Every word of Zinchenko’s pre-PSV press conference

Oleksandr Zinchenko spoke to the media at the location of his former club, PSV Eindhoven, ahead of Tuesday's Champions League match.

Here's what he had to say on the following subjects...

on getting motivated for Tuesday’s game:
First of all, we’re always playing for our badge. We’re always playing for our fans. It doesn’t matter what competition it is, it could be a friendly, we’re always trying to represent our club in the best way. So we’re going to try and show our best performance tomorrow.

on getting momentum back after the weekend:
Well, it's not easy to lose games but the most important thing I would say is how to react for the next one. And of course, we need to bounce back and definitely we're going to try to do our best to do it. We are an amazing team and we also keep in our minds that we have a lot of games ahead of us. But we're trying to stay on our feet and we're trying to work hard every day and let's see what's gonna happen.

on how set piece coach Nicolas Jover has influenced the team this season:
He is amazing, honestly. An amazing professional, an amazing person as well. And you can see it every single day at the training ground, the way he works, he's absolutely professional in terms of everything and he's working so hard. He's trying to do improve us on set pieces and we're learning.

on how much time he spends on set-pieces at Arsenal compared to his previous clubs:
To be fair, I never had a set piece coach in my life before Man City. I think today in modern football it's so important because any set piece can make the difference during the game. It could be 0-0 and then, in the last moments, you can get the corner and you can score from it. So, you just need to be fully focused on each set piece and it's not just about free kicks and corners and penalties. It's also throw ins. So that's why we try to improve in all these directions.

on how Nicolas manages to get the players to buy into set pieces:
First of all, all of us, we are professionals and we're trying to give our best on the pitch, whether it's training ground or stadium. And it's a good question to be fair because as a football player, you always want to move, you always want to compete and play some games. And set pieces are more about being focused and just to pay attention on that.

on his time at PSV and playing with Luuk de Jong:
Well, first of all, that was amazing experience for me. A very important year in terms of my career. Even if you look at it on paper, I didn't play much or I didn't get what I really wanted before I joined PSV but honestly, I wouldn't have traded this experience for anything else because whenever people asked me about PSV, I always used to say good words because the place here is absolutely fantastic in terms of everything. Football wise and living life because even since I left PSV, I used to come here a couple of times for holidays, because I have a few friends here as well. And for such a young player, like I was at that time, it's an amazing place. Always a full stadium, the fans, they always love football. Whenever they meet you, they are always happy to see you. I think this is the most important thing for every football player. Luuk is an amazing professional, honestly. I would say one of the best players playing with his head. I used to call him, it was a bit of a joke but in a good way. I respect him so much and he's my friend. But I used to laugh with him that when you go one v one with the keeper and he's close to you, to give him the ball for the empty net, it's always better to chip for his head because the way he plays with his head is absolutely amazing.

on his own performances this season:
Well, I’m definitely not the guy who is going to judge myself, I have the coaching staff and the manager who are going to describe my games. Obviously I know I’m doing mistakes on and off the pitch every single day, I’m learning from it, but the most important thing is to understand that we’re human beings and we all make mistakes, but the most important is how to react from that. I don’t try to repeat them, at some moments I’m losing the concentration, but you need to realise where and how to solve these kind of problems and try to avoid them in the future.

on how to deal with the outside noise:
I try to be focused on the things that I’m doing every day and I try to improve myself. I try to be a better version of myself every single day and then the rest is honestly if I’m going to pay attention to some things around me which are not that important, then I’m going to lose my concentration for sure.

on what Ethan Nwaneri, Lino Sousa and Reuell Walters have been like in training:
They’re amazing. all of them. I see them almost every day at the training ground, the way they train and the way they’re working, they definitely deserve this chance and hopefully we can see them very, very soon on the pitch. From my side, when I was younger and when someone was giving me any advice, I really appreciated it. All of us are different and we react to situations in different ways, someone maybe might think that if someone is trying to teach you then maybe he thinks that he’s above him or whatever, but I used to rect to this kind of advice very positively because when someone gives you advice with more experience, it means that they’re paying attention and taking their time for you, so that’s why I’m always open for anyone who is younger than me or whatever. Even now being at 26, I’m not shy to ask for advice from Jorginho or some more experienced players.

on showing leadership in the way he plays on the pitch:
If I would say we and me, as a team and as an individual, we are trying to be the very best version that we can and every single day we’re trying to work hard on that. The rest is just don’t give up and carry on with what you’re doing because my point is that if you have a dream and you really want to achieve it, you just have to give your all for it and if you don’t achieve it in the end, then it means you didn’t want it enough, so that’s why you have to be the best version of yourself.

on if he would want to be a referee when he stops playing football:
Definitely not! Not me because I think it’s a hard job, but don’t think I’m going to look for something easy, right? But I don’t know honestly, I just definitely know that it’s a tough job and I know that there’s a lot of pressure around at the moment about referees and all these things. We’re all human beings and we can all make mistakes, but our job is to try and be focused on our performances and that’s it.