Why Zinchenko must be dropped. by Vivek Julka
Oleksandr Zinchenko has to be dropped now. As good as he is going forward, he has been defensively frail this season.
People have realised this now as he let us down at a crucial moment at Anfield leading to Liverpool’s late equalizer on Sunday.
Also, in our home game against Man City, he was constantly giving the ball away and not in his position for the goals.
He is very good footballer but defensively he is not as good as Kieran Tierney. The game was crying out for Tierney to be brought on around the 60th minute as we were under pressure, but Mikel Arteta made the substitution too late, subsequently conceding.
Jamie Carragher had his say on Zinchenko and told Sky Sports after the game, as quoted by The Metro: “He’s brilliant on the ball but lets them down defensively at the last minute.”
“You need to be more aggressive – the league title is on the line. That can’t happen. It’s almost like he’s in training, there’s got to be more intensity from him.”
We cannot afford to have these mistakes at this point of the season, especially with Man City right behind us. Mistakes like this will cost us the title.
In my opinion, Tierney should have started the Liverpool game, but he must start against West Ham.
Vivek Julka
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I think Zinchenko’s defending abilities will be enough to man-mark Bowen and we’ll need Zinchenko’s playmaking abilities to win the ball possession
Bowen isn’t as dangerous as Salah and Fabianski’s distribution skills aren’t as good as Allison’s, so Tierney won’t be required at the beginning of the game
Tierney’s defending and dribbling skills could be more useful in the last thirty minutes of the match, when we need to maintain our lead, do counter-attack or cross from the left byline
@GAI. I disagree with you on this even though you made valid points.
Reason being he needs game time ahead of Man City game to be match fit for the Man City game. Otherwise Mahrez would take OZ apart. KT needs to ready for Mahrez
A compromise would be to give him the 2nd half against West Ham and maybe similar time for game against Southampton.
Thirty minutes in the second half against West Ham and Southampton should be enough to prepare Tierney for our visit at the Etihad
We’d likely increase our winning chances in those two games if Zinchenko dictates the tempo
Every player do have moments of bad game or mistake in football. Let’s not forget quickly Zinchenko’s abilities that has so much helped us this season to be where we are. His leadership role, attacking contributions, the connection with the Arsenal fans etc. I partly blame the Coach for hesitating to substitute him in the latter stages of that match considering Liverpool’s pressure and Zinchenko’s shortcomings in defence as well as fatigue. But to bench him in the next match because of that, I totally disagree. Apart from that Arnold nutmeg I think he had a good game.
I may agree if you say that Tierney needs some minutes because he’s a top player but Zinchenko is equally very important for that West Ham game because of his playing style which very well contributes to the Arsenal playing pattern(tiki-taka).
Either Tierney or Zinchenko will be good for that West Ham game. That’s the beauty of having two top players in the same position and as well playing two different styles.
Completely disagree. Against a team like West Ham he needs to start so we can dominate, like he’s helped us do all season.
It’s a shame how many of our beloved fans want Tierney gone and are even branding about disgraceful figures such as £35m.
While I don’t want Zinchenko dropped at the moment, I also am of the opinion that Tierney should play against West Ham so as to be ready to start against City. Zinchenko shouldn’t be anywhere near the City game. Not as a punishment but as a necessary measure to not lose the City match
Do you even realize how important Zinchenko is in the fluent system we play with.
I agree he should be given a well deserved rest in the next couple if games, but if there is one game he needs to play in, it is the City game.
Tieney is a clear it first kind of defender and against City, that is the last thing we need. In the two games we played against City so far, we lost on very close margin in term of game plan and execution.
We were not outplayed although we were punished for failing to convert good chances and error at the back.
So we just need to cut out these errors and play the same way and that’s with control and fluency which requires Zinchenko.
I will start Tieney against Westham and also sub Zinchenko early against Southam.
Hopefully, we have learnt from Anfield
Why do some of us not see how Zinchenko have cost us a lot of points, despite being good going forward. Zinchenko was part of the reason we lost to city, and couldn’t win against Pool. These were games that can win us the championship. Arteta doesn’t know when to and not to play Tierney, and that is very bad. He wants this guy to rot on the bench, no matter how important the game is. This is not good for us. Tierney can start in any of them top 4 teams and that’s how good he is in his position.
Zinchenko must not be dropped vs west ham, he was following the gameplan and unfortunately liverpool turned the table on us hence he suffered because constantly defending is his weak point. That being said there should be more rotation at Left back to keep tierney happy with his minutes and sharp. We have two very good LB with different style that allows us to adapt as goes for RB.
Zinchenko should not be anywhere near LB when we need to be defensively sound, compact, and composed.
It’s not the first time he was exposed defensively, and it’s not ending anytime soon.
Personally Zinchenko should be competing with Xhaka at CM, not playing LB. He will get roasted if he plays LB against CIty, don’t doubt for a minute that Pep knows exactly how to get at Zinchenko and turn the inverted LB tactic to a disadvantage for us.
There is a dogged determination about Arteta which could yet rebound on him, and his failure to start Tierney is a classic example of his stubbornness.Despite mediocre performances from Zinchenko of late, I very much doubt if our Manager will change our tactical set up although his mentor at Man City has done so recently.Pep has set up in a 3-4-3 formation with the emphasis on physical domination in midfield where Rodri, Stones, DB and Gundagen overpower the opposition.The 3-4-3 becomes a 3-6-1 when they lose possession with the aim of recovering the ball asap.Arteta, on the other hand has stuck with the same formation throughout the season, and given our position in the League he can justifiably point out the effectiveness of his tactics.However, there are critical games on the horizon which we simply cannot afford to lose, and with respect to our young Manager ,a more cautious approach ,based on propping up our defence, may well be appropriate.I doubt if he will make changes in shape of personnel against West Ham but I sincerely hope he does against City.
It’s comments like this that made many call out others and accuse them of having an agenda against the manager. Despite the positives, he is stubborn and clearly has favorite players. Why on earth does Saka never get subbed off in matches even though he’s clearly mediocre and overpowered by the opposition. Even against Liverpool, Saka should have come off and not Jesus. I love what Arteta is doing at our club but it’s difficult not to point out his clearly obvious avoidable errors which I also believe he will stubbornly stick to against our future oppositions, something Guardiola doesn’t do
@Grandad
RealTalk…
Would we be top of the league had Tierney been our LB this season ?
Pretty simple answer really .
Tierney is one dimensional and is suspect himself against top opposition,all this after zinchenko had a poor game against one of the best players on the planet ,calls for him to be dropped are way over the top IMO let’s hope Arteta sticks to what as got us to the top of the league .
Agree with you Dan, he’s been outstanding this season and one, ‘off’ game and people calling for him to be replaced. Yes I rate Tierney but Zinchenko has proved his worth in most games this season. Tierney is an excellent back up who is best used when we need a different formation during a game, as a sub, in my opinion.
Question is,at what point does the manager need to make tactical shifts to the team to ensure we do not lose?Good as they are Saka and Zinchenko were below par against Liverpool,they needed very early substitutions but Arteta with his fixed mentality &favouritism saw none of that.If this doesn’t change we may end up in premium tears.
Does it even occurred to you that Saka was helping White at the back after collecting a yellow card and that lead to non-functional aspect of the right side.. once Saka got affected by white yellow care ..Odegard is affected too because Saka can not frequently exchange passes with him ..so it doesn’t matter if Saka was replaced or not anyone coming in will definitely and up doing a defensive work.
Still it is the managers work to replace Ben White when he sees his game has dropped coz of the yellow card.
You can switch formation to a back 3 by bringing on Kiwior,then use Tierney and Reiss as wingbacks.Xhaka too was affected by the card,take him off and push Zinchenko to A.m which he can do better.
There is no excuse for Artetas tactical naivity especially when things aren’t going as per the initial plan.He must do better on this aspect coz we end up losing unnecessary points.
Totally spot on MR DK
Couldn’t haVe put it better myself
Bro, that is a very erroneous statement. Check the first few games Arsenal played this season, Tierny played Left back and Arsenal won them all.
Brentford away
Crystal Palace away
Fulham at home
Tierny played in them
Zinchenko was at fault for the early concession to Bournmoth cause he was out of position
How about Southampton?
United away where Antony skinned him
Brentford at home
How about Everton?
So he led Arsenal to the top but is contributing to Arsenal losing the title.
I am not even saying drop him, I am saying, Xhaka should be dropped, play Zinchenko in MF and Tierny in LB. Tierny can always go forward.
@lee
Go back over the last few years with Tierney as our main LB and watch how many goals were scored from his side and mistakes he made .
We could argue all day long ,as fans who is best but you cannot argue who is best for this side this season and that his Zinchenko .
Simple really .
Why i disagree with you is bcuz you neva believe we will fight for the league with Xhaka in our starting 11, so why will i agree with you when we’re now fighting for the league with him as our starting 11?
This is football, you will never know how he’s going to perform now that Saliba and Gabriel are inform.
Do you think with Zinchenko, we will top the table last season or make top 4 with White and Gabriel not having a good connection like Saliba and Gabriel.
Partey is having is best season, so do Gabriel, White, Ramsdale, Xhaka and many players, do you think Zinchenko suddenly make them better? or do you think everyone of them will be on form and Tierney will only be the one to lose form.
Anyway, you have been rating Tavares over Tierney, so what good do i expect to come from you about Tierney?
It’s a reply under Dan Kit not a stand alone comment
Zinny is best as a midfielder. The reason Pep let him go so easy, is because he recognised Zinny’s defensive weaknesses. He should be coming on for Xhaka and Tierney should hold down LB…Jus sayin
We would have done better against Liverpool with Tierney in Zinchenkos place and Zinchenko instead of xhaka. We were wide open against Liverpool on their side because they both struggled to sort the left side out.
And xkaka got shown up, not controlling the ball well enough. It called for technique and quick ball control, something xhaka cant do.
Was Tierney not starting last season what did we achieve with that? How many top six away game Arsenal won with Tierney in the previous season…… Once a player is on the bench he automatically become the best player to some fans
Tierney was injured most of last season?
My point exactly. Tierney wasn’t reliable to stay fit for straight two seasons when he was our main LB and that’s one of the reasons we couldn’t make top 4… Now that we moved to a other option , you’re now making it sound as if Tierney have always been available when we needed him most in the past… Like I said players on the bench are always the best to some fans.
Nobody has said anything of the sort!!! What is being discussed is Tierney is a better defender than Zinchenko, which most on here and not on here agree with. Zinchenko was not defending the threat when he was asked too against Liverpool and a few others. It was a suggestion to put Tierney there and move Zinchenko to xhakas place, who was also struggling to do the job required. Many people were saying similar. I dont get what you are saying? It has nothing to do with Tierney being injured last season at all.
From August we been leading the league…man city have declared no more player sales to arsenal…pep has also blundered….just saying
We will know at the end of the season if Pep blundered. Way to early to say!!!!!!
Yeah, let’s change the way we’ve played all season, the way that has seen us top of the PL, because people on here, who probably haven’t got any coaching badges, think they know more than the manager 🙄
That’s one way to look at it. Another way is playing the same players, same style, same approach, and hoping that Klopp and Pep can’t suss it out and adapt and make changes.
You have to be flexible at times when managing a game.
For example, Pep is playing a 3-4-3 lately while trying to overtake us. Can’t always rinse and repeat things.
Not saying wholesale changes are necessary, but we need a tweak to cover our weak spots and holes.
Yes Pep is using the 3-4-3 formation, but he’s using a defender, Stones, in the midfield when City are attacking. He used that system earlier this season when he played that young RB, I can’t remember his name, because Walker can’t play that role.
I hope Tierney stays with us and adapts so he can play the role that Arteta wants.
Tierney didn’t have Saliba at the back or Jesus up top.. Let’s not forget Trossard’s impact and a healthy Partey most of this year.
But hey, just ignore those major factors when making your point about Tierney.
SMH
If I have my way, I will write to Arteta and plead with him never to play zinny at the back again. Zinny is a very good player but poor/average defensively.
KT is better and is always better, yes Zinny has a play making skill but that is not his duty as a defender.
If I were Arteta, I won’t be spending much on any midfield target as I will take zinny as one. Tavares should be brought back to deputize Tierney while zinny is deployed to the midfield to compete with Xhaka.
Mrcool, here’s the address.
Highbury House,
75 Drayton Park,
London,
England,
N7 7AJ.
Good luck.
Nice
Noted
Thank you