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ESPN pundit tears into ‘poor’ Arsenal player after Liverpool draw
Craig Burley has not held back in his criticism of Oleksandr Zinchenko after Arsenal drew with Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday night.
Mikel Arteta’s side missed the chance to put some daylight between themselves and the chasing pack in the Premier League title race, with Gabriel’s goal being cancelled out by Mohamed Salah just before the half-hour mark.
Of course, Salah can make anyone look foolish on a football pitch. But Arsenal fans will be particularly disappointed with how Oleksandr Zinchenko tried to deal with the Egyptian before the goal.
Craig Burley criticises Oleksandr Zinchenko after Arsenal draw
Anticipating that Trent Alexander-Arnold was going to attempt a long ball to Salah, Zinchenko dropped right off, ignoring the line his teammates were trying to play.
And when Salah picked up the ball in the corner, Zinchenko let him inside way too easily. It seemed that he feared bringing the forward down inside the area as his attempt at a challenge would have barely registered with the 31-year-old. And Salah took full advantage to equalise.
Certainly, Craig Burley was not impressed by what he saw from Zinchenko throughout the game, but particularly for the Liverpool goal.
“I thought he was poor full stop,” he told . “I thought he was absolutely poor on the ball. And I think Declan Rice bailed him out on at least one occasion from that little Cruyff turn and I’ve no doubt bailed him out on many more occasions with his position.
“But in terms of the goal itself, let’s deconstruct it. A great ball over the top, he’s already three or four yards deeper than the high line Arsenal have got. So he’s the one playing Mo Salah onside. There’s his first mistake. Then when he gets back into play, the angle is terrible for Mo Salah. And I heard it described this side of the pond on TV as lax defending. It was absolutely abysmal. It was embarrassing, the way that he lazily dangles a leg out. And Mo Salah easily, easily skips past him. It was a great goal, I wouldn’t fault David Raya at all on this occasion. But it boils down to really bad defending.
“But here’s the thing, he is not a very good defender. It’s one of the reasons Pep Guardiola got rid of him. He’s not a good defender and I didn’t think today he was very good on the ball either. So not a very good day at the office for Arsenal’s left-back in my opinion.”
Left-back one of the only weaknesses for Gunners right now
Of course, Liverpool will back Salah against anyone. But they would have surely felt that he could have a particularly productive game up against Zinchenko.
Teams seem to be targeting Zinchenko at this stage. Arsenal have very few weak points, particularly in the middle of the pitch where William Saliba and Declan Rice are so good. But left-back is currently a weakness.
Zinchenko is clearly an important member of the club. And adding his winning mentality to the squad obviously made a big difference upon his arrival from Manchester City.
But Mikel Arteta has been left with plenty to ponder as it really does appear that Arsenal are vulnerable in that position.