Oleksandr Zinchenko and Arsenal’s underappreciated players
For some of Arteta’s men, enough may never be enough.
From when Arsenal’s thrilling draw at Anfield closed until time of this writing, one player from last night’s lineup has drawn the most lightning from online fans. You probably know by now, that player is Oleksandr Zinchenko.
Zinchenko, of course, didn’t properly deal with Mohamed Salah leading to Liverpool’s goal. Earlier he’d gotten involved in an aerial duel he had no chance of winning, leaving Salah to boot the deflection into the side netting. And of course he had an unusual lapse of judgment or two on the ball.
So that made Scott’s selection of Zinchenko as his stock rising one of great controversy. Without Zinchenko, perhaps Arsenal could have won!
The discussion has matured, at least where I’ve seen it, since. But there’s still a strong undercurrent of Zinchenko basically being a suboptimal solution that will be solved soon, either when Jurriën Timber’s bionic knee starts working next month, or when Tomiyasu returns from the Asia Cup.
But did Zinchenko really let Arsenal down that badly? The rest of the game, given more time to process and revisit, was quite good. Zinchenko was key to maintaining Arsenal’s on-ball composure in the second half. Get this: he also played a role in what’s gone down as the incredible Salah’s most turnover-heavy game (4 miscontrols, 3 dispossessions).
I’d actually go so far to say that Zinchenko has been quite good defensively this season. While I don’t think dribblers tackled captures the entire picture, I was naturally happy to see this chart on Twitter that lent a bit of credence to that idea.
But that discussion also got me going on a topic that I felt like delving further into today: Arsenal’s got a group of players who seem to have critics in the offing, and those get especially loud at the first sight of a mistake, or idling form.
And I’m not talking about Rob Holding or Shkodran Mustafi here. I’d sort Martin Ødegaard, Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Magalhaes and Eddie Nketiah into this group with Zinchenko, off the top of my head. When Kai Havertz isn’t new anymore, he’ll go there too. Let’s call it The Xhaka Zone. Xhone? Anyway.
Of course, the loud critics don’t represent everyone. And online doesn’t truly reflect in-stadium, etc. But for many Gooners like myself, online is the experience we know, and it may be that way for a long time. And unfortunately, a lot of people in this bucket are really impressionable. Thats why the most-followed accounts are known clowns like that Trey United guy, not actual smart analysts of the game.
I’ve been wondering what it is exactly that gets a player relegated to the Xhaka Zone. And unbearably, unsatisfyingly, I think it’s pretty case-by-case. Sometimes, the player replaces a beloved-but-limited incumbent, like Zinchenko did. Other times, I think it’s because the player’s skill set isn’t the most traditional (Jesus) or easily understood (Nketiah). Sometimes I think people just want flash, when a player is a star more because of their unwavering consistency than any sort of razzle-dazzle skill (Ødegaard).
When these players dip in form, like Ødegaard did this fall, Nketiah did last season or Martinelli has at present, the claws come out. But here’s the thing: what’s being said isn’t even always true.
A good case study would be Zinchenko at Anfield, whether you’re talking this season or last. Scott himself pointed out on Twitter than Bukayo Saka turned the ball over five times in Arsenal’s defensive 40% of the pitch to Zinchenko’s once. Haven’t heard a word about that.
The chatter this season has surrounded Ødegaard, he of the “ghosting” in big games despite his performances against the likes of Chelsea and Spurs last season, off the top of my head, or his demonic drive to bring Arsenal back into the Southampton game. Meanwhile, all Martin was missing from last season was xA, which he’s brought back and then some.
This same dynamic had people switch mid-stream from “Arsenal can’t attack without Jesus” to “Jesus isn’t lethal enough to lead the line at Arsenal.” And no, I’m not saying he is lethal. But he makes up for that (with change to spare) with his other qualities. Even if he misses a big chance, he’s going to create chaos in the box, hassle opposing keepers and defenders in the press and set up his teammates.
This same focus is now again on Martinelli, who hasn’t matched his rampant form of a season ago. But what strikes me as particularly funny is this: Last season, post-world-cup, we did this same thing. And all Martinelli did was score 15 goals and outperform every other Arsenal attacker in the run-in.
I don’t mean to use all this digital ink to say we shouldn’t criticize Arsenal players, or have high expectations of them. It’s certainly not going to stop folks from wanting to convert Jesus into a utility winger, or replace Martinelli with Rafa Leão (irony), but hopefully it raises your antennae a bit, and maybe it encourages you to hear out a more holistic point of view.
Credit to Scott for taking this point of view on Zinchenko. Because for all the converts who joined the church of Timber in those 115 minutes in August, I don’t think Oleks is just handing the job over. And honestly,
that’s such a good thing for this club.
Hi Adam (and Scott, who also made this point on twitter),
I wonder if you could further this point by looking at the goal probability after a lost duel / giveaway.
It feels like the opinion on Zinny stems not only from the a misplaced perception of the public, but also from the fact that he has lost the ball or made mistakes in really key positions and moments.
In this game, he made fewer mistakes than most, but he had a few missteps in crucial moments. In this game, there was the cross that led to Salah first shot, their goal, and the lost ball on arsenals half in the 2nd half.
His net contribution is definitely positive, but maybe it’s understandable that people put extra weight on these mistakes?