Zinchenko: Pep got it wrong
ZINCHENKO’S DIG AT CITY BOSS OVER TACTICS IN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE EXIT
ALEKS Zinchenko has broken the dressing room silence over Pep Guardiola’s Champions League tactics.
The City defender implied that the manager got things wrong by picking three centrebacks in the quarter-final defeat against Lyon.
And his fiancee, sports reporter Vlada Sedan, joined in the criticism, calling the tactical set-up employed by
Guardiola a
‘bummer’.
Zinchenko has been out of favour at
City, only starting once since his mistake led to defeat at Southampton, and was an unused substitute against Lyon. In Sedan’s YouTube vlog, Zinchenko was asked about Guardiola’s tactics, after the Catalan employed three centrebacks plus midfielders Rodri and Ilkay Gundogan.
The Ukraine international said: “There are many footballers with great experience. They are well aware that with such tactics there will always be a lack of one player in front.
“In the first half, Lyon played very organised at the back. They were almost all behind the ball line. “And we have three central defenders in static position with the ball - they start all attacks, and two central midfielders go down to them to take the ball, because there are no zones to find a pass line. We have five people just off the game.”
Zinchenko was also asked what Guardiola said after the game, and revealed that the manager did not go to the dressing room.
“What can you say if everything is clear anyway?” was his reply.
Sedan was even more critical, laying the blame directly on the manager.
She said: “This is Guardiola’s puncture. At such a crucial moment, making such an experimental tactic for City is a bummer.
“I have no right to criticise, but why play three central defenders when the players themselves take their heads.”
WHEN City persuaded Rodri his future lay in English football, it looked like a tough task for a 23-year-old defensive midfielder.
Being asked not only to adapt to a new environment and culture, but also to take on board Pep Guardiola’s machinations, and be the figure around whom it all turns, was hard to begin with.
But once the Blues failed to secure Harry Maguire, their only central defensive target, the sequence of events made it even tougher.
With Vincent Kompany leaving, City were left short of a centre-back, with Guardiola unsure about John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi.
So Fernandinho, who had impressed the manager in the odd stint in the heart of defence, went from being the man who would share Rodri’s burden in the holding role to being full-time defender - a situation which was confirmed when Aymeric Laporte suffered a long-term injury a few games into the new season.
The versatile Ilkay Gundogan was detailed to share the duties, but it was soon evident that Rodri would face a serious slog, rather than be nursed through his debut campaign by the experienced Fernandinho.
He ended up starting 29 of the 38 games in the Premier League and eight out of nine in the Champions League, and that would have been higher but for a hamstring tweak he suffered against Atalanta in the Champions League.
It was no wonder that, in the second half against Real Madrid just over a fortnight ago, he looked out on his feet.
Following Fernandinho was always going to lead to critical comparisons.
The Brazil international combined grit and a nose for danger with a range of accurate passing and the drive to turn defence into attack.
Rodri has only shown his passing ability in glimpses, and the raking balls to the flanks which are a feature of Fernandinho’s game, have not been entirely evident.
And the fact the Spain international is not quick has led to negative scrutiny of his role as a shield for the back four.
City have slow central defenders and, when Rodri and Gundogan play, as they did in the Lyon fiasco, the two men immediately in front are not exactly lightning, either.
It is a vulnerability which has been repeatedly exploited over the course of the season - by Lyon, Wolves and Norwich, among others.
Rodri has hardly been a failure. He uses the ball well, he is smart in his passing if not spectacular, and with Fernandinho and Laporte behind him and Kevin de Bruyne in front he does not need to be fizzing killer passes here, there and everywhere.
His physical strength has been a bonus - he is combative, and uses those powerful haunches well to win and retain the ball.
He also possesses the composure and self-belief to release the ball at the last minute, the kind of brinksmanship which takes opponents out of the game.
His height has also improved City at set-pieces, at both ends of the
Following Fernandinho was always going to lead to critical comparisons
Stuart Brennan
pitch, as an added extra. All those attributes, however, have not yet added up to a club record £62m signing.
For that kind of money you expect someone who does everything - a Patrick Vieira or Claude Makelele.
But Rodri, who has only just turned 24, has shown enough to suggest there is more to come, after his crash course in the Premier League marathon and in Pepball.
The acquisition of Nathan Ake and pursuit of Kalidou Koulibaly offers the prospect of some relief for him.
Both the centre-backs have pace, and that will take some of the pressure off the City midfielders, who have often looked like distant bystanders as quick forwards run beyond the Blues’ high defensive line.
Stars like Fernandinho, De Bruyne, Yaya Toure and David Silva were good, but not great, in their debut seasons - and that is where Rodri is now.
He knows the physical demands of the Premier League, and the mental demands of being the central cog in a Guardiola team, and is a year older. It is a big season coming up for him, and Rodri has the talent to grow into that huge fee.