Perhaps so. I'm not a huge fan of his play (obviously). And as such, I'm attuned to watch for his errors - as opposed to fans of his that watch for his good plays.
Watch his touches though. They go like this mostly.
He receives the ball. He then temporarily stands on the ball. Next, he drags the ball to his favorite foot. When not under pressure he'll mostly pass forward. Otherwise, he'll mostly pass backward.
Nearly every other one of our players is much more deft in passing. By which I mean - start a stopwatch from the time he receives the ball to the time he passes it. He's extremely slow.
Another factor to consider - against weak opposition such as Norwich, Zenchenko is wide open. He can dally on the ball without any pressure and then look up, taking his time to spot the best pass. And then, after a few seconds, he'll deliver a good pass - the guy has talent for sure otherwise he'd not be in our squad.
But a better player acts like this. He forms a mental picture of potential passes by looking at the field in front of him. While simultaneously assessing how open he is. Thus, when he receives the ball, he is frequently able to one-touch the ball forward into a very dangerous situation. And this sort of skill is 100% not Zinchenko.
Still, I like Zinczenko's attitude and apparent willingness to accept his limitations and fill in as a squad player. We would obviously sign an upgrade.... but would an upgrade be willing to sit on the bench so often? Or mesh with the team as well?
