Most Arsenal fans would have been familiar with the concept of reverse full-backs before the arrival of Oleksandr Zinchenko. Under Arsene Wenger, Arsenal tended to lean their attack towards one side of the pitch and in Wenger’s case the left-back was often invited to push and play as a support winger, while the right-back tucked in and played as a supportive center half.
Even last season, Arteta’s Arsenal had the same modus operandi. Tomiyasu would move as a third central midfielder, allowing Gabriel Magalhães to push towards the left touchline so that Kieran Tierney or Nuno Tavares could overlap on the left flank. That all changed over the summer when Arteta raided his former club, Manchester City, for Zinchenko.
Guardiola has been playing full-backs that are reversed in midfield for many years, ever since he used Philip Lahm in this way at Bayern Munich. After his first game in charge of Manchester City, I remember the bewilderment in Match of the Day when they watched former Arsenal full-backs Bacary Sagna and Gael Clichy appear in the center circle as City were in possession.
Clearly Sagna and Clichy weren’t going to be expected by that particular experiment, but it set the template for how Guardiola wanted to play. Since then, Zinchenko and now João Cancelo have reinterpreted Guardiola’s full-back role in much the same way Philip Lahm did in Bavaria. What’s especially amazing about how Zinchenko has revolutionized Arsenal’s approach is that we didn’t really see it coming.
Arsenal signed Kieran Tierney to a new contract and bought Nuno Tavares during Arteta’s tenure. Perhaps Tavares, with his ability to drive inside with his right foot, offered a slight hint of the direction of travel in hindsight. But the Portuguese is very much in Kieran Tierney’s “winger in full-back” mold.
Over the summer, Arsenal snapped up Ajax’s Lisandro Martinez before being ‘stunned’ by Manchester United and offered to work with their former Ajax boss Erik Ten Hag. Martínez is a left-footed central defender who can play as a left-back. He is not in the same mold as Zinchenko, who is much more of a number eight disguised as a left-back.
Now, there is some suggestion that Arsenal wanted both players and given the lack of backing for Gabriel, that would make sense. Upon his arrival, it was thought that the Ukrainian could offer support in both the left-back and midfield position. Given that Arsenal essentially ruined the end of their most recent campaign with the predictable injuries to Thomas Partey and Kieran Tierney, that made sense.
I don’t think any of us foresaw the transformation that Zinchenko would play as left back and central midfielder at the same time. He has totally usurped Kieran Tierney by now and Takehiro Tomiyasu is often preferred to the Scotsman at left-back. As Arsenal looked to clinch the north London derby on Sunday, Tomiyasu replaced Zinchenko, with Tierney deployed further upstream as Gabriel Martinelli’s replacement. A year ago, Tierney was essentially Lacazette’s deputy captain, so it’s hard to believe that Arteta had always planned to remove him from the team, at least not so quickly.
Because the way Zinchenko plays left-back at Arsenal has revolutionized the team. He’s not really a left back at all. In essence, he is a midfield partner to Thomas Partey and his presence unlocks other key figures in the team. He offers that technical and physical support for Partey, often joining him on high pressure and providing a consistent passing option for Partey.
Zinchenko is almost like a technical contractor, popping up here and there to plug holes when necessary and give his colleagues a breather on the ball. Like Cancelo at Manchester City, he makes it very difficult for the opposition to control. Man-marking is not a popular tactic in modern football because no manager likes to give up an entire player from their team and you certainly can’t mark the nominal left-back without breaking down your team structure.
Zinchenko attempts 74 passes for every 90, according to FBRef. No player who has played 45 minutes or more has tried more for Arsenal this season. After last season’s victory at Watford, when Arteta lamented his team’s inability to “play 300,000 passes in the opposite field”, few would have anticipated that a left-back would solve that problem. Only Thomas Partey is averaging more touches in the midfield at Arsenal this season.
Few of Zinchenko’s passes, individually, are especially cutting. He has an assist this season of 0.4 assists expected. He has 1.55 shot creation actions per 90, which is lower than Kieran Tierney, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Ben White and Thomas Partey. If Arsenal is trying to play death by football, Zinchenko is not armed with a pistol but a razor.
He is softening up the opponent with subtle jabs to the ribs. Crucially, it unlocks other players on the team who have been able to find a new level. Gabriel Martinelli stands tall and wide in Arsenal’s attack and is encouraged to isolate the opposition right-back, he has no overlapping full-back to call on. Instead, Granit Xhaka overlaps by running into it.
This explains Xhaka’s higher attacking performance this season. He often finds himself available in the middle space inside Martinelli, where he can offer the cut for a teammate or shoot himself. He’s not really a central midfielder anymore, instead he plays in that left-half-space slide – the more central job has been outsourced to Zinchenko along with Partey. Look again at where Saka’s goal against Brighton emanates from, from a pincer movement by Zinchenko and Partey to win the ball back high up the pitch.
HIGHLIGHTS | Brighton & Hove Albion vs. Arsenal (2-4) | Saka, Odegaard, Nketiah, Martinelli – YouTube
They are the technical heartbeat of the team and really should be considered the central midfield partnership. Some players make the system, others are made by the system. The best teams are split roughly evenly between those two poles. The best teams have a good mix of foot soldiers and commanders, with Xhaka becoming a foot soldier so Zinchenko can command.
The way Zinchenko has played the part has led me to evaluate Kieran Tierney’s performances much more severely than is probably fair. He is an excellent winger, but Zinchenko has completely changed my expectations on paper. Twice against Oxford, Tierney loosened into touch and I sighed audibly in a way I don’t think he’d ever done before.
Zinchenko’s role is not without risk, of course. He can leave Arsenal vulnerable on their left side, especially when teams counter-attack quickly. West Ham earned their penalty at the Emirates on Boxing Day because they quickly flicked the ball into that space and caught Arsenal. Antony scored against the Gunners at Old Trafford for similar reasons.
Yet Zinchenko has so quickly become one of Arsenal’s most important players in a way that has taken many of us by surprise. He expected him to offer strong support to the team in two key roles, a bit like an Emile Smith Rowe but for the back section of the team. Instead, he has transformed the way Arsenal can play football, appearing here and there to provide tech support to his teammates as an office IT support guru.
He seems to teleport across the countryside but strangely, he never seems to be in much of a hurry. I can’t imagine Zinchenko running; I feel like I can’t conjure up the image in my mind so rarely have I seen it. However, he is omnipresent, allowing Arsenal to create numerical superiority in midfield with ease. It might be the most peculiar transfer success I can remember wearing an Arsenal shirt.
Follow me on Twitter @Stillmanator
