#11 | Oleksandr Zinchenko - 2020/21 Performances

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ric
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Tugay One Cup said:
I can't say I agree. He wasn't a left back before he joined us, still wasn't when he went on loan, wasn't a left back when he came back, still isn't a left back for his national team and will more than likely not be a left back when he leaves.

I get what you're saying but the fact of the matter is that he has never been a left back outside of anything other than necessity.
Click to expand...
He started playing there in December 2017 and we could have (and should've) bought someone for the position in any of the six windows since then. It's not by necessity anymore, it's because Pep and Txiki have clearly decided that's his position here. Therefore, for our purposes, he's actually just a leftback, not someone who's just filling in during an injury crisis.
 
cjn said:
He started playing there in December 2017 and we could have (and should've) bought someone for the position in any of the six windows since then. It's not by necessity anymore, it's because Pep and Txiki have clearly decided that's his position here. Therefore, for our purposes, he's actually just a leftback, not someone who's just filling in during an injury crisis.
Click to expand...

I'm not really sure what we're debating, to be honest. Is he literally a leftback when he plays at leftback? Yeah. Is that his natural game? Absolutely not.

If Pep wants to paint a horse in black and white stripes then that's cool and everything but don't expect me to call it a zebra. And that's not a criticism of Pep because it's worked a hell of a lot more than people care to remember. Dare I say that a big reason why he's been put there in the first place is because of his attributes as a midfielder rather than qualities in defence or attacking down the flank.

Like I said, I'm not sure what the arguing. My original comment you pulled up was simply me saying that he's not a natural leftback and I don't know how anyone could disagree with that.
 
Sadly I think Zin's time at City has come and gone. I have some sympathy for him because he has never played in his best midfield position but last night was possibly his worst game for us. At the level we are operating at these days we can't carry a player who is incapable of delivering simple crosses when he is not under pressure. It's bizarre that we still haven't found a quality left back.
In the PL we have players like Chilwell, Robertson, Creswell, Bertrand, Tierney, who would walk into our left back position.
 
Exeter Blue I am here said:
Complete absence of any kind of change of gear renders him totally ineffective both defensively and going forward. Decent enough tekkers, but that was mind rotting watching him gormlessly belt cross after cross into the opposition full back’s legs tonight, and all for want of the pace to buy himself half a yard
Click to expand...
Yes, but it wasn’t just that. There were plenty of times where he had lots of space and time but couldn’t deliver. I sort of expect this from Walker who compensates for his technical deficiencies with supreme athleticism but Zinchenko is in the team because he is a midfielder and can play.
 
Tugay One Cup said:
Terrible last night but I think people are going overboard. He's usually a decent option for the inverted fullback role because he retains possession so well as opposed to Mendy who plays like his laces are tied together whenever he drifts into the centre. He's just crap at doing the traditional left back stuff like crossing and bombing down the wing.

That being said, whoever plays in that position for us is being given a thankless task of whipping the ball through five defenders to a dwarf or two. Mendy, despite what some on here will have you believe, has a really decent cross on him but it doesn't matter because spamming crosses into the box is a dog shit tactic for this team. It's one of the things we started doing more last season and I fucking hate it. Go out and buy Lukaku or Haaland if we're only going to leave one player to get on the end of it.

Anyway, back to Zinchenko. Shit performance.
Click to expand...
A poor performance last night and he knew it as the harder he tried the worse it got. Bar substituting the word poor for shit I fully agree with the points you make. Imo when we had a tall striker too often we couldnt/wouldn't make decent crosses, now we make high crosses to one or two short forwards amongst 5 or 6 monsters and we have no one to pressure the defenders into errors for 2nd ball half chances. It is frustrating.
 
Rammy Blue said:
Oh give over, I just don’t sugar coat it. He was appalling last night, and shouldn’t be at the club after slagging off Pep after the Lyon game. We just as usual weren’t ruthless enough to fuck him off.
Click to expand...
How long are posters here going to continue falsely accusing him of slagging Pep. His wife made some angry comments after the game, not as vicious as many "fans" on here, and she's a big fan and a sport's journalist, he posted an apology while at his wedding. Pep knows this, most supporters who know anything about City know it so why does this garbage talk keep circulating. Are people incapable of fact checking or thinking for themselves or just too lazy. It's the infantile sort of tripe you could read on a red forum if you were desperate enough for something to read.
 
r.soleofsalford said:
Spamming crosses that aren`t cut back from the by-line and haven`t turned the defense so they are facing towards their own goal is a waste fucking of time.

Crossing the ball from halfway in the opponent half is shit and a defenders ball.

Zinchenko is dog shit, I`ve never seen a wingback that only cuts in passing back or sideways. Last night his lack of forward play nullified our left side. He offers no help to the wide man to beat the defensive cover.

He`s a lovely lad though 8-(
Click to expand...
He's a human being, calling another human being "dogshit is dogshit and says more about the failure of the writer than any deficiencies of the player.
 
oakiecokie said:
Sorry pet but I fail to see what that has to do with passing a ball and crossing a half decent chance one to a team mate.Invariably they ended up with an opponent.
Simply nowhere near good enough for this team I`m afraid.
Click to expand...
57 years of watching football and you say you cannot understand the importance of being match sharp, Pep said post match he wanted to get game time in his Zinchenko's legs. Have you never heard the phrase "working back to your best". Do the work and the passing and crossing improve with games. It rarely happens first full game back.
 
samarasra said:
57 years of watching football and you say you cannot understand the importance of being match sharp, Pep said post match he wanted to get game time in his Zinchenko's legs. Have you never heard the phrase "working back to your best". Do the work and the passing and crossing improve with games. It rarely happens first full game back.
Click to expand...


The question. Is Zinchenko`s best good enough. As I`ve said, he seems a lovely lad and well liked. Should we keep every player we buy and every academy player that we have come through the system so as not to upset them too much. Football is a business and a sport that to be successful in you have to win and yes be a little ruthless at times. That chance to win and trophies especially can be fleeting as we`ve known over the years.

We`ve had a left fullback problem for a long time, it needs sorting and in my opinion Zinchenko isnt one of the answers.

Yes, I said dogshit my bad sorry Zinchenko, if you read the forum pages I didnt mean it. I want you to stay for ever. Love and kisses XXXX
 
samarasra said:
Yet we were "the" top club two years in a row with this guy in our squad and frequently playing, including a lengthy unbeaten run. Good work by the club.
Click to expand...

He’s a hard-working player, granted. Pep wanted him gone previously but he to stay and fight for a place, fair play to him for that.

I think your point backs mine up. He’s benefited from playing in an outstanding team who mostly dominated teams and games. I’d struggle to remember many goals he assisted on, probably bottom of the list with the other squad players.

Agree to disagree.
 
samarasra said:
57 years of watching football and you say you cannot understand the importance of being match sharp, Pep said post match he wanted to get game time in his Zinchenko's legs. Have you never heard the phrase "working back to your best". Do the work and the passing and crossing improve with games. It rarely happens first full game back.
Click to expand...
I didn`t say that.I said that the fucker.as a so called midfielder can`t even pass a ball to a player,unless its to the opposition or sidewards and backwards.You don`t have to too fit to do that so please stop making excuses for the useless so and so.
He can never ever work "back to his best" as his best isn`t anywhere good enough for us.
Pep would have played him in midfield had he been any good and I think I can count on one hand the number of times that has happened.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top