How about this….

I think Zinny is more than capable of playing that role.
Thought when he signed it was possibly with the intention of a midfield role, but then Xhaka came good and Arteta had inversion on his mind.

Yes I agree, although I like the idea of it, I don’t think it’s really in Arteta’s thinking. I suppose there’s Havertz, ESR, Vieira, Partey etc in the pecking order that would prevent this from being trialled. I’d still love to see Patino chucked into the mix too to see how he’d get on.

I think that would work really well when we want to counter-attack. But I would still go with Zinny at LB against teams who use the low block. That's pretty much everyone other Liverpool, Newcastle, City away.

Maybe Arteta is waiting for Timber to recover before he tries it. Tomi for all his discipline is not all that creative and takes some instinct to come into midfield at the right moments both to defend and to start moves.

An interesting idea and I certainly wouldn't be against giving this a try. He'd also be more than comfortable peeling out to the left as Arteta likes the lcm to do in this system.

One thing I would say though, and I've made this argument when people suggest Trent should be deployed primarily as a centre mid. There is a huge difference to playing as a midfielder rather than stepping into the midfield as an inverted fullback. One of the reasons he has been successful in his current role and is able to dictate play as well as he does, is that he effectively steps into the midfield as a spare man and gets to enjoy all of the extra space that comes with that. You'd think he wouldn't get that sort of time or space playing a more traditional role in the midfield. Not saying he can't do it as, as you say, he plays that role for his country. But something worth remembering.

comment by Gunner12 (U7418)
posted 30 minutes ago
An interesting idea and I certainly wouldn't be against giving this a try. He'd also be more than comfortable peeling out to the left as Arteta likes the lcm to do in this system.

One thing I would say though, and I've made this argument when people suggest Trent should be deployed primarily as a centre mid. There is a huge difference to playing as a midfielder rather than stepping into the midfield as an inverted fullback. One of the reasons he has been successful in his current role and is able to dictate play as well as he does, is that he effectively steps into the midfield as a spare man and gets to enjoy all of the extra space that comes with that. You'd think he wouldn't get that sort of time or space playing a more traditional role in the midfield. Not saying he can't do it as, as you say, he plays that role for his country. But something worth remembering.
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Good point. However, Zinny has played CM all his life incl with Ukraine and knows how to pass under pressure.

Yes will be interesting to see how all the dynamics change when Timber is available again.

Zinchenko is definitely more attack minded than your average full back. He also gets caught out defensively, so pushing him up the field where he can use his strengths and won't cause damage by his weaknesses could be a good shout. I definitely think Tomiyasu is the better full back of the two and it would be good to see them work together in the same team. It could also work if we bring Tierney back, as he too is better defensively than Zinchenko.

KT can't play in midfield. We tried it so many times, and he just looked a fish out of water. All our players need to be able to play in multiple positions. It's an absolute non-negotiable for Pep's teams.

Haaland plays anywhere other than up front?