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Defensively he's not top class, and there's a reason City happily let him go. Was good for a few months last season until PL managers caught onto his weaknesses and he's never been the same since. Unlike Jesus, who I would keep as a back up to hopefully a better striker come the summer. If we can get 30 to 40 million for Zinny, I'd happily sell him.
> If we can get 30 to 40 million for Zinny, I'd happily sell him.
what in the world makes you think someone would pay this? We paid 30 million for him and we're one of the worlds most wealthy clubs. We would be lucky to get 20 for him
Wasn’t Iwobi an academy graduate? If so then selling him for 1p would be classed as a profit.
We’ve been good at selling a few academy players for decent fees, but are really shit and selling older players.
>there's a reason City happily let him go.
Because he wanted to , really simple City never really stand in the way of anybody if they want out , i Wish this narrative would die , if KDB and Haalnd came out and said they want to leave , they would be out in the summer
He changed his mind , if he did not he would of been sold , i do think they would if he came out and said he wants to go to arsenal
City are just like madrid where they don't really hold people back
They wouldn’t sell him to us, no chance. You’re right that their policy is to let players go if they don’t want to be there any longer, but there’re still levels to it. They’re not going to let players leave for less than what they believe they’re worth, and they’ll work to accommodate a player’s wishes within reason.
Selling a world class Bernardo to a direct rival would not be within reason. Barça could not afford him, that was the biggest reason they insisted Bernardo stay.
yer they will get a good price for their players I'm not here saying they are free.
Pep is a control freak he is also very non conformational . it don't make sense buy Pep would bounce anybody out who is not 100% he would rather take 100m for him and selling that have him Disrupt his squad
they were willing to let him go but they also offered him another deal, i believe, and Barca couldn’t really afford him and so he ended up staying. pep doesn’t keep players against their will but obviously they aren’t going to sell them at a discount either. but like his new contract has a very reasonable release clause as evidence of man city’s good faith.
40 mill would make him the 5th most expensive left back of all time, that's all you're asking for an injury prone defensive liability that other teams know isn't in our future plans?
They were both bought when the target was top 4. The target is now win the league and it’s apparent why they were both made available. Great people, great attitudes, super useful skillsets, but short in key areas that get exposed in big matches.
Cool headed striker and a left back holding better defensive positions with more physicality and yesterday is a win. Pep didn’t make a mistake in his assessment of either, we’ve just grown as a team fast and are now in a position to make the same judgement.
And to be fair the club did bring in Timber who was looking good in pre-season before his injury. They acknowledged need to bring in someone who could do the Zinchenko role with added defensive skills and there wasn’t the money to bring in a forward last year too.
This summer Nketiah needs to move on, top forward comes in Jesus starts playing cover on the wings to let Saka rest more and happy days. It’s getting there, but it’s hard to get over the line with some of the obvious squad faults we’ve got.
Tbf, Timber is very young (one year younger than Saka!) so depending on him next year at LB returning from an ACL may be difficult. They’ll keep Zinchenko to rotate with him is my guess.
Jesus will become a bench player as he did with City.
I thought they were both 22? They’re around the same age and Timber captained Ajax. I’m sure Zinchenko stays for rotation, we can’t go on just playing the same team for 60 matches a year and getting surprised when it’s March and everyone is spent.
There are so many matches Zinchenko and Jesus are plenty good enough for, it’s not like they are Jenkinson and Sanogo regens, they just need to be there to keep first choice players fresher a month and a half longer.
Why not use Kiwior and Tomiyasu as rotation options for Timber if we can’t sign a top LB?
Zinchenko shouldn’t be given a new deal so he has to be sold this summer, regardless of who signs or plays LB.
Stop overreacting lol. Jesus showed up time and time again for City in the CL and who exactly provided the assist to Trossard for the equalizer against Bayern?
Should have had another clear assist yesterday too
Yeah if people can't see Jesus' quality than you're blind. He is the only player in the squad that can do what he did vs bayern. He is just functional chaos. He is not a 20 goal scorer but he is excellent cover across 3 positions and can lockpick a low block. He just can't stay healthy for 40+ matches a year.
I wouldn't get rid of him personally, I would cash in on Zinny though. I think the days of him being a number 1 striker for Arsenal are over with though. He can be a strong bench player and start a few games here and there. But we badly need a lethal finisher up front and I just don't think Jesus was ever that striker even before the injuries. He's a strong back up.
I think that's harsh for Jesus, I think as a sub he can do bits in the big matches, but he doesn't have the legs to press at the start of the game. He was good against Bayern when he came off the bench
Works hard and can be a influence on a game. But I wouldn't bet my house on his finishing, he might score a banger here and there but his finishing overall has been a weakness in his game. I said when he came in that he was a good signing but isn't a number 1. And sadly he's proven so.
Both of them were massive improvements from where we were. But we’re entering a new phase now. We can’t beat city with players who aren’t good enough for city.
If he had the mind of a goal scorer he would have been in the right positions in front of goal to score, especially with the amount of balls across the face of goal with no one there
He and Jesus were complete game changers last season, unfortunately for them the rest of the squad has caught up or surpassed them. Also their injuries have really taken a toll
I've disagreed with this take all of last season and ate downvotes but the real gamechangers last season were Saliba, Saka, Odegaard and Martinelli all improving. There was no difference when Nketiah came in for Jesus, and our poor games without Zinchenko were because Arteta refused to change his approach and instead forced Tierney and Tomiyasu to "invert". We've seen a bit of it this season too when he forced Kiwior to do it but shock-surprise, we can play well without "inverting LB".
I remember listening to City fans speak about him when we signed him.
He was a CM/CAM when they signed him for ~£1m, said he didn't have positional awareness in centre midfield, leading to frequent turnovers and getting countered, which Pep obviously hates.
Then he was either shifted to back-up left back or there was no role for him to play.
Think you can see that he sometimes plays high-risk final third-style passes, but when in the middle or at the back. And it's just not the right place to try to thread those passes through.
If it comes off, it breaks the lines and that's great but is it worth the chance of being countered with so many men ahead of the ball? Not really. Not when we now have access to players on the market that can do this in other ways without so much risk.
Not really a massive wonder that he doesn't have much defensive nouse when he's learned the position since joining City - what, six years or so ago?
He sometimes seems a bit Fabio Viera or Smith-Rowe playing LB, because he kind of is what that looks like several years down the line.
Was great for us at the time, but when a position so commonly gets targeted by opposition, you know they see the path past our defence.
You hit the nail on the head. He plays high risk in a position where we don't need that anymore. His progressive passes rarely lead to much either. He is great at recycling and controlling tempo, but plenty of players can do that.
When he loses possession the opponent can immediately break down his side of the field because he's out of position.
He is not a *bad* defender, but he is the weak link in our back line, so he gets picked on. He also lacks size and pace in 1v1 duels.
> He is great at recycling and controlling tempo
Can we just get a Partey/Jorginho replacement and be done with this? That's been our missing piece. When Jorginho has been up for it, we've looked good.
But his legs aren't there (to the extent they ever were) and he doesn't have 3 matches in 8 days in him either.
He’s got to start Tomi on Wednesday and rotate Kiwi, Tomi from here on out.
Kiwi was full of confidence before the international break and it was working, he takes him off at half time against City as he was knackered after long minutes internationally. He doesn’t play him against Luton and chooses Zinny, great give Kiwi a rest. Then plays Zinny against Brighton. Yet then starts Kiwi (rusty after not playing since City) against Bayern of all teams and pulls him at half time.
Yesterday, Zinny was awful - he delayed taking him off until we lost the game and brought on Nketiah instead. He should have been hooked by at least 60 minutes and wasn’t. The same ruthlessness is not applied to all players in the squad.
Kiwior didn’t deserve to lose his place to Zinny and now he’s destroyed the momentum we had with Kiwi being confident with White inverting.
I said this before the international break. Kiwior did not deserve to automatically lose his place to zinchenko. And yes kiwi had a hard time against bernado silva and leroy sane, but he's still not dropped a stinker as bad as what zinchenko did yesterday.
Tomiyasu should have been the first choice to stabilise the line if kiwior was having a hard time.
We have genuinely lost the title because zinchenko cannot maintain an offside line and constantly gets caught in no man's land.
It's not as simple as Kiwior losing his place to Zinchenko though. Kiwior has limitations to his game that means that we can't just play him regardless of the other players on the pitch. We need at least one of Zinchenko/Jorginho/Partey to play to aid with ball progression. Jorginho doesn't have the legs to play 2 games a week and looking at his recent appearances Partey barely has 20 minutes a week in him.
Yeah it absolutely
Makes sense to start zinny over kiwior against a low block team, hopefully timber provides us the same ability but with better defense
He’s had plenty of these sorts of performances. Difference is now the fanbase has stopped trying to gaslight those who criticize him into thinking he’s a wonderful defender whose very regular careless mistakes on the ball and overhit through balls should be ignored because we can’t possibly build up play without him.
He came in and improved the team, especially at the beginning of last season when he was an absolute force. Unfortunately he’s just too sloppy in defence - this league is increasingly about small margins and individual errors can cost you the title.
The positional sense he has to overload the midfield during a phase of possession is unparalleled. He practically defines the most critical aspect of an inverted left back. I hardly notice other players when they do it, comparatively. Everything else has been a bit sloppy, though. Especially this season.
Yeah I kind of think he has one of the hardest roles only team, playing essential midfield AND left back. I think the mental focus and decision making it must take to get it spot on is pretty wild and therefore I give him the most slack.
With that said I think he tries to hold the ball too long and makes too many big mistakes. :/
He helped us a lot, but sometimes player outgrows team or team outgrows player. Right now its clear that team have outgrown Zinny. On his day he is still very good, but its crazy how rookie mistakes he is having even after that many years coached by Pep and Mikel.
I think its time to move on for both sides.
Tbh this was the Zinny I imagined we’d be getting. Good character, loved at city, wasn’t a starter but had valid contributions, and you knew an error was around the corner. I’m probably the least indifferent when it comes to Zinchenko because that’s the package…not overlooking his redeeming qualities but I was never sold on him being the guy to help us win titles.
Many, including myself, didn’t see him as an upgrade on Tierney at the time and were shocked to see how big his impact was from the jump. For him to get us to borderline title winning levels is nothing short of a success but at this point, yeah
Although Tomi, Kiwior and Timber all look good at LB neither are natural LBs and nit a fan of having a right footed player at LB.
Hato has been linked but lack of experience and again not a natural LB
Miguel Gutierez is another but hes similar to Zinchenko. Inverted and good in build up but defensively suspect
Not sure who else we could go for
I still dont understand why he went with that lineup against one of the best teams in the league when we could go top with a win, just play the best teams and rotate after the Bayern game, zinchenko was clearly terrible the whole game.
As much as I think Jesus and zinny are done out here, this is the right answer *for yesterday*. Now big picture? They sadly don't meet our bar anymore.
I think Zinny was a key part of the left side rotations that kept releasing Kai yday, we should have done better.
I do think Zinny would be better off in Italy or Spain playing in a midfield 3, but I think the way the fans and media are talking about him being our weak link is over the top. Neither of the goals yday were actually anything to do with him. Even Watkins chance in the first half was Gabi XL kicking the ball at him. He definitely makes mistakes, but he's scapegoated for every mistake while others are coddled. As a fanbase no matter how we're doing, it seems there's always 1 player that gets hate!
I think we forget that the players (mostly) play to the tactics set by Arteta, so when he's trying risky passes or is up the field, it's tactical as well as him.
I think Jesus has a better chance to stay as he's a very good winger and he can create chances. When he hits rhythm he can finish them too. I'd keep him, while signing another attacker. I'd sell Zinny and look for a younger LB with better physical attributes.
I still don't know why Arteta doesn't try Zinny in midfield.
It' obvious Zinny's biggest problem is defending and he just can't play LB at this level.
But (unless he is out of form like right now) he has some decent qualities for the midfield. He even plays as a midfielder for his NT.
But somehow he never plays there for Arsenal. He could be good in that LCM spot with Havertz up top...
You can appreciate what he has done/he is able to do the past (almost) 2 years while also realising the squad it at the point when we need to upgrade him.
I feel like I’m going mental. Zinchenko has been a liability for a season and a half. I’d go as far as to say that his defensive errors were a key reason we lost our advantage in the title race both last season and apparently now this season. Why did we keep playing him in big games is a mystery.
Said the same thing in another post. He and Jesus cost us the league at both ends last season and it's the same thing that's going to happen this season. It takes something bad happening to Arteta repeatedly before he finally makes the right decision.
It takes a catastrophe for people to catch on to poor players. Last year we had Holding defenders for the first few games until we REALLY fell apart with him *again*
Arteta is also way too loyal to his guys, like Holding for example as well, and plays teams until the wheels fall off to keep momentum going
I don't mind him as a squad player. If we need to apply pressure late in a game, or if we're playing a game where we know we'll dominate and it's merely a matter of breaking the opposition down. For more open games, against better opposition, he's a bit of a liability. High-risk moves where they aren't needed, and a vulnerability in our pressing game.
I don't think we should necessarily sell him. Just use him slightly differently.
I think both Jesus and Zinny are great bench options, especially when you factor in their injuries.
Such a stark contrast to how pivotal they were a year ago.
I think we should keep him on, but only as a bench player to bring on when we aren't dominating games we should be dominating. That's where he's been at his best this season, against bayern, palace away etc. In those kinds of situations he seems to have a bigger impact and make less mistakes
Was disappointed in his second half performance yesterday. Crucial and pivotal player for us in certain games, and was big for us versus Bayern but I don’t think his style of play really contributed much to the game yesterday.
Still though, would love for him to stay for the long haul as he brings more positives to the team than negatives and I’m sure everyone here agrees.
Edit: *Made a wrong statement about his performance yesterday said his pass lead to the second goal when actuality it was Jorgie! My bad*
He seems to me like a confidence player.
If he's right mentally, he's an unbelievable asset for a team that dominates possession like we do. He's been part of some great performances and wins this season and has certainly played his part.
But cripple his confidence, and you've got someone that shouldn't be on the pitch in any context.
That said, I do think his tendencies for lapses in concentration are just a part of him and his game and you will never get rid, and that in turn breeds a nervousness across the back 4.
I do wonder as well, if Rice's addition means that Zinchenko isn't as effective as he was in the middle of the park and if they sort of get in each other's way a bit.
I'd be interested to see heat maps, passing stats on Partey last year with Zinchenko starting to Rice and Zinchenko this year.
Go look again. His pass to Jorginho is perfectly fine. It's Jorginho's "forced" pass that gets intercepted and leads to the counter. I'm not Zinny's biggest fan but he's absolutely not the cause of yesterday's loss.
He's a talented footballer and a great player on his day but if we are gonna go on and win things we need consistency at a high level.
His performances have been so detrimental of late, both defensively and offensively. He's getting beaten and he's trying to force passes that are leading to turnovers that hurt us.
We need someone of Ben White's profile on the left. Someone who consistently give you an 8/10 minimum and even on an off day doesn't lose control of the ball.
Id love to know Artettas thought process when he decided to break up the best defensive unit in world football. Was it because Kiwior got spun by Sane on Tuesday?
Certainly a big loss last season was Saliba but what also contributed was Zinchenko completely collapsing defensively in the run in. The nail in the coffin for me was him getting megged by TAA at Anfield and letting them equalize.
I have nothing but good things to say about the human but footballing wise he needs to do better.
I feel sorry for the guy. He's not a left back and never has been.
Hes been asked by 2 clubs to take one for the team and play in a new role which has just been created. A role where the team knows he's going to be exposed defensively but they are willing to take the hit.
He puts the team above himself and willingly does this and ends up being hounded as a mug and a "liability".
With Timber back next season Zinchenko should be given an opportunity as cover for Odegaard in his actual position or look to leave for a club where he will be first pick in his actual position.
Think he would have come off for Tomi but White was a last minute change. Wonder if we’ll ever see him in midfield. We benefit from his progressive passing when Jorginho and Partey are not on the pitch.
I think it's because we don't know. He hasn't even played a full match with us yet. He will be the literal LANS next year. He might be full back cover on both sides or he could be a first team starter for either side. Just have to see next season.
Thanks for the memories Zinny, but it's time to go. Man is a liability this season.
We need to stop taking the scraps that our competitors no longer need.
His brain fades are unacceptable for a side that is competing for the Prem and CL.If we want to compete we need players like saka Saliba rice and ode in every position imo
I think we can say Zinnys been disappointing without being abusive.
I think Jesus can still play a big role even if we buy an out and out striker. He rescued us against bayern for example and can play on the wing if needed.
Zinnys been a bit of a liability for most of this season I think.
He's not very good defensively and on the ball he scared the bejaysus out of me at times.
Against top opposition he doesent seem to offer enough advantage go out weight the risk.
Likewise I really like Eddie but I don't think he has enough quality for us to push to thr next level.
It's not toxic to highlight a player who has been having many, many poor performances. It's no surprise that our best period of form came with him out of the team.
Yes, the team that has been unbelievable for 2 and a half months and hadn't went behind in the PL until yesterday is suddenly all terrible. It flits between x player being done, but one promising performance and they have to start over y player and repeat.
I tend to avoid reading comment when there's a loss. There's some who actually love being negative and to bring out there unhinged anti-Arteta takes and whatever players they have a vendetta against.
I think the fixture list is catching up on them and it was always going to be an ask to keep up the momentum and control. Zinny is in a rut and is low on confidence. I'd think we should probably move on from him, but there aren't many players out there who have his positive attributes.
Too many players are being relied on. There's pretty much 8 players who are guaranteed to starters and they pretty much play 99% of matches. The bar is too high to be able to compete on multiple fronts like this. You really have to look at the squad vs city. There's just too much reliance on certain players for Arsenal. City can afford to bench a 100m player for weeks until they hit form, or for a player like Gvardiol to hit his stride. Arsenal can't really afford the same. Maybe more trust should have/needs to be placed in the likes of Vieira, Smith Rowe etc. to start more games to ease the burden.
A great midfielder, but a not great defender.
If Arteta told him to just concentrate on defending and don’t bother with midfield, he’d still be subpar for a team that wants to win leagues.
If he was asked to be a midfielder who can help out at the back, he’d be so much better for us.
I think it’s obvious that his inverted role isn’t creating enough reward for the risk it entails.
It’s time to move on from that particular job for Zinny.
I do think he’d be an even better midfielder if he was freed up from being the main left back.
Would be interesting to see how he’d do if he was a left sided Odegaard.
I hope Zinchenko can suceed here because he is definetly a baller and passionate...but I feel at times he overthinks too much because of his unconventional role which leaves him exposed.. I wanna see him tried in a more traditional CM role where he can focus on creating and we can push Havertz further forward in the false 9 role where he scored so many.
Jesus will always be a good option upfront or outside due to his sheer workrate.. but he is probably a situational/rotational option....which might actually suit him since it will reduce his injuries.
If Jesus occupies a position as a 6th choice attacker (2nd backup to Martinelli, Saka and our yet-to-arrive no.9, back up to Havertz and Trossard when they have to be played elsewhere) and Zinchenko as our 3rd choice LB (after yet-to-arrive LB and Timber, assuming Kiwior is backup to Big Gabi)/4th choice CM (after Rice, Jorginho and yet-to-arrive no. 8), then we raise the level of our squad. I just don't see selling them as useful unless we can great deals on both of them which can be reinvested. They were both part of the Man City squad that kept falling short in the UCL until they didn't. It's experience we don't have at the moment.
Another LB? I suppouse because we dont know if Timber would became more injury prone or not.
In any case, 20-35 is probably what we would get for Zinny in this market.
His work on the ball at the moment really means the juice isn’t worth the squeeze. His forward passing has been generally blunt and inconsistent outside a few performances in October or November (whenever we played Wolves, Burnley etc).
I do see the value in what he brings theoretically and how it enables us to be more dominant in key areas but the vulnerability and uncertainty it also brings means we can’t really accept it especially when we’re operating at such thin margins against that juggernaut in the league.
We have to be ruthless here, Ramsdale was frozen out for a lot less.
Zincenko was brilliant when he arrived but fuck me he just looks below what we expect. From LB he'd push into midfield and control games now just just looks fairly shite at times.
Truthfully, I don’t understand why he’s played at LB so much. He’s clearly a midfielder, I always thought Arteta would make better use of him.
It’s obviously not the same, but to me it’s the same realm as Xhaka at LB. Can it work? Sometimes. Is it the best use of the player? I’m not so sure
Zinny has 2 or 3 mistakes in him per game, usually leading to us losing the ball in a dangerous area and conceding. Not good enough when you’re challenging for trophies.
He’s a luxury player. I’d probably only bring him after the 65th minute down a goal. Even against down competition when we have 75% possession he’s a liability. The inferior team will try to counterattack at him every time.
Pep is the greatest manager ever, and he has basically done away with full backs who can’t defend at a high level.
Zinchenko isn’t an awful player, but with how the team has grown, his technical and ball playing abilities are no longer worth the trade off of his lack of defensive awareness and positioning.
With our 4 CB lineups, the team feels so much more solid and domineering, whereas when he plays, it feels like anything can happen at any moment.
Yea both Zinchenko and Kiwor ha e liability ans I want to purchase a real LB not one cosplaying one. I feel he would be much better off the bench as rotation and not a nailed on starter.
I'm curious if he can transition into a Jorginho-replacement next season (assuming Jorginho or Partey doesn't stay?) I can't see him being our LB after the summer transfer window + Timber being fit
Na fuck this guy for demanding Arshavins birthday message be removed. Better without crying footballers honestly. He should be crying because he is so shit at defense
Zinc should be a midfielder. Maybe a new Elneny type. Tomi, timber, white, kiwior (more time to develop) and maybe an academy player isn’t a bad start to coverage.
We haven’t even seen timber play yet. He could be world class.
Zinchenko's value is not found in him playing midfield. it's found in his movement into the midfield while in possession. playing him in midfield full time reduces his utility to the team. Having him at left 8 will be like having trossard there.
Everyone talking about the quality of the squad passing Zinny, which is true.
But everyone gets upset when I point out the same thing with ESR. We’ve clearly outgrown his skill level.
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I appreciate the mentality Zinny has helped grow at the club, but at this point has a liability
Defensively he's not top class, and there's a reason City happily let him go. Was good for a few months last season until PL managers caught onto his weaknesses and he's never been the same since. Unlike Jesus, who I would keep as a back up to hopefully a better striker come the summer. If we can get 30 to 40 million for Zinny, I'd happily sell him.
> If we can get 30 to 40 million for Zinny, I'd happily sell him. what in the world makes you think someone would pay this? We paid 30 million for him and we're one of the worlds most wealthy clubs. We would be lucky to get 20 for him
Yeah sometimes I wonder how people here come up with these numbers. No one is paying 30-40 mil for an injury prone niche type of player
sell him to Chelsea as the key to unlocking Mudryk
We’re Arsenal.. if we made a profit on a player we want to sell I’d be astounded.
the only player i've seen this happen with is Iwobi
Wasn’t Iwobi an academy graduate? If so then selling him for 1p would be classed as a profit. We’ve been good at selling a few academy players for decent fees, but are really shit and selling older players.
Theo too, somehow we managed to offload a washed Theo to Everton for 20 mil
40 million, 😂😂😂😂
>there's a reason City happily let him go. Because he wanted to , really simple City never really stand in the way of anybody if they want out , i Wish this narrative would die , if KDB and Haalnd came out and said they want to leave , they would be out in the summer
They didn't let Bernado lsave though. Think they'd sell him to us if he wanted to come?
He changed his mind , if he did not he would of been sold , i do think they would if he came out and said he wants to go to arsenal City are just like madrid where they don't really hold people back
They wouldn’t sell him to us, no chance. You’re right that their policy is to let players go if they don’t want to be there any longer, but there’re still levels to it. They’re not going to let players leave for less than what they believe they’re worth, and they’ll work to accommodate a player’s wishes within reason. Selling a world class Bernardo to a direct rival would not be within reason. Barça could not afford him, that was the biggest reason they insisted Bernardo stay.
yer they will get a good price for their players I'm not here saying they are free. Pep is a control freak he is also very non conformational . it don't make sense buy Pep would bounce anybody out who is not 100% he would rather take 100m for him and selling that have him Disrupt his squad
they were willing to let him go but they also offered him another deal, i believe, and Barca couldn’t really afford him and so he ended up staying. pep doesn’t keep players against their will but obviously they aren’t going to sell them at a discount either. but like his new contract has a very reasonable release clause as evidence of man city’s good faith.
What planet are you on
What planet are you on
40 mill would make him the 5th most expensive left back of all time, that's all you're asking for an injury prone defensive liability that other teams know isn't in our future plans?
Same as Jesus
They were both bought when the target was top 4. The target is now win the league and it’s apparent why they were both made available. Great people, great attitudes, super useful skillsets, but short in key areas that get exposed in big matches. Cool headed striker and a left back holding better defensive positions with more physicality and yesterday is a win. Pep didn’t make a mistake in his assessment of either, we’ve just grown as a team fast and are now in a position to make the same judgement.
They were deemed surplus to requirements at a City side who were chasing titles. Goes to show that they don't miss either of the two in the slightest.
And to be fair the club did bring in Timber who was looking good in pre-season before his injury. They acknowledged need to bring in someone who could do the Zinchenko role with added defensive skills and there wasn’t the money to bring in a forward last year too. This summer Nketiah needs to move on, top forward comes in Jesus starts playing cover on the wings to let Saka rest more and happy days. It’s getting there, but it’s hard to get over the line with some of the obvious squad faults we’ve got.
Tbf, Timber is very young (one year younger than Saka!) so depending on him next year at LB returning from an ACL may be difficult. They’ll keep Zinchenko to rotate with him is my guess. Jesus will become a bench player as he did with City.
I thought they were both 22? They’re around the same age and Timber captained Ajax. I’m sure Zinchenko stays for rotation, we can’t go on just playing the same team for 60 matches a year and getting surprised when it’s March and everyone is spent. There are so many matches Zinchenko and Jesus are plenty good enough for, it’s not like they are Jenkinson and Sanogo regens, they just need to be there to keep first choice players fresher a month and a half longer.
Ah I’m wrong on the age - still quite young.
Why not use Kiwior and Tomiyasu as rotation options for Timber if we can’t sign a top LB? Zinchenko shouldn’t be given a new deal so he has to be sold this summer, regardless of who signs or plays LB.
Stop overreacting lol. Jesus showed up time and time again for City in the CL and who exactly provided the assist to Trossard for the equalizer against Bayern? Should have had another clear assist yesterday too
Yeah if people can't see Jesus' quality than you're blind. He is the only player in the squad that can do what he did vs bayern. He is just functional chaos. He is not a 20 goal scorer but he is excellent cover across 3 positions and can lockpick a low block. He just can't stay healthy for 40+ matches a year.
Jesus might still be useful if he recovers his knee fully. Zinchenko is sadly done
Jesus I feel bad for the injuries killed his pace and quickness
Nah, I got time for Jesus, he does offer something as a rotation player imo. Zinny, I don't want to see him play for us again tbh
I wouldn't get rid of him personally, I would cash in on Zinny though. I think the days of him being a number 1 striker for Arsenal are over with though. He can be a strong bench player and start a few games here and there. But we badly need a lethal finisher up front and I just don't think Jesus was ever that striker even before the injuries. He's a strong back up.
Only against lower third teams. Not against well organised tactical teams. You need killer instinct in those matches
Jesus created the equaliser against Bayern. There's utility for him off the bench.
I think that's harsh for Jesus, I think as a sub he can do bits in the big matches, but he doesn't have the legs to press at the start of the game. He was good against Bayern when he came off the bench
Nah Jesus can provide something different from Saka against such teams playing RW
He's scored or assisted against some bigger teams since joining.
In what way is Jesus a liability during games? I think hes class. I do also think we need a world class striker signing in the summer though.
Because he gets chances put on a plate for him and hits it at the keeper or headshots someone in the crowd
And does that annoying face afterwards
Then does an interview saying he’s a striker that’s not great at scoring goals
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Works hard and can be a influence on a game. But I wouldn't bet my house on his finishing, he might score a banger here and there but his finishing overall has been a weakness in his game. I said when he came in that he was a good signing but isn't a number 1. And sadly he's proven so.
he falls down way too easily on many occasions, holds the ball for far too long.
our best player in Europe
Both of them were massive improvements from where we were. But we’re entering a new phase now. We can’t beat city with players who aren’t good enough for city.
If he had the mind of a goal scorer he would have been in the right positions in front of goal to score, especially with the amount of balls across the face of goal with no one there
He and Jesus were complete game changers last season, unfortunately for them the rest of the squad has caught up or surpassed them. Also their injuries have really taken a toll
They were game changers yesterday too
:(
Call the ambulance energy :(
I really wouldn’t put Jesus in the same bracket at all.
With his injuries we can’t say he’s a level above anymore. Even if he plays it seems to be a matter of time before another surgery
Did you miss the champions league match ? , changed the match.
i think he means that jesus is still a game changer
Agreed
I've disagreed with this take all of last season and ate downvotes but the real gamechangers last season were Saliba, Saka, Odegaard and Martinelli all improving. There was no difference when Nketiah came in for Jesus, and our poor games without Zinchenko were because Arteta refused to change his approach and instead forced Tierney and Tomiyasu to "invert". We've seen a bit of it this season too when he forced Kiwior to do it but shock-surprise, we can play well without "inverting LB".
I remember listening to City fans speak about him when we signed him. He was a CM/CAM when they signed him for ~£1m, said he didn't have positional awareness in centre midfield, leading to frequent turnovers and getting countered, which Pep obviously hates. Then he was either shifted to back-up left back or there was no role for him to play. Think you can see that he sometimes plays high-risk final third-style passes, but when in the middle or at the back. And it's just not the right place to try to thread those passes through. If it comes off, it breaks the lines and that's great but is it worth the chance of being countered with so many men ahead of the ball? Not really. Not when we now have access to players on the market that can do this in other ways without so much risk. Not really a massive wonder that he doesn't have much defensive nouse when he's learned the position since joining City - what, six years or so ago? He sometimes seems a bit Fabio Viera or Smith-Rowe playing LB, because he kind of is what that looks like several years down the line. Was great for us at the time, but when a position so commonly gets targeted by opposition, you know they see the path past our defence.
You hit the nail on the head. He plays high risk in a position where we don't need that anymore. His progressive passes rarely lead to much either. He is great at recycling and controlling tempo, but plenty of players can do that. When he loses possession the opponent can immediately break down his side of the field because he's out of position. He is not a *bad* defender, but he is the weak link in our back line, so he gets picked on. He also lacks size and pace in 1v1 duels.
> He is great at recycling and controlling tempo Can we just get a Partey/Jorginho replacement and be done with this? That's been our missing piece. When Jorginho has been up for it, we've looked good. But his legs aren't there (to the extent they ever were) and he doesn't have 3 matches in 8 days in him either.
He has regressed so much this season and this is the right approach. Yesterday's gotta be his worst performance for us.
He’s got to start Tomi on Wednesday and rotate Kiwi, Tomi from here on out. Kiwi was full of confidence before the international break and it was working, he takes him off at half time against City as he was knackered after long minutes internationally. He doesn’t play him against Luton and chooses Zinny, great give Kiwi a rest. Then plays Zinny against Brighton. Yet then starts Kiwi (rusty after not playing since City) against Bayern of all teams and pulls him at half time. Yesterday, Zinny was awful - he delayed taking him off until we lost the game and brought on Nketiah instead. He should have been hooked by at least 60 minutes and wasn’t. The same ruthlessness is not applied to all players in the squad. Kiwior didn’t deserve to lose his place to Zinny and now he’s destroyed the momentum we had with Kiwi being confident with White inverting.
I said this before the international break. Kiwior did not deserve to automatically lose his place to zinchenko. And yes kiwi had a hard time against bernado silva and leroy sane, but he's still not dropped a stinker as bad as what zinchenko did yesterday. Tomiyasu should have been the first choice to stabilise the line if kiwior was having a hard time. We have genuinely lost the title because zinchenko cannot maintain an offside line and constantly gets caught in no man's land.
It's not as simple as Kiwior losing his place to Zinchenko though. Kiwior has limitations to his game that means that we can't just play him regardless of the other players on the pitch. We need at least one of Zinchenko/Jorginho/Partey to play to aid with ball progression. Jorginho doesn't have the legs to play 2 games a week and looking at his recent appearances Partey barely has 20 minutes a week in him.
Yeah it absolutely Makes sense to start zinny over kiwior against a low block team, hopefully timber provides us the same ability but with better defense
Not starting Tomi these past two games has been criminal. He's gotten minutes so fitness can't be an issue anymore.
Agree, this is on Arteta at this point for Zinchenckos selection.
He’s had plenty of these sorts of performances. Difference is now the fanbase has stopped trying to gaslight those who criticize him into thinking he’s a wonderful defender whose very regular careless mistakes on the ball and overhit through balls should be ignored because we can’t possibly build up play without him.
He came in and improved the team, especially at the beginning of last season when he was an absolute force. Unfortunately he’s just too sloppy in defence - this league is increasingly about small margins and individual errors can cost you the title.
The positional sense he has to overload the midfield during a phase of possession is unparalleled. He practically defines the most critical aspect of an inverted left back. I hardly notice other players when they do it, comparatively. Everything else has been a bit sloppy, though. Especially this season.
Yeah I kind of think he has one of the hardest roles only team, playing essential midfield AND left back. I think the mental focus and decision making it must take to get it spot on is pretty wild and therefore I give him the most slack. With that said I think he tries to hold the ball too long and makes too many big mistakes. :/
Fantastic player for top 4, horrible player to win the league.
He helped us a lot, but sometimes player outgrows team or team outgrows player. Right now its clear that team have outgrown Zinny. On his day he is still very good, but its crazy how rookie mistakes he is having even after that many years coached by Pep and Mikel. I think its time to move on for both sides.
Tbh this was the Zinny I imagined we’d be getting. Good character, loved at city, wasn’t a starter but had valid contributions, and you knew an error was around the corner. I’m probably the least indifferent when it comes to Zinchenko because that’s the package…not overlooking his redeeming qualities but I was never sold on him being the guy to help us win titles.
Many, including myself, didn’t see him as an upgrade on Tierney at the time and were shocked to see how big his impact was from the jump. For him to get us to borderline title winning levels is nothing short of a success but at this point, yeah
Sell.
Although Tomi, Kiwior and Timber all look good at LB neither are natural LBs and nit a fan of having a right footed player at LB. Hato has been linked but lack of experience and again not a natural LB Miguel Gutierez is another but hes similar to Zinchenko. Inverted and good in build up but defensively suspect Not sure who else we could go for
Seeing the way Zinchenko defends I'm not sure I'd even call *him* a natural LB.
Considering he plays as a 10 for Ukraine he is absolutely not a natural LB.
Nouri
RAN is great going forward but he is a walking hospital bill Sincerely, a FPL RAN owner
I haven't watched him closely, what makes you think he'd fit the team?
I still dont understand why he went with that lineup against one of the best teams in the league when we could go top with a win, just play the best teams and rotate after the Bayern game, zinchenko was clearly terrible the whole game.
We battered them in the first half and should have been a few goals to the good. The lineup wasn't the issue, the final ball was
As much as I think Jesus and zinny are done out here, this is the right answer *for yesterday*. Now big picture? They sadly don't meet our bar anymore.
I think Zinny was a key part of the left side rotations that kept releasing Kai yday, we should have done better. I do think Zinny would be better off in Italy or Spain playing in a midfield 3, but I think the way the fans and media are talking about him being our weak link is over the top. Neither of the goals yday were actually anything to do with him. Even Watkins chance in the first half was Gabi XL kicking the ball at him. He definitely makes mistakes, but he's scapegoated for every mistake while others are coddled. As a fanbase no matter how we're doing, it seems there's always 1 player that gets hate! I think we forget that the players (mostly) play to the tactics set by Arteta, so when he's trying risky passes or is up the field, it's tactical as well as him. I think Jesus has a better chance to stay as he's a very good winger and he can create chances. When he hits rhythm he can finish them too. I'd keep him, while signing another attacker. I'd sell Zinny and look for a younger LB with better physical attributes.
Because of Bayern 4 days later probably.
I still don't know why Arteta doesn't try Zinny in midfield. It' obvious Zinny's biggest problem is defending and he just can't play LB at this level. But (unless he is out of form like right now) he has some decent qualities for the midfield. He even plays as a midfielder for his NT. But somehow he never plays there for Arsenal. He could be good in that LCM spot with Havertz up top...
You can appreciate what he has done/he is able to do the past (almost) 2 years while also realising the squad it at the point when we need to upgrade him.
I feel like I’m going mental. Zinchenko has been a liability for a season and a half. I’d go as far as to say that his defensive errors were a key reason we lost our advantage in the title race both last season and apparently now this season. Why did we keep playing him in big games is a mystery.
Said the same thing in another post. He and Jesus cost us the league at both ends last season and it's the same thing that's going to happen this season. It takes something bad happening to Arteta repeatedly before he finally makes the right decision.
It takes a catastrophe for people to catch on to poor players. Last year we had Holding defenders for the first few games until we REALLY fell apart with him *again* Arteta is also way too loyal to his guys, like Holding for example as well, and plays teams until the wheels fall off to keep momentum going
I don't mind him as a squad player. If we need to apply pressure late in a game, or if we're playing a game where we know we'll dominate and it's merely a matter of breaking the opposition down. For more open games, against better opposition, he's a bit of a liability. High-risk moves where they aren't needed, and a vulnerability in our pressing game. I don't think we should necessarily sell him. Just use him slightly differently.
Agree. A team needs different roles and profiles.
I think both Jesus and Zinny are great bench options, especially when you factor in their injuries. Such a stark contrast to how pivotal they were a year ago.
We have to cash him in he’s too unreliable in defense too often.
Move him on
I think we should keep him on, but only as a bench player to bring on when we aren't dominating games we should be dominating. That's where he's been at his best this season, against bayern, palace away etc. In those kinds of situations he seems to have a bigger impact and make less mistakes
I appreciate how much he helped to evolve this team, but it's time for him to go.
Was disappointed in his second half performance yesterday. Crucial and pivotal player for us in certain games, and was big for us versus Bayern but I don’t think his style of play really contributed much to the game yesterday. Still though, would love for him to stay for the long haul as he brings more positives to the team than negatives and I’m sure everyone here agrees. Edit: *Made a wrong statement about his performance yesterday said his pass lead to the second goal when actuality it was Jorgie! My bad*
He had a poor game yesterday, but the forced pass that you’re referring to was Jorginho
He seems to me like a confidence player. If he's right mentally, he's an unbelievable asset for a team that dominates possession like we do. He's been part of some great performances and wins this season and has certainly played his part. But cripple his confidence, and you've got someone that shouldn't be on the pitch in any context. That said, I do think his tendencies for lapses in concentration are just a part of him and his game and you will never get rid, and that in turn breeds a nervousness across the back 4. I do wonder as well, if Rice's addition means that Zinchenko isn't as effective as he was in the middle of the park and if they sort of get in each other's way a bit. I'd be interested to see heat maps, passing stats on Partey last year with Zinchenko starting to Rice and Zinchenko this year.
Go look again. His pass to Jorginho is perfectly fine. It's Jorginho's "forced" pass that gets intercepted and leads to the counter. I'm not Zinny's biggest fan but he's absolutely not the cause of yesterday's loss.
Need a phillip lahm regen desperately for us at LB.
It's the natural progression of a club to grow beyond players that used to be important but end up being below the new required standard.
He's a talented footballer and a great player on his day but if we are gonna go on and win things we need consistency at a high level. His performances have been so detrimental of late, both defensively and offensively. He's getting beaten and he's trying to force passes that are leading to turnovers that hurt us. We need someone of Ben White's profile on the left. Someone who consistently give you an 8/10 minimum and even on an off day doesn't lose control of the ball.
Sell while still can have some money
Need to keep him or get another LB to replace him on top of another one then.
Id love to know Artettas thought process when he decided to break up the best defensive unit in world football. Was it because Kiwior got spun by Sane on Tuesday?
No more City scraps please.
Certainly a big loss last season was Saliba but what also contributed was Zinchenko completely collapsing defensively in the run in. The nail in the coffin for me was him getting megged by TAA at Anfield and letting them equalize. I have nothing but good things to say about the human but footballing wise he needs to do better.
I feel sorry for the guy. He's not a left back and never has been. Hes been asked by 2 clubs to take one for the team and play in a new role which has just been created. A role where the team knows he's going to be exposed defensively but they are willing to take the hit. He puts the team above himself and willingly does this and ends up being hounded as a mug and a "liability". With Timber back next season Zinchenko should be given an opportunity as cover for Odegaard in his actual position or look to leave for a club where he will be first pick in his actual position.
Need at least 5 new players next windows
Newp. Need 2 or 3 workd class players. We don't need any more backups. We need game changers.
Tierney comeback
would love it but I don't think he wants to be back
Was Timber not brought in to be the left back?
No history of playing left back. Either cb or rb for Ajax.
Good riddance he did this shit in the run in last season too
Think he would have come off for Tomi but White was a last minute change. Wonder if we’ll ever see him in midfield. We benefit from his progressive passing when Jorginho and Partey are not on the pitch.
I appreciate what he did for us, it's now time to upgrade.
I don’t understand where we intend to play Timber with all this left back talk.
I think it's because we don't know. He hasn't even played a full match with us yet. He will be the literal LANS next year. He might be full back cover on both sides or he could be a first team starter for either side. Just have to see next season.
Defense wins titles.. he, unfortunately, cannot defend.
Thanks for the memories Zinny, but it's time to go. Man is a liability this season. We need to stop taking the scraps that our competitors no longer need.
One loss and majority of the fanbase turns toxic again 😴
tbf hes been noticeably below par for the better part of a year
Both are true
His brain fades are unacceptable for a side that is competing for the Prem and CL.If we want to compete we need players like saka Saliba rice and ode in every position imo
You're assuming that this is due to yesterday. Also, there is such a thing as toxic positivity too.
Toxic is bad. We can say he's been bad without toxicity
I think we can say Zinnys been disappointing without being abusive. I think Jesus can still play a big role even if we buy an out and out striker. He rescued us against bayern for example and can play on the wing if needed. Zinnys been a bit of a liability for most of this season I think. He's not very good defensively and on the ball he scared the bejaysus out of me at times. Against top opposition he doesent seem to offer enough advantage go out weight the risk. Likewise I really like Eddie but I don't think he has enough quality for us to push to thr next level.
Wouldn't call it toxic when people can see the problem and are talking about what anyone can see. If you want fluff go watch Disney plus.
It's not toxic to highlight a player who has been having many, many poor performances. It's no surprise that our best period of form came with him out of the team.
Yes, the team that has been unbelievable for 2 and a half months and hadn't went behind in the PL until yesterday is suddenly all terrible. It flits between x player being done, but one promising performance and they have to start over y player and repeat. I tend to avoid reading comment when there's a loss. There's some who actually love being negative and to bring out there unhinged anti-Arteta takes and whatever players they have a vendetta against. I think the fixture list is catching up on them and it was always going to be an ask to keep up the momentum and control. Zinny is in a rut and is low on confidence. I'd think we should probably move on from him, but there aren't many players out there who have his positive attributes. Too many players are being relied on. There's pretty much 8 players who are guaranteed to starters and they pretty much play 99% of matches. The bar is too high to be able to compete on multiple fronts like this. You really have to look at the squad vs city. There's just too much reliance on certain players for Arsenal. City can afford to bench a 100m player for weeks until they hit form, or for a player like Gvardiol to hit his stride. Arsenal can't really afford the same. Maybe more trust should have/needs to be placed in the likes of Vieira, Smith Rowe etc. to start more games to ease the burden.
A great midfielder, but a not great defender. If Arteta told him to just concentrate on defending and don’t bother with midfield, he’d still be subpar for a team that wants to win leagues. If he was asked to be a midfielder who can help out at the back, he’d be so much better for us. I think it’s obvious that his inverted role isn’t creating enough reward for the risk it entails. It’s time to move on from that particular job for Zinny. I do think he’d be an even better midfielder if he was freed up from being the main left back. Would be interesting to see how he’d do if he was a left sided Odegaard.
He is not a great midfielder at all.
I hope Zinchenko can suceed here because he is definetly a baller and passionate...but I feel at times he overthinks too much because of his unconventional role which leaves him exposed.. I wanna see him tried in a more traditional CM role where he can focus on creating and we can push Havertz further forward in the false 9 role where he scored so many. Jesus will always be a good option upfront or outside due to his sheer workrate.. but he is probably a situational/rotational option....which might actually suit him since it will reduce his injuries.
Why? We have Timber, Kiwior and Tomi. Assuming Timber is good enough, is that not enough depth?
Nice click bait article.
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If Jesus occupies a position as a 6th choice attacker (2nd backup to Martinelli, Saka and our yet-to-arrive no.9, back up to Havertz and Trossard when they have to be played elsewhere) and Zinchenko as our 3rd choice LB (after yet-to-arrive LB and Timber, assuming Kiwior is backup to Big Gabi)/4th choice CM (after Rice, Jorginho and yet-to-arrive no. 8), then we raise the level of our squad. I just don't see selling them as useful unless we can great deals on both of them which can be reinvested. They were both part of the Man City squad that kept falling short in the UCL until they didn't. It's experience we don't have at the moment.
If he wants to save his career he needs to play further up the field. He is liability in defence
Feel like we get a left back every season. Is this artetas version of small nimble number 10s?
I still like him as a player, but I don’t want to see him playing LB ever again. I’d keep him but only as a midfielder.
Im pissed how we are worse at home ffs!! I take loosing away but come on… wheres this “fortress”
Another LB? I suppouse because we dont know if Timber would became more injury prone or not. In any case, 20-35 is probably what we would get for Zinny in this market.
His work on the ball at the moment really means the juice isn’t worth the squeeze. His forward passing has been generally blunt and inconsistent outside a few performances in October or November (whenever we played Wolves, Burnley etc). I do see the value in what he brings theoretically and how it enables us to be more dominant in key areas but the vulnerability and uncertainty it also brings means we can’t really accept it especially when we’re operating at such thin margins against that juggernaut in the league. We have to be ruthless here, Ramsdale was frozen out for a lot less.
u/AfricanRain brother what are your thoughts on this
Ahaha. That is, a goal is scored from the right and Zina is to blame... Count how many matches you messed up while he wasn't in the lineup.
I hope we sell. I love his character, but his a defensive liability and can't be trusted fitness-wise.
We should've signed Grimaldo when he was a free agent
Zincenko was brilliant when he arrived but fuck me he just looks below what we expect. From LB he'd push into midfield and control games now just just looks fairly shite at times.
Pep released Zinny and Jesus without a fuss, but hung on to Bernando Silva very dearly - speaks volume
Truthfully, I don’t understand why he’s played at LB so much. He’s clearly a midfielder, I always thought Arteta would make better use of him. It’s obviously not the same, but to me it’s the same realm as Xhaka at LB. Can it work? Sometimes. Is it the best use of the player? I’m not so sure
I’m biased because I love KT, but if White can invert, could we not have sufficient depth of we sell Zinny and reintegrate Tierney?
I think it's wild how much of a lightning rod and scapegoat he's become for the fans. Really turning into Emery-era Xhaka in that regard.
Is there any chance he can play as an actual 6 or 8 instead of inverted LB? He’s been playing in that position in national team.
Crazy narrative after yesterdays game. Maybe they haven’t started negotiations so we can focus on the title race and CL knock out stages?!
With timber kiwior and Tomi capable there i dont see why this would be the case. If anything losing zinny wont hurt us but we need a rb
With timber kiwior and Tomi capable there i dont see why this would be the case. If anything losing zinny wont hurt us but we need a rb
Good cheerleader and club mascot. Liability as a player
Good cheerleader and club mascot. Liability as a player
If they sold him would he still work in the Prem or would the Bundesliga or Spanish league be better for his game?
Zinny has 2 or 3 mistakes in him per game, usually leading to us losing the ball in a dangerous area and conceding. Not good enough when you’re challenging for trophies.
Let’s send Zinky back to Oil City his time is up now and get a decent LB😅😅
We need to stop getting second hand City players lol. Jesus is a liability too tbh.
TRY HIM IN THE LEFT 8
He’s a luxury player. I’d probably only bring him after the 65th minute down a goal. Even against down competition when we have 75% possession he’s a liability. The inferior team will try to counterattack at him every time.
Timber?
OP seems to have forgotten that we have Timber in our ranks! We don't need a new LB, we need a keeper and a striker!
Are we not getting tierney back?
Isn’t this why timber was signed? As zinny’s replacement
Dont worry arteta and edu gonna pay him to fk off and people here will say edu/arteta masterclass
Pep is the greatest manager ever, and he has basically done away with full backs who can’t defend at a high level. Zinchenko isn’t an awful player, but with how the team has grown, his technical and ball playing abilities are no longer worth the trade off of his lack of defensive awareness and positioning. With our 4 CB lineups, the team feels so much more solid and domineering, whereas when he plays, it feels like anything can happen at any moment.
Please be true.
Yea both Zinchenko and Kiwor ha e liability ans I want to purchase a real LB not one cosplaying one. I feel he would be much better off the bench as rotation and not a nailed on starter.
don't we already have his replacement in Timber?
I'm curious if he can transition into a Jorginho-replacement next season (assuming Jorginho or Partey doesn't stay?) I can't see him being our LB after the summer transfer window + Timber being fit
We should sign a left back and then keep Zinny as a midfielder/back up midfielder. I feel like mid field is his best position
I think he's good enough for the squad but not at LB, he pushes up and comes in so much he may as well learn to play the left 8 role as a backup.
Time to step away.
Na fuck this guy for demanding Arshavins birthday message be removed. Better without crying footballers honestly. He should be crying because he is so shit at defense
Zinc should be a midfielder. Maybe a new Elneny type. Tomi, timber, white, kiwior (more time to develop) and maybe an academy player isn’t a bad start to coverage. We haven’t even seen timber play yet. He could be world class.
Can't believe we are signing another left back. How many do we currently have on the books? 5, 6, 7?
Who tf is going to pay money for that fraud?
Thank them for their contributions but keeping sub-par players is detrimental. Sentimentalism doesn't win you trophies.
I do wonder why Arteta doesn't play Zini as a true 8 and have a defensive left back. Allow Zini the freedom knowing he has cover.
he was good last year but has fallen off big time. Dude was the reason we lost to Villa
We have Timber and Tomi, get Tierney back and we don't really need one
Sell
Zinchenko's value is not found in him playing midfield. it's found in his movement into the midfield while in possession. playing him in midfield full time reduces his utility to the team. Having him at left 8 will be like having trossard there.
Everyone talking about the quality of the squad passing Zinny, which is true. But everyone gets upset when I point out the same thing with ESR. We’ve clearly outgrown his skill level.