Media in Ukraine have now been sharing their reaction to Oleksandr Zinchenko’s performance in his country’s 3-0 defeat to Romania on Monday.
Zinchenko began the game at left-back for Sergi Rebrov’s side, completing 90 minutes in the role he also fulfils for Arsenal.
Unlike his minutes under Mikel Arteta, Zinchenko is often afforded a more advanced role for Ukraine, earning the majority of his caps in midfield.
However, as was the case in Ukraine’s three warm-up games before the tournament kicked off, Zinchenko reverted into a defensive role.
And in Monday’s early kick off, the Arsenal defender and his teammates were well beaten, falling to a brilliant performance by Romania captain Nicolae Stanciu.
Of course, alongside Zinchenko in Ukraine’s line up there’s also goalkeeper Andriy Lunin and attacking midfielder Georgiy Sudakov – two players linked with a move to Arsenal.
And along with Zinchenko, Ukrainian outlet Football.ua didn’t have an awful lot positive to say about the trio.
Oleksandr Zinchenko criticised for his defending in 3-0 Ukraine defeat
In fairness, the rating did initially praise Zinchenko’s start to the game, but admitted his performance quickly deteriorated along with the scoreline.
Translated into English, they wrote: “At first, this forced rotation [starting in defence instead of midfield] looked very decent – for about half an hour, because after that we failed, and to hear even one good word addressed to the national team would be a great victory.
“Even during the third goal, Zinchenko traditionally, as for himself in this position, did not keep up with the rapid development of events, which led to the final goal.
“Perhaps it was worth noting the character and generally good conducting moments.”
Zinchenko is surplus to Arteta’s needs
So in summary, it seemed as if Zinchenko’s Ukraine performance almost perfectly replicated his time at Arsenal.
Plenty of willingness, class and good will towards his teammates, which is all eventually undone by a defensive lapse.
The performance explains why Arsenal are willing to sell Zinchenko this summer – which was exclusively shared by TBR Football.
There’s still at least two games to go for Ukraine and Zinchenko, and it would be wrong to rule them out just yet.
But Arsenal fans have seen these kinds of Zinchenko displays on multiple occasions – a player who is now surplus to Arteta’s needs.
All that being said, Arsenal are now preparing a bid for a £50m defender who is already starring at Euro 2024.
