Arsenal Invincible Lauren admits he’s been impressed by Oleks Zinchenko – likening the Ukraine international to Germany great Philipp Lahm.
Lauren says Zinchenko’s versatility and attacking qualities from fullback have added a new dimension to Arsenal’s play this season. Indeed, the Cameroon great believes Zinchenko has taken his game to a new level since arriving in the summer from Manchester City.
On behalf of Bet365, Lauren explained to Tribalfootball.com: “Oh yeah, he’s now playing with more consistency. He’s giving Arsenal more from that position. We saw it previously with Bayern Munich and Philip Lahm – and also with (Joao) Cancelo at City. It’s the way the modern fullback must play.
“So when you have a player like that and a coach with the mentality of Mikel Arteta, who wants to dominate the opponent, you can only do that by dominating the middle of the park. He does that with Xhaka, (Thomas) Partey and (Martin) Odegaard, which gives you an overload and creates space for Zinchenko. So this allows him to push higher up the pitch and make the contributions that he has.”
He added, “The difference between this season and previous ones is we have a top manager, good talent in the team and a big team spirit.
“But also tactically there has been a change. You see it with Zinchenko when he’s central with Partey, they can now dominate the middle of the park. Plus there’s the speed of their passing, which has been absolutely brilliant every single week.”
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