Oleksandr Zinchenko: The most underrated player in the PL?

Played well today, but Jesus wept MOTD pundits gave him so much more praise than was deserved.

Is he underrated? Hell no, is he overrated? judging by the MOTD pundits today hell yeah.
 
Champ said:
Played well today, but Jesus wept MOTD pundits gave him so much more praise than was deserved.

Is he underrated? Hell no, is he overrated? judging by the MOTD pundits today hell yeah.
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Did you watch the whole game or just MOTD?

Because he was class today.
 
Nish115 said:
Did you watch the whole game or just MOTD?

Because he was class today.
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I watched the game, and am watching MOTD now.

Was he class? No, he was comfortable, Bournemouth were poor. But to say Zinchenko was class today is wrong. He played well, but he was steady rather than 'class', the MOTD excerpts made it look like he had an end product, he actually didn't.

It was a cracking show of editing.
 
Champ said:
I watched the game, and am watching MOTD now.

Was he class? No, he was comfortable, Bournemouth were poor. But to say Zinchenko was class today is wrong. He played well, but he was steady rather than 'class', the MOTD excerpts made it look like he had an end product, he actually didn't.

It was a cracking show of editing.
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No he was class.

And I actually think he wasn't amazing in the first two games. But today he was very good. He made double the interceptions as any other player. He kept things ticking all game and made several recovery runs.

He was very good today.
 
Nish115 said:
What difference does it make who we play? He was.
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My point is Arsenal have had a very easy start to the season and as usual Arsenal fans get carried away like you’re fighting for the title. Bournemouth were dire and would have made any player looked decent today. Just seen Keown on MOTD going on like Zinchenko was prime Scholes.
 
A mancity reject and he is shit, same as Jesus, otherwise why would city not keeping him.
 
Nish115 said:
No he was class.

And I actually think he wasn't amazing in the first two games. But today he was very good. He made double the interceptions as any other player. He kept things ticking all game and made several recovery runs.

He was very good today.
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Yeah he was good, but far from class,

I'd associate class with someone who had an actual impact on a game, you could have taken Zinchenko and swapped him for Xhaka and it wouldn't have made a difference.

He had one moment of class in the whole game, the rest was standard fare.
 
Champ said:
Yeah he was good, but far from class,

I'd associate class with someone who had an actual impact on a game, you could have taken Zinchenko and swapped him for Xhaka and it wouldn't have made a difference.

He had one moment of class in the whole game, the rest was standard fare.
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That just isn't true. His role isn't to whip crosses in for us so I doubt he gets loads of assists. His other work was perfect today, fautless.

He was class.
 
The best thing about acquiring him was him being up to speed with Pep's style, which is obviously what Arteta is basing his approach on. Numerous times he would come inside into midfield today with White, Saliba and Gabriel forming a back three while in possession, flooding the midfield. I'm sure if Arteta could sign another City player he would.

Also very handy to have cover for Tierney, fantastic player but unfortunately so injury prone.
 
Bastian said:
The best thing about acquiring him was him being up to speed with Pep's style, which is obviously what Arteta is basing his approach on. Numerous times he would come inside into midfield today with White, Saliba and Gabriel forming a back three while in possession, flooding the midfield. I'm sure if Arteta could sign another City player he would.

Also very handy to have cover for Tierney, fantastic player but unfortunately so injury prone.
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Arteta and Edu initially targeted Martinez and failed for this Inverted LB role, then they turned to Zinchenko.
 
Nish115 said:
That just isn't true. His role isn't to whip crosses in for us so I doubt he gets loads of assists. His other work was perfect today, fautless.

He was class.
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I have never mentioned crosses so not sure where that's come from?

He was comfortable throughout the whole game, yet MOTD decided to claim he was 'class', when he didn't really impact the game at all.

In fact, Saliba, White and Jesus were head and shoulders above him today.
 
Champ said:
I have never mentioned crosses so not sure where that's come from?

He was comfortable throughout the whole game, yet MOTD decided to claim he was 'class', when he didn't really impact the game at all.

In fact, Saliba, White and Jesus were head and shoulders above him today.
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Just isn't true. I think White was very good actually, and Jesus had a few good moments, but for me Zinchenko was probably the best person out there today.

But each to their own.
 
Nish115 said:
Just isn't true. I think White was very good actually, and Jesus had a few good moments, but for me Zinchenko was probably the best person out there today.

But each to their own.
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Exactly, each to their own.

All I can say is Arsenal have their recruitment sorted...I will expect Alvarez to be at Arsenal soon!!
 
adexkola said:
Bump.



Not a one-off either, he's been crucial for them all season.
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I love Zinchenko but he's been injured for almost half of it and they were playing just as well in the games he missed.
 
A wonderful if occasionally mistake prone player. Pep must be watching him today and thinking "the fire and passion I said City are missing after Spurs, there it is playing LB for Arsenal." Two things you always get from Zinchenko is 100% and a calmness on the ball even after a feck up. He also more often than not turns up for big games. We'd have lost the title last season without him on the final day.
 
He has real ability on the ball and isn't too bad at defending as well. In contrast to Ben White who was just total shite.
 
Heh. Funny seeing who bumped it. He loves it.

But yeah, he’s a really good footballer, which might sound a bit dumb. You can see why Lisandro was first choice before they got Zinchenko — similar sorts of players who can just play multiple positions to a good standard.
 
Dan_F said:
Strange. In no way is Licha a left back.
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Zinchenko doesn't play as a traditional left back though. Look at the touch map, he spends most of his time infield. He inverts and becomes Partey's partner with Xhaka pushed up.
 
GoonerBear said:
Zinchenko doesn't play as a traditional left back though. Look at the touch map, he spends most of his time infield. He inverts and becomes Partey's partner with Xhaka pushed up.
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Aware of that. He’s still not best in that position.
 
He was very good today. Gave AWB all sort of issues. He was always there to be a pest.
 
Dan_F said:
Aware of that. He’s still not best in that position.
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The role is quite unique and in a well drilled team, I'm not sure you could say that for sure. He's certainly got the passing range and the tenacity. Do you not think he has the technical skill?
 
You may like Luke Shaw but Zinchenko is the epitome of what the level is of a world class LB, the intensity and decision making are qualities I just don't see from the former.
 
GoonerBear said:
The role is quite unique and in a well drilled team, I'm not sure you could say that for sure. He's certainly got the passing range and the tenacity. Do you not think he has the technical skill?
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More that I think he’s better at centre back. You gain all those advantages you’ve mentioned and can still play someone like Zinchenko if you wanted to.

From a defensive point of view, I’m not convinced how he’d do at left back. Pace would likely be an issue.
 
Dan_F said:
More that I think he’s better at centre back. You gain all those advantages you’ve mentioned and can still play someone like Zinchenko if you wanted to.

From a defensive point of view, I’m not convinced how he’d do at left back. Pace would likely be an issue.
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Zinchenko is slow tbf
 
Dan_F said:
More that I think he’s better at centre back. You gain all those advantages you’ve mentioned and can still play someone like Zinchenko if you wanted to.

From a defensive point of view, I’m not convinced how he’d do at left back. Pace would likely be an issue.
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Fair point. To be fair, left 1 on 1 Zinchenko isn't the best defender either, and can be exposed, we seen that a few times at City. Just think he getting more a platform to showcase his on the ball skills here on a more regular basis.
 
Meh, he wouldn’t have done all that if he had a proper player going at him. He was so bored and unworried about that flank.
 
Nish115 said:
Zinchenko is slow tbf
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GoonerBear said:
Fair point. To be fair, left 1 on 1 Zinchenko isn't the best defender either, and can be exposed, we seen that a few times at City. Just think he getting more a platform to showcase his on the ball skills here on a more regular basis.
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I’m not arguing that Zinchenko is an ideal left back either :lol: I thought Garnacho should have come on way earlier to see if Rashford could have done anything from the right.

You were so dominant in the second half that those weaknesses became irrelevant anyway. I’m sure Licha would have done fine at left back for you today, even if I don’t think it’s his best position.
 
git_united said:
Meh, he wouldn’t have done all that if he had a proper player going at him. He was so bored and unworried about that flank.
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BerryBerryShrew said:
Agreed. Garnacho would have given him pause for thought.
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Yeah. He's good on the ball, calm, progressive and takes up good positions but he's a midfielder, who's a hard worker playing as a left back. It's not natural defensively.

Off the ball, his area was pretty much open season for us. Shame we didn't really get to exploit it.
 
Noot said:
I love Zinchenko but he's been injured for almost half of it and they were playing just as well in the games he missed.
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I don't think that's quite right. The usual fill-in for Zinchenko is Tierney, and while I do like him, he's a completely different kind of player. Tierney is more of a hug-the-touchline and send crosses into the box - very much more in line with the traditional attacking fullback position. He's also a bit better defender, from my read.

Zinchenko almost feels like another midfielder at times. It make sense given his versatility, but I don't see him as the same type of player as Tierney at all - and I don't think we're the same team without him. Think there's an argument to be made he's transformative to the way we've played this season. Love him to bits, what a player!
 
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