Arsenal star Oleksandr Zinchenko has responded to criticism after pundits Martin Keown and Michael Owen slammed the Ukraine international.
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Keown and Owen singled out Zinchenko following Arsenal’s Champions League defeat to RC Lens on on Tuesday, with the latter describing him as ‘sluggish’.
Zinchenko, who moved to the Emirates last summer, was also called out by Gary Neville last season for over-celebrating a home win over AFC Bournemouth.
The 26-year-old, quizzed about how he deals with criticism from various pundits, told Sky Sports: ‘I don’t have Twitter and I don’t read it at all.
‘I just have Instagram, but I am not reading the comments. I have a massive respect for former players, they have been in these positions.
‘But honestly, if I am going to react to every single opinion, I would have no time for my family.
‘We have our schedule and we travel a lot, so I am not trying to pay attention to this at all. I have my manager, coaching staff, family and players – with them I am listening a lot and we can have conversations from there.
‘But when I have a bad performance or make some mistakes, I already know it on the pitch. When it is something tactically, we have amazing staff.
‘They can come any time, at lunchtime or something, with a laptop and show me some things.
‘I said to Rio [Ferdinand] the other day, it means a lot when these big names, legends talk about you. It means I am on the right way, even if they are talking bad about you. I am so easy about that, honestly.’
Zinchenko, asked if there was more pressure on Arsenal this season after they came close to landing the Premier League trophy last term, added: ‘I think for every person in the world, it does not matter where they work, pressure is not a good thing.
‘You need to know how to manage it. We have such a good mix of young players and experienced players. We are learning from each other a lot and we know how to manage this pressure.
‘I know people like to talk behind the scenes, off the pitch, that the expectations are so high. Trust me, we just want to go game-by-game. At the end of the season, people can judge us, and we will see where we are.’
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