I hope you lot have been well…. In today’s edition of Season 10 we have a player who is really polarizing in terms of being someone who you’ll either appreciate as a player or loathe based on what he lacks in the positions he plays.
The Ukranian creator started his career as an Attacking Midfielder who happened to be a decent defender from an attacking point of view, who was then converted into a DM(L) when he started to play in higher levels within Europe. He’s quite the baller when it comes to what he provides for his various teams but he does possess a certain amount of weaknesses that could be an issue if you were to choose to have him within your squad. But even though he encompasses those real life liabilities, it unfortunately (or should I say fortunately) hasn’t stopped him from being rated in SM24 as an offensive style DM(L) who so happens to be both explosive and good in defence. If you’ve been watching Oleksandr in real life then these traits should raise a level of skepticism within you…
SM24 ATTRIBUTES
Look, I’m not just some random bloke who just decided to wake up one day and start to create blogs pertaining Soccermanager. I’m an advocate for Football, and Football should be represented with as much attention to (correct) detail as it possibly can, hence the reason for the creation of this and many other seasons under the SMB’s belt to date. Nevertheless, these are the attributes that you can expect from Oleksandr Zinchenko within SM24, and right off the bat I’m sure you can already identify some errors.
TECHNICAL ATTRIBUTES
Zinchenko is truly a proper player in terms of what he provides to a team whenever the ball is at his feet. He is one of the better ‘Inverted Fullbacks’ in the modern game, and will provide an extra layer in the attacking phase of play that we’ve already seen being implemented by the likes of Arteta and Guardiola. Most of his on the ball traits are spot on (albeit some will need to be rearranged), but one thing that’s continuously highlighted is the fact that the guy simply cannot defend… He’s Arsenal’s current weak link in the back line, so much so that I’m convinced he’s behind the pecking order in terms of the other players who can play his position (I could be wrong, tho…).
WHAT WE THNK
Now…. Here’s a proper set up! Oleksandr’s defending is lack luster so it is better represented here; as good as he is on the ball, Zinchenko is simply not ghosting past players or getting himself out of tight situations by niggling through small spaces; when Zinchenko gets into the attacking third he comes alive, and one of his better traits is his ability to cross the ball into the box. Also, take notice that we’ve changed his overall rating from an ’86’ to an ’84’ since he’s a good player, but not that good!
PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES
For everything that he does on the ball, the physical aspects of the game isn’t something you’d normally associate with Zinchenko since one of his biggest weaknesses from a defensive point of view is the fact that he tends to lose those 5M sprints against an opposition who likes to push it infront of him in order to get some leverage on the dribble (think of a Saka or a Doku). He is however a hardworking chap that has a good engine on him, so we’ll have to take that into consideration.
WHAT WE THINK
Zinchenko lacks that next level Pace but makes up for it by being an industrial and hardworking type of player
MENTAL ATTRIBUTES
Alongside his Passing and Creativity, Zinchenko displays a ‘Leadership’ trait that makes him standout as one of the few players within a club who aren’t afraid of taking on the mantle of being the example within the dressing room as well as on the pitch. The other mental attributes are pretty spot on since he isn’t the most aggressive and lacks concentration in particular when being asked to defend for prolonged periods. The only difference that we’d make is to his Flair since a ’66’ is simply too low for the kind of player Oleksandr is.
WHAT WE THINK
The Soccermanager Experience 