#11 | Oleksandr Zinchenko - 2020/21 Performances

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He has performed really well over the last few weeks producing very mature performances and contributing really well to the team .

Not the conventional fullback but well worth his place , and doing the job which Pep wants.
 
Is he a world class defender? No.
Do we need him to be a world class defender? Also no.


Maybe there's better out there, but do we need better? Right now having him in the team seems to be working very well for us. We should appreciate that.
 
BlueMoonFromAcrossThePond said:
WIth due respect - I completely disagree. Zinchenko is a huge liability on defense against a quality RB.

I like his effort - and on offense he's OK-ish; not at all great though.

As someone available to fill out the squad against non top-notch opposition - Zinchenko is the man.

Against quality opposition - I hate it when Zinchenko is in our side - we're giving up a lot of defense on our left side; in compensation we're gaining OK-ish offense. Not at all a good tradeoff.
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Everyone is entitled to an opinion and all players are only one bad game away from the “told you so” brigade.

Facts are better than opinions though, so here are a few.

Against quality opposition (Salah / Rashford /Ziyech) he excelled.

His passing accuracy, tempo and phase structure in the final 3rd is top top level. He plays the pass to the players who create and breaks lines more times than most in his position.

He has the highest win percentage of any City player (EVER) for a player with 50 or more games. (89%)

For me a lot of peoples hang ups are because he’s perceived as a midfielder, when he isn’t. He’s a football professional and technically exceptional.

There is no such thing as the perfect defender, but in my eyes, the kid is class!
 
Moggzy said:
Everyone is entitled to an opinion and all players are only one bad game away from the “told you so” brigade.

Facts are better than opinions though, so here are a few.

Against quality opposition (Salah / Rashford /Ziyech) he excelled.

His passing accuracy, tempo and phase structure in the final 3rd is top top level. He plays the pass to the players who create and breaks lines more times than most in his position.

He has the highest win percentage of any City player (EVER) for a player with 50 or more games. (89%)

For me a lot of peoples hang ups are because he’s perceived as a midfielder, when he isn’t. He’s a football professional and technically exceptional.

There is no such thing as the perfect defender, but in my eyes, the kid is class!
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Some are waiting for him to have a bad game and they all come out with the same shit we’ve heard before. Consistency is the measure of a good player, not one bad game or even a bad moment.
 
BlueMoonFromAcrossThePond said:
I'd much rather see Laporte or Ake play LB for us - they're much, much more solid in defense.
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We've done this and it's shit, because no matter how much we want them to be full-backs, they're still always going to look and play like centre-backs standing a bit closer to the touchline than normal.

Who was it who cost us the CL tie against Spurs with two calamitous mistakes? Zinchenko? No. Laporte. Makes much more sense to play Zinchenko there because he can do the right job.
 
I love how Zinchenko has quietly staked a claim on that LB position. He is actually one of the first names I look for when the lineup is announce. A lot of people clamor for old school LB's but I prefer the stability and fluidity of the our play afforded by Zinchenko's presence. He reminds me so much of Delph 2017-2018 who was impeccable in that Pep style FB role.
 
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