Pundit Craig Burley has torn into Arsenal defender Oleksandr Zinchenko following his performance against Liverpool on Saturday. The left-back made numerous errors during his side’s 1-1 draw, making a costly error to afford Mohamed Salah space for the equaliser.
The Gunners took the lead against Liverpool after just three minutes, with centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes directing his header past Brazil team-mate Alisson to send the away supporters into a frenzy.
However, their lead did not last long as Salah took his goal tally to 12 for the Premier League season with a sensational solo goal. The Egypt international received the ball out wide before dribbling past Zinchenko and hammering his strike into the top corner, leaving David Raya helpless.
Zinchenko’s defending, which allowed Salah the opportunity to move the ball onto his left foot, came under fire during plenty of post-match analysis, and the Ukraine international did himself no favours with several misplaced passes that almost proved costly.
Speaking to ESPN about the match, Burley did not hold back in his comments about Zinchenko, saying: “I thought he was poor, full stop. 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.”
It remains to be seen whether Mikel Arteta puts his faith in Zinchenko for his side’s match against West Ham on Thursday, or whether his performance will see Jakub Kiwior return to the starting XI.