Oleksandr Zinchenko | Joins Arsenal for £30m

[Cobwebcat]

 

[Stiff Little Wingers]

It is interesting, how many total toolballs, hung up on the fact that zinchenko used to be a midfielder and therefore 'hasn't been a good left back for us', are unleashing their stuck-in-their-ways bile on this thread.

It is fine, I remember post-match thread, after post-match thread, after post-match thread, where a fair few that actually watch football got to say, what an outstanding performance by Zinch, arguing whether he or someone else deserved man of the match, pointing out what a difference he made.

I remember us sitting in 9th at new year, and Pep bringing him back into the sterting 11 once he realised fannying about with inverted FBs didnt work out, and us going on a 20-something winning run, storming to the league title. Something zinchenko made The biggest difference to, and many of us noted it.

Which makes me realise, there are plenty sensible people out there, eventhough the semi-clueless fuds that just want to be critics because they once said something negative and now they have to live by it, are currety louder on this one thread.

I'm ok with that.

Good post. Football is not just all about excellence and having the best 25 players in the world, always winning and if you don't win then there is a collective mourning and scapegoating.

Oleks stayed to fight for a place when he could easily have left. Sure he's made a few mistakes but he has never let us down, not least v Villa.
If he ends up at Arsenal then best of luck to him and we will be poorer without his personality, fight and talent

 

[Cobwebcat]

If Zin is that close to going there must be Cuc or/and someone else coming in. We wouldn’t go down to 2 full backs. Particularly with a World Cup half way through the PL season.

We started last season with

Zin
Mendy
Walker
Cancelo

 

[GoatersLeftShin]

I'm happy if he stays, but can understand it if he wants to leave too. He's been a great servant and his attitude has been first class.

Regardless of all that though, it's great to see the club now getting decent offers for our players, especially the ones like Zinchenko, Jesus and Ake who aren't regular starters.

 

[Paulmcfc2703]

Hopefully this move is sorted soon. If it carries on 3-4 more days he's going to be called a legend, a week and there will be calls for a statue to replace Vinny as our greatest PL defender.

 

[Tricky_Trev]

I don’t think Arsenal fans will realise yet what an unbelievable signing they are making. I absolutely love Zinchenko. I understand why he feels he has to leave, I get it and I don’t begrudge him the chance to play more. But I can’t lie, this hurts me more than both Jesus and Sterling. All the best to him, but I’m really not going to enjoy seeing him in another shirt. We shouldn’t take for granted players that love the club as deeply as Zin does and losing too many with his attitude would definitely affect us in the short term.

 

[wolviedinho]

I don’t think Arsenal fans will realise yet what an unbelievable signing they are making. I absolutely love Zinchenko. I understand why he feels he has to leave, I get it and I don’t begrudge him the chance to play more. But I can’t lie, this hurts me more than both Jesus and Sterling. All the best to him, but I’m really not going to enjoy seeing him in another shirt. We shouldn’t take for granted players that love the club as deeply as Zin does and losing too many with his attitude would definitely affect us in the short term.

What other option do we have? Seeing Jesus score for the letter writing pricks is bittersweet but what can we do about it. The club is progressing and it’s impossible to keep good players happy with not playing. It’s a consequence of our success.

 

[super_city_si]

Heart of a lion. Such an easy guy to like. A very good technical player too but hes only ever going to be a stop gap at left back for us.

He deserves to be playing his best position and to be a main part of a team at this stage of his career. Hes just not quite good enough to be that with us, so best of luck fella, youve been an important part of our club and we will always think fondly of you.

 

[super_city_si]

I don’t think Arsenal fans will realise yet what an unbelievable signing they are making. I absolutely love Zinchenko. I understand why he feels he has to leave, I get it and I don’t begrudge him the chance to play more. But I can’t lie, this hurts me more than both Jesus and Sterling. All the best to him, but I’m really not going to enjoy seeing him in another shirt. We shouldn’t take for granted players that love the club as deeply as Zin does and losing too many with his attitude would definitely affect us in the short term.

I agree that Arteta is picking up 2 guys with the best attitude and that can be infectious. arsenal have had a problem with mentality and jesus and zinchenko will improve them so much on that front. Plus theyre decent players to boot.

 

[Maly]

A silly comment. By the end of delph’s brief stint there he had cost us an fa cup due to a red card and was a walking accident.

Zinchenko doesn’t play like a left back so people write him off as one. His quick release one touch football from that position is phenomenal.

People need to stop seeing our football through 4–4-2 lenses.

His attacking stats back up that he’s been an important player for us again last season

I’d imagine those who don’t rate him are looking at what he can’t do, those who rate him probably look at what he can do

 

[Paulmcfc2703]

His attacking stats back up that he’s been an important player for us again last season

I’d imagine those who don’t rate him are looking at what he can’t do, those who rate him probably look at what he can do

View attachment 49953

It's not a case of not rating him. It's the fact that posts like this crop up, Zinny gets lauded for being a world class player as opposed to a good squad player and history of his contributions are exaggerated.

Yes in full bank ranks those stats make him look like a world beater. But how many games did he play against the top 6? Any others apart from the 2nd half against 10 man Arsenal?

In fact let's dig a bit deeper. He played 7th placed West Ham and was all over the place against Bowen, he played 8th placed Leicester and was at fault for their 2nd goal when he gave the ball away and then got skinned by Maddison. The only other top 10 team he started against was Wolves.

 

[Maly]

It's not a case of not rating him. It's the fact that posts like this crop up, Zinny gets lauded for being a world class player as opposed to a good squad player and history of his contributions are exaggerated.

Yes in full bank ranks those stats make him look like a world beater. But how many games did he play against the top 6? Any others apart from the 2nd half against 10 man Arsenal?

Has anyone said he’s a world class? I’ve not read that myself mate. I like the guy but he’s certainly replaceable

His contributions over the past 6 years have been pretty much always positive. There’s only a handful of games he’s had his arse handed to him, he’s dependable, not a world class player, so maybe he’s a world class squad member ;)

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

It's not a case of not rating him. It's the fact that posts like this crop up, Zinny gets lauded for being a world class player as opposed to a good squad player and history of his contributions are exaggerated.

Yes in full bank ranks those stats make him look like a world beater. But how many games did he play against the top 6? Any others apart from the 2nd half against 10 man Arsenal?

It’s a cyclical argument though. If we’re selling him because he didn’t play against the top 6, who are you dropping to play Cucurella in those games?

Sure, it gives us rotation options, but we already had those with OZ.

Pep didn’t seem to want to rest Walker nor Cancelo last season and they both ran out of steam towards the end of the season.

If signing Cucurella means we rotate fullbacks better, then it’s a really good signing.

 

[ford7]

That just looks wrong......



View attachment 49933

 

[Paulmcfc2703]

Has anyone said he’s a world class? I’ve not read that myself mate. I like the guy but he’s certainly replaceable

His contributions over the past 6 years have been pretty much always positive. There’s only a handful of games he’s had his arse handed to him, he’s dependable, not a world class player, so maybe he’s a world class squad member ;)

On this thread alone you have people claiming he is our best ever left back, that he's been integral to our league titles, that he was the biggest factor to our 20+ winning streak.

He's been solid no doubt but christ they must have been watching a different player to the very limited one who did a good job for us

 

[Paulmcfc2703]

It’s a cyclical argument though. If we’re selling him because he didn’t play against the top 6, who are you dropping to play Cucurella in those games?

Sure, it gives us rotation options, but we already had those with OZ.

Pep didn’t seem to want to rest Walker nor Cancelo last season and they both ran out of steam towards the end of the season.

If signing Cucurella means we rotate fullbacks better, then it’s a really good signing.

I think Pep didn't play him because he isn't good enough against the top 6.

The issue for us this season is we need our full backs to provide in an attacking sense for Haaland. What we saw last season was when Cancelo didn't play left back the attacking threat dried up from that position when Zinchenko played.

We need consistency when Pep rotates and Cucurella should provide that.

 

[Thaksinssoldier]

It's not a case of not rating him. It's the fact that posts like this crop up, Zinny gets lauded for being a world class player as opposed to a good squad player and history of his contributions are exaggerated.

Yes in full bank ranks those stats make him look like a world beater. But how many games did he play against the top 6? Any others apart from the 2nd half against 10 man Arsenal?

In fact let's dig a bit deeper. He played 7th placed West Ham and was all over the place against Bowen, he played 8th placed Leicester and was at fault for their 2nd goal when he gave the ball away and then got skinned by Maddison. The only other top 10 team he started against was Wolves.

He played ahead of cancelo vs Chelsea in a champs league final.

He bossed Liverpool last season too.

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

I think Pep didn't play him because he isn't good enough against the top 6.

The issue for us this season is we need our full backs to provide in an attacking sense for Haaland. What we saw last season was when Cancelo didn't play left back the attacking threat dried up from that position when Zinchenko played.

We need consistency when Pep rotates and Cucurella should provide that.

Maybe. He’s been used in big games before and hasn’t let us down.

There was a denate the other day about comparing attacking stats on Cucurella vs Zinchenko. They were broadly similar per 90 minutes barring crosses completed. That was more down to us not having a striker, in my eyes.

Anyway, it seems as though we are swapping to Cucurella, so as I said before, hopefully rotation is more even.

 

[Paulmcfc2703]

He played ahead of cancelo vs Chelsea in a champs league final.

He bossed Liverpool last season too.

It's safe to say Pep didn't exactly cover himself in glory for that CL team selection.

He didn't play against Liverpool last season unless you mean the semi final we lost?

 

[Paulmcfc2703]

Maybe. He’s been used in big games before and hasn’t let us down.

There was a denate the other day about comparing attacking stats on Cucurella vs Zinchenko. They were broadly similar per 90 minutes barring crosses completed. That was more down to us not having a striker, in my eyes.

Anyway, it seems as though we are swapping to Cucurella, so as I said before, hopefully rotation is more even.

See for me those stats would be more Zinchenko only playing against the likes of Norwich, Watford etc but that's by the by. I think with Cucurella we will see a lot more rotation and hopefully a lot less burn out from our full backs