it

Rohit

He probably has one of the best first touches in this squad. So easy on the eye in possession. He will get better defensively. He is too eager at times but he is a crowd lifter.

Clrnc

Rohit Don't really mind him being beaten by Dibling today. That guy is ridiculously quick and will school most fullbacks.

Apart from that this guy is top top notch. His first touch is always preparing for what he gonna do next and he is taking inverted to an all new level. It always looks like we are playing with 12 men because of what he does

Sicario2 - Tier 1

Was good apart from a few lapses of concentration.

Also, he needs to be a little less rash/aggressive in the tackle. One of his tackles was wild and he could have easily done his ACL.

What a talent though.

goon

Great on the ball and wins the ball loads. Needs to give himself a bit more space defensively and not get too tight, especially against pace and he’ll shut that side of the game down too.

CPM

He's a young colt who needs to be reined in a bit, but his talent and personality are unbelievable. So aggressive and fun to watch.

Gurgen

This guy is awesome. Some rough edges to polish but he just oozes class.

IBL

Quite the beast in the air which is always helpful. Love his aggression and urgency to move forward.

JazzG

Guy is so classy, we've got a massive talent and character here.

I think his 1v1 defending needs a bit of work, he defends like a CB at times out wide i.e. gets real tight but he's 22 and probably not played this position often so he'll figure it out.

banduan

Needs to stay as FB. Wasted as CB with that touch.

Gazza M

he has the 'recovery slide tackle and gather' star. love that technique

Clrnc

Gazza M the Joel Campbell tackle

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