Could Zinchenko be set for a midfield role at Arsenal?

Sel Zinchenko is not good enough. He has cost Arsenal several points at several periods where the Premier League title race is concerned. Mikel Arteta's system has left him. He cannot be that bad, can he? I do believe some of the criticism that's been thrown Zinchenko's way has been unwarranted, but a lot of the criticisms are valid. When you look at Zinchenko, you know, obviously he has a lot of critics. One thing that is typically said is, why doesn't Mikel Arteta play him in midfield? Surely he's better suited to playing as either a number 8 in the left centre mid channel for Arsenal, which is void at the moment, or in the 10. Throughout this video, let's actually delve into Zinchenko and see why he is or isn't an option in that role, potentially. After all, he did start his career as a number 10 and has excelled for his country, Ukraine, with such. Many are led to believe, rightly so, he could do some for Arsenal. And again, going back to what I just said about the void that Arsenal have, it is a move that Arsenal fans have been crying out for this season, given our struggles at times in attack or progressing from the midfield third into the final third, and ultimately we haven't replaced Granit Xhaka. I don't have all the answers, but throughout this video, allow me to speak about Zinchenko and try to provide answers, people, where this is concerned. It's fair to say when Zinchenko joined Arsenal, we were, you know, introduced to the inverted role, and I'd describe his Arsenal career so far to date as lukewarm. He was a boyhood Arsenal fan, obviously he's a Premier League winner with Manchester City. There was a lot of transferables that he could provide to this new developing team under Mikel Arteta. There's been some games he's been very impressive, and equally, there's an equal number of games he's been disappointing, both in his own consistency or inconsistencies in that regard in relation to the left full-back role. There's been big games where he's done well, but he's constantly a source of frustration and pessimism from Arsenal fans. Again, when he arrived at the club, it was under the premise of him being a proven winner at Manchester City and having many transferables he could provide to his new teammates in our quest to somewhat do what City have done. Whatever people say, he was a key part of Arsenal's defence last season. Obviously, he showed us the inverted role, and you saw Ross get records for a number of clean sheets, etc. We were one of the best defensive sides. Whether that was in spite of Zinchenko or Zinchenko is irrelevant is another thing. Obviously, it's not just down to Zinchenko, but to be fair, he was part of that. Along with Granit Xhaka, they formed a formidable left-hand side when you factor in Martinelli. Last season, I say it all the time, was one of the seasons in a while where we looked great down the left and great down the right. Now, where our left-inside forwards are concerned, I guess there's question marks they have to answer off their own backs. We've had inconsistencies with availability of our left-back options. Kirill, Tomiasu, Timber and obviously Zinchenko have all been in and out of the side for different reasons. And when you factor in Granit Xhaka's departure, I do think we've put holes in our team inadvertently. As we progress throughout this video, we always hear about the inverted row. Now, I assume you guys know damn well what the inverted row is. But let's quickly just glance over what the inverted row actually is. As we know, the inverted full-back row is a tactical approach where a full-back typically playing on the side opposite their dominant foot, which isn't the case with Zinchenko, moves infield towards the centre of the pitch rather than hugging the touchline as traditional full-backs do. This tactic, as you know, has become increasingly popular in the modern game, with managers using it to provide additional support in midfield and create overloads in central areas. Going on with that, we know key pillars to that are obviously positioning. Instead of staying out wide on the touchline, inverted full-backs have to move infield, often in line or even inside the midfield with their teammates in that central position. By moving centrally, the inverted full-back helps congest the midfield, providing passing options, lanes and overloads once again in central regions. Again, inverted full-backs are expected to contribute to build-up play by offering passing options. They often play quick, short passes to maintain possession and to facilitate ball circulation. Within their positioning, they act as an additional playmaker, creating passing triangles and helping to progress the ball through the middle, ultimately to the final third, which should result in goals or goal-scoring actions. And again, creating overloads people, trying to get a numerical superiority in midfield. When the full-back moves infield, the team can outnumber the opposition in central areas, allowing for better ball retention and passing options. This overload could also create space for attacking players to exploit as opponents are drawn towards central areas to deal with the numerical disadvantage. So naturally, you can see the attacking contributions that have to be made people. They do tend to make forward runs into the box to provide additional goal-scoring threats or to create space for other attackers, as we see, and they should have the ability to play an incisive pass and join the attack from deep, and it does add an air of unpredictability apologies to teams offensive moves. Overall, the inverted full-back role adds tactical flexibility and dynamism to a team set up. It does require intelligent positioning, excellent passing abilities amongst other things. But then when you speak about defensive awareness, that's probably where Zinchenko's problems are. It doesn't matter if it's an inverted role or as a traditional full-back role, you still have to be able to defend. And we know the modern game, you know, goalies and defenders are our first point of attack. Strikers and cams with Odegaard and Havertz at the moment are our first defenders. It's multifunctional. But regardless of that, a goalie still has to catch, striker still has to score goals and a defender still has to have the ability to defend people, which again is not a strong point or part of Zinchenko's play, in my humble opinion. In short, for me personally, I think the reasons Zinchenko does not play in midfield for Arsenal people is because he might be a midfielder when we have the ball, but without it, he's required to defend and he doesn't provide the tactical nouse in that regard. He's not switched on defensively. I have question marks over his athleticism in that regard and just being switched on, you know, without it, he's required to defend. And that's the issue. If you go to sleep at full-back, you're going to be in issues, aren't you people? Don't forget to let me know your thoughts. But you could argue in line with the central midfield depth, Arsenal could also utilise Zinchenko's talents in the central midfield. We all know he's got passing range, vision, work rate, and that makes him suitable for this role on paper. Maybe not at this level for Arsenal, but if he was to drop down, maybe potentially he would get game time in such. You could argue he could compete for a starting spot in midfield or provide depth in the case of injuries or fatigue. And Zinchenko does have the ability to control the tempo of the game and provide defensive cover. And he could be valuable to Arsenal in that regard, people. For me, I just simply think Arteta likes Zinchenko, but I don't believe Mikel Arteta believes he has the capabilities in every phase of the pitch as a midfielder, only in the attacking phase, if that, if anything. You know, with two years left on his deal, I think he's faced with a bunch of options really and truly, or better yet, he's at a crossroads. He has to accept his current role, similar to what he had at Manchester City, or keep it moving. He has two years left on his deal and you can't rule out him signing a new deal, but it seems like there's radio silence. And when you look at Timber coming back from injury, and I described Timber as a unicorn, when you look at Timber's statistics in the Eredivisie, he was going to really give us a lot across all phases of the pitch for Mikel Arteta's side. And I'd implore you all to check out the video I've done on that. Tommy Assu has concerns of his own, but he's a lot better than Zinchenko all in all, and Kyrgios is finding his feet. And we might say, do you know what, if we're well-stocked at left-back, bearing in mind we're still linked with left-backs, we're trying to address the midfield role, there just might not be a place for Zinchenko. I don't mind him staying and being on the peripheral, but I could understand the calls to sell him. And if people demand that the system has kind of left him, who knows what the future holds for him, people. But as I said, for me, he's a midfielder. When Arsenal have the ball, without the ball, that's where the issues are. And that's obviously why he isn't in the middle of the park, people. But you could argue, man, that he would have a lot of strengths. You know, he does have the ability to play incisive passes and has an air of unpredictability about him, if I'm completely honest. Now, I think for myself, personally, I do think, you know, I understand the frustrations with Zinchenko. Evidently, he has shown no improvement defensively. And I think what Arsenal paid for is what they got in that you've got a good player that obviously is very good at contributing from the inverted role in the middle third, but ultimately he's not reliable. He's not strong enough 1v1. Even in his best of days, he is a flight risk defensively. I think in comparison to some of the other options, not strong enough defensively, not as physically robust as some of his teammates. And again, to go back to answering the main question of this video, I think Mikel Arteta once again has stated it himself. You know, he once upon a time said his main position is as a left-back, but within that position and within the formation that we have, he can alter and occupy different spaces on the pitch. This is the main quality Alex has. Now, where's Zinchenko's concern? Take it from a Sunday League full-back. None of us wanted to be full-backs. Of course, the Brazilian full-backs have come on the scene. For the more younger football fan with Trent Alexander-Arnold, these guys are putting respect on full-backs' names. The best you could probably get from me coming up was Roberto Carlos and Ashley Cole. We all wanted to be wingers and strikers and evidently it didn't work out. Don't try and diss me though, because you've seen my intro. Goal, people. But Arteta is telling us stuff. There's got to be a reason. Mikel Arteta, one of the finest young progressive managers in the game and Pep Guardiola, who is a hallmark of the modern day and is nothing short of a managerial legend, have both not elected to organically utilise Zinchenko in central midfield. Respectfully to his country, Ukraine, because they are bringing through a lot of good players. The talent pool isn't as big, so he's probably more likely going to play in midfield in that regard. Arteta also said he does play in that role coming from a different position in the attacking phase. He doesn't play there in the defensive stable situations because we believe we have other players to use there. It's a possibility. It's a good question because he's done it. Now, the last sentence does give some hope to Zinchenko, but he said it there. He doesn't play there in the defensive and stable situations. So that tells me Mikel Arteta, the gift and the curse of Zinchenko is that he's high risk, high reward. He is quite chaotic. Arteta wants to put him in situations where he can wreak somewhat chaos and get in, almost be a free man in the inverted role and link up with teammates and try to damage the opposition. But that's only one facet in the defensive phase. And once we lose the balls in, Zinchenko is a liability. And if you're a liability at fullback, you're going to be a liability in the middle of the park. It also takes me to when Pep Guardiola once said people, when talking about the triumph of Manchester City winning the treble, he said at the time, I learnt this season when you play against Pakaio Saka, Vinicius Junior, Gabriel Martinelli, Mohamed Salah or Sadio Mane, in the past, you need a proper defender to win drills 1v1. When you look at Manchester City's system, they're so good, but arguably there's about four to six defensive players, centre-backs even at times, occupying a number of roles. Where you look at Arsenal recent, there's essentially been four defenders on the pitch, five if you force it with Declan Rice, because he once was a centre-half. And then Pep went on to say, or in the Champions League at that level, they need one action to beat you. And Nathan, obviously referring to Ake, gave us that boost that I didn't have in the past. The biggest boost was having a proper defender, and in the past we didn't have it. And Nathan, Akanji and Kyle Walker did it. No matter how we shape it, we're going to need to be a lot better defensively in 1v1 situations. And again, going against Nchenko is, I believe, as we become a bit more all-rounded and creative, if we address the middle of the park, the pros to Nchenko's game, the cons to his game are not outweighed by the pros, essentially. There were times last season where there was a lack of creativity because Nchenko wasn't there. If we want to get to where Arsenal can be, we can't scream about not having a left-back and lacking creativity. And I do believe, to a degree, the system has left him. I don't think he's a unicorn like Timber. He's clearly better in the final third than Tomi Asi. But all in all, I don't think he's strong enough 1v1. I'm not quite convinced on Kyrgios, but Kyrgios is moving in the right direction and is a more of a sturdier option than Nchenko. For someone with the wealth of experience he has, he's essentially a flight risk, essentially. But just because the system leaves you doesn't mean you can't be utilised. If he's willing to accept a bit-part role, being on the peripheral, fair play. If rumours still persist about him potentially leaving the club and £35-40m offers on a player that has two years left on his deal and this is as good as it gets, then I think Arsenal have a serious decision to make. But he was an Arsenal fan. He has endeared himself to the Arsenal fanbase. He does front up to the music. I do think he has a winning mentality. I'm not referring, obviously, to crying at Anfield. And I do think, I'm not going to lie, I think he's at that point where fans are so frustrated they just scapegoat him because he had a part to play in the first goal, for example, against Aston Villa. But genuinely, if you're blaming just him, then you're alleviating everybody else. And the second goal where Jorginho's lost the ball, I don't think he deserved that heat. But I don't think we can go to the next level with, obviously, Zinchenko being a regular of sorts people. We need to take a leaf out of Manchester City's book in that regard. So, I believe that is why he does not play in central midfield. In relation to our other full-back options, check out the video I did about Jurien Timbers' return people at the time of making this video out. Zinchenko's problem is that he doesn't do the inverted role to the level of a Trent Alexander-Arnold for all his pros and cons, nor is he at the level of someone like Philipp Lahm, nor is he athletic enough. And I think that in lies, you know, when you add in those ingredients and throwing that he goes to sleep defensively, which Arteta alluded to and we went over in the video, these different ingredients as to why Zinchenko finds himself in the position he currently is, where it does appear that Arsenal have left him. To be fair to him, though, we have to be very fair and reflective to him. There is some qualities, people, and he was very important to us last season. You can see his final third entries, his progressive passes per 90, his, you know, passes per 90 and general other actions. The problem is, you know, we can't keep talking about creativity as the sole reason for a left back. It could be a great added extra when you look at like Timber. Listen, I can't put into words how exciting Timber's signing is going to be. But I do think Zinchenko's kind of gone past his sell-by date here. I don't think we'll ever see him in midfield. I do think there are qualities he can give into the squad, but time waits for no one, no man or no woman. So this is why Zinchenko finds himself in this peculiar position. Speaks levels of the progress we've made. If I'm honest, that team that ain't won the Prem can get rid of a serial Premier League winner. We're saying he's not one of the first names on the team sheet. But as for another day, don't forget to like, comment, subscribe, check out the rest of the other videos and let me know your thoughts in relation to this video I'm trying to edit and think for you lot. For now, peace.