Dominick Zator

[BearcatSA]

13 hours ago, VinceA said:

Sounds like he had his family there at BMO to see him not play. A shame.

I remember when Theo Bair was having a good run of form and starts for the Caps in the fall of his (l believe) first year.  The team then travelled to Montreal for a game and (correct me if I am wrong) his family and friends came from Ottawa to watch him play but Marc dos Santos left him on the bench.  

(My memory might not be right on that one and maybe he did sub in late, I am not sure).

Edited March 29, 2023 by BearcatSA

[Bison44]

Its a tough spot, Heibert who did come on had his mom wife and cousins at the match too.  Sucks for Zator, but someone always gets left out, Dom and Louturi were the odd men out this time.  Overall he is still in a good position, being a little more versatile and getting lots of europe experience.  CB is starting to look a more solid every day, Kennedy looked good in the Vittoria role, good to see Cornelius back. Hiebert, Mcnaughton, Waterman area all right on the cusp so hopefully they keep plugging away, fighting for roster spots.  

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

6 hours ago, Kadenge said:

Hiebert came into the game as an injury sub for Kennedy and played as a LCB in a back 3 with Derek & AJ.  Perhaps  Zator can't play on the left?

Don't follow the Polish league but according to some of what I've been reading today he is mainly playing as a right wing back or as a right full back for Korona Kielce.

https://www.footballtransfers.com/en/players/dominick-zator

https://www.transfermarkt.com/dominick-zator/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/496606/wettbewerb/PL1/saison/2022

Possibly not viewed as two-footed enough to handle a more central role in a higher quality league? If that's accurate maybe he was viewed as an extra option for when Alistair Johnston was suspended against Curacao, if anything untoward happened to Richie Laryea.

Edited March 29, 2023 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[Aird25]

Is the question why a left footed CB came in to replace another left footed CB instead of a right footed CB? Please correct me if I’m confused about this 

[Ansem]

 

[Aird25]

I presume this means player of the match, or something similar?

 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Back to right back again in this last game apparently:

https://www.transfermarkt.com/korona-kielce_miedz-legnica/index/spielbericht/3829129

 

[archer21]

On 3/28/2023 at 10:45 PM, VinceA said:

By that logic, Akinola wouldn't have seen the pitch. Herdman has his methods, and they aren't kind to new players, generally speaking.

Galindo said on his podcast that he felt bad for Zator the most because of how well he practiced and how excited he was to play. I kind of got the feeling from Galindo’s words that the staff intended on playing Zator but with Kennedy getting hurt, they went with Hiebert on the left instead.

[El Diego]

1 hour ago, Aird25 said:

I presume this means player of the match, or something similar?

 

"King of the Match" for the second time in a row (they're leaning into the crown/korona theme). Very encouraging. The club's form has been great since he joined and they are out of the relegation zone.

[Bison44]

Good for him, keep performing at a high level and his time will come, especially if he did well in camp.  I'm sure Herdman enjoys having versatile options on the roster.   

[Bigandy]

3 hours ago, archer21 said:

Galindo said on his podcast that he felt bad for Zator the most because of how well he practiced and how excited he was to play. I kind of got the feeling from Galindo’s words that the staff intended on playing Zator but with Kennedy getting hurt, they went with Hiebert on the left instead.

This seems strange. Kennedy was playing the central of the back 3. It would have made way more sense (from a positional view) to play zator as the middle cb and keep cornelius on the left. They shuffled around the defence to accomodate hiebert over zator. So if they shuffled the defence because we dont want zator to play as the central CB, then his next options are rcb or rwb. 0% chance he plays as a RWB - especially with laryea on the bench after a motm performance. So the only other option is rcb. If they planned on playing him at rcb, why didnt they sub him on? It's also strange to think they would preplan to sub out johnston when he is fresh from sitting out the curacao game. 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Zator is not playing as a centre back for his club in their preferred set of selections for a back four and John Herdman almost certainly called him up based on his recent form with Korona Kielce rather than what he did in CanPL last season. He may have been called as cover for right back type roles depending on tactics used mainly for the first game when Johnston was suspended making this whole Hiebert vs Zator angle a red herring. Hiebert was called up to replace Kamal Miller who otherwise would have been the one competing for a start with Kennedy and Cornelius.

Edited April 4, 2023 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[archer21]

11 hours ago, Bigandy said:

This seems strange. Kennedy was playing the central of the back 3. It would have made way more sense (from a positional view) to play zator as the middle cb and keep cornelius on the left. They shuffled around the defence to accomodate hiebert over zator. So if they shuffled the defence because we dont want zator to play as the central CB, then his next options are rcb or rwb. 0% chance he plays as a RWB - especially with laryea on the bench after a motm performance. So the only other option is rcb. If they planned on playing him at rcb, why didnt they sub him on? It's also strange to think they would preplan to sub out johnston when he is fresh from sitting out the curacao game. 

I can’t imagine he was there for cover as the middle CB. He’s a RCB or RB. I have no idea what the plan is, but Buchanan could’ve move further up the pitch with Johnston going to RWB or something. That would’ve given Zator room to play RCB. Who knows though, that was just the feeling I got from listening to the podcast, I’m not trying to say that it’s fact.

[El Hombre]

13 hours ago, Bigandy said:

This seems strange. Kennedy was playing the central of the back 3. It would have made way more sense (from a positional view) to play zator as the middle cb and keep cornelius on the left. They shuffled around the defence to accomodate hiebert over zator. So if they shuffled the defence because we dont want zator to play as the central CB, then his next options are rcb or rwb. 0% chance he plays as a RWB - especially with laryea on the bench after a motm performance. So the only other option is rcb. If they planned on playing him at rcb, why didnt they sub him on? It's also strange to think they would preplan to sub out johnston when he is fresh from sitting out the curacao game. 

I think it was pretty clear that Zator was brought for RCB cover for the first game.  With Johnston out due to cards, if either Kennedy or Vitoria go down in that game, you needed strong defensive cover and not skillsets like Laryea or Buchanan to replace them.  His best chance for playing was that first game.  That's the one he was brought for.

In the second game, if Kennedy goes down (which he did) and without Vitoria to come on, the choice is to move either Johnston in the middle or Cornelius.  Cornelius was the better choice, therefore Hiebert got on.

The problem is that he's now competing with an iron man in Johnston for playing time because there is no way Herdman doesn't put someone he absolutely trusts in the middle of a back three.  If Alastair skips the gold cup, he might get a shot.  Other than that though pickings are slim.

Edited April 4, 2023 by El Hombre

[Bigandy]

1 hour ago, El Hombre said:

I think it was pretty clear that Zator was brought for RCB cover for the first game.  With Johnston out due to cards, if either Kennedy or Vitoria go down in that game, you needed strong defensive cover and not skillsets like Laryea or Buchanan to replace them.  His best chance for playing was that first game.  That's the one he was brought for.

In the second game, if Kennedy goes down (which he did) and without Vitoria to come on, the choice is to move either Johnston in the middle or Cornelius.  Cornelius was the better choice, therefore Hiebert got on.

The problem is that he's now competing with an iron man in Johnston for playing time because there is no way Herdman doesn't put someone he absolutely trusts in the middle of a back three.  If Alastair skips the gold cup, he might get a shot.  Other than that though pickings are slim.

I agree with your first paragraph which echoes my point that it seems odd to say they planned on playing him in the second game. 

However i disagree that your choices are limited to cornelius or johnston at cb. Johnston would never be an option there. Cornelius, Heibert, and Zator are all legitimate options for CB. If zator was trusted, he would be the logical choice. Since he isnt trusted, it reinforces how strange it is to claim that he was a preplanned sub. 

I mentioned in another post that I think zator playing both RB and CB is not beneficial for him currently (in regards to his CMNT chances). Hes too far below on the depth charts as a rb and his only real shot is in a CB position. With him not playing centrally at club his CB development is much slower and his current form is based on RB. Versatility without trust is meaningless as now zator is not trusted in 2 positions. 

A guy like Johnston has full trust so his versatility is an asset. 

[Aird25]

8 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

making this whole Hiebert vs Zator angle a red herring.

Aren't you literally the first person to bring this angle up?

[Aird25]

On 3/29/2023 at 3:05 AM, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

...and it appears to be Kyle Hiebert, who was only called up after an injury to one of the original callups unlike Dominick Zator, that impressed John Herdman more in training. That's the way the cookie crumbles.

I don't know why I can't quote more than one comment now, but isn't this where the Hiebert vs Zator 'angle' started?

[archer21]

1 hour ago, Bigandy said:

I agree with your first paragraph which echoes my point that it seems odd to say they planned on playing him in the second game. 

However i disagree that your choices are limited to cornelius or johnston at cb. Johnston would never be an option there. Cornelius, Heibert, and Zator are all legitimate options for CB. If zator was trusted, he would be the logical choice. Since he isnt trusted, it reinforces how strange it is to claim that he was a preplanned sub. 

I mentioned in another post that I think zator playing both RB and CB is not beneficial for him currently (in regards to his CMNT chances). Hes too far below on the depth charts as a rb and his only real shot is in a CB position. With him not playing centrally at club his CB development is much slower and his current form is based on RB. Versatility without trust is meaningless as now zator is not trusted in 2 positions. 

A guy like Johnston has full trust so his versatility is an asset. 

I agree that Johnston isn’t going to be used in the middle of a back 3. I don’t think Zator would either. I went back and listened to Galindo’s comments again and he basically said Zator is the one guy he thinks probably deserved some minutes. He basically said Bacuna was too quick for him so he wasn’t a good option for Curacao. He then said unfortunately for him, Scott Kennedy goes down hurt, they needed a left footer to come in so Kyle Hiebert comes in to replace Kennedy. Now that doesn’t necessarily mean that Herdman planned on using Zator (Galindo also mentioned Honduras has shifty players that could’ve given him problems). I just figured Galindo would be the one with some inside info since he was on the technical staff for the CMNT.

[Bigandy]

2 hours ago, archer21 said:

I agree that Johnston isn’t going to be used in the middle of a back 3. I don’t think Zator would either. I went back and listened to Galindo’s comments again and he basically said Zator is the one guy he thinks probably deserved some minutes. He basically said Bacuna was too quick for him so he wasn’t a good option for Curacao. He then said unfortunately for him, Scott Kennedy goes down hurt, they needed a left footer to come in so Kyle Hiebert comes in to replace Kennedy. Now that doesn’t necessarily mean that Herdman planned on using Zator (Galindo also mentioned Honduras has shifty players that could’ve given him problems). I just figured Galindo would be the one with some inside info since he was on the technical staff for the CMNT.

I think youre right on Galindos comments. I find he can provide insights from his perspective but not always based on the history/preferences of Herdman. Based on herdmans history of subs, I wouldve been shocked if Zator got any minutes. 

I have doubts that Zator is at the level required for CMNT which makes it harder to slot him in such a crucial position of central CB but as for his playing style, I don't think hes unable to play as a central CB. Has anyone seen him in this role before?

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Before he went to Poland he was usually playing as a centre back in a back four AFAIA but can't claim to have followed his career closely.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Was just watching one of last season's York United games on Onesoccer's replay function and when you watch closely it's obvious Zator only uses his left foot for very basic and predictable passes if he is under a bit of pressure. Otherwise he switches over to the right when it wouldn't make any sense to do it if he was reasonably close to being two-footed. Can definitey see now why he wouldn't be used centrally in a back three.

[Shway]

1 hour ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

Was just watching one of last season's York United games on Onesoccer's replay function and when you watch closely it's obvious Zator only uses his left foot for very basic and predictable passes if he is under a bit of pressure. Otherwise he switches over to the right when it wouldn't make any sense to do it if he was reasonably close to being two-footed. Can definitey see now why he wouldn't be used centrally in a back three.

You just outline qualities of why someone could play in back three. Especially if his right foot is his dominant one.
Weird take...

[Stryker911]

Scored his first goal for Korona to make it 1-1.

https://twitter.com/Korona_Kielce/status/1647286615654428675/mediaViewer?currentTweet=1647286615654428675&currentTweetUser=Korona_Kielce

Edited April 15, 2023 by Stryker911

[narduch]

They win 2-1

MOTM on Fotmob 

[VinceA]

2 minutes ago, narduch said:

They win 2-1

MOTM on Fotmob 

He asissted on the game-winner as well.