Antonin Kinksy has been one of the most positive stories of the last six months for Tottenham Hotspur, making Guglielmo Vicario obsolete. The young Czech goalkeeper had been written off by Thomas Frank for months without a lick of playing time, much to the chagrin of fans, who watched Vicario perform as the worst and most mistake prone starting goalkeeper in the entire Premier League as Spurs descended into the depths of relegation.
Initially written off after an incredibly unlucky Champions League night against Atletico Madrid when the incompetent Igor Tudor fed him to the wolves, Kinsky rose from the ashes during Vicario's spell out with a hernia, and he became Spurs best player and one of the best keepers during that Premier League relegation fight.
Already this preseason, Kinsky continues to shine, posting a Man of the Match performance against rivals Chelsea. And while Roberto De Zerbi was, naturally, full of praise for his new franchise keeper, the Italian manager did give the youngster a bit of constructive criticism.
Antonin Kinsky in the build up will be spotlighted
De Zerbi told reporters, via Alasdair Gold of Football.London, “I think he can improve in build-up a lot. A lot. But he will reach, for sure, the top. Working with the goalkeeper coach and me, we will create the training just for him to better understand the free player, to understand better everything he needs. He is very clear with the pass, but he can become faster in the decision in build up. He has all qualities to become one of the best, also in the build up, the distribution.”
The crazy thing about that quote is it headlines just how great Antonin Kinksy is again. Sure, Roberto De Zerbi thinks Kinsky can improve "a lot" in the build up, but he is "for sure" confident he will get there. And any Tottenham Hotspur fan will tell you that Kinsky's distribution and work in the build up are actually pretty strong for a young goalkeeper, and they were already miles and miles ahead of Guglielmo Vicario last season.
But De Zerbi is one of those new school, possession based managers who demands a lot from his players in the deep build up, hence why he wanted Jan Paul van Hecke and Sandro Tonali so badly. So he is going to demand more from Kinsky, as he says, to make the decisions faster and get sharper mentally. However, his accuracy of the pass and overall quality are great, and if this is the biggest criticism of Kinsky as a keeper right now, then he is doing an incredible job indeed.
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