As Arsenal resume Premier League duties this Saturday as they travel to Selhurst Park to take on Crystal Palace, the polarising issue of Arsenal’s goalkeeping argument will take a much needed backseat as Szczesny’s mandatory inclusion in the FA Cup tie against Middlesbrough last weekend only happened to reignite it.
Wenger has continuously reiterated that Szczesny remains Arsenal’s #1, but there seems little value to it, especially considering the role Wenger has taken in the 24-year-olds development since he arrived at Arsenal in 2009.
Szczesny has never been an individual where the Arsenal faithful has shown complete trust in. There, to his credit, have been situations where he has single-handedly dragged Arsenal through the mud, but his overweening attitude to on-field affairs has cost Arsenal dearly on several occasions. He, unlike previous Arsenal shotstoppers in the past, has failed to garner the trust from the Arsenal faithful since he became the #1 in 2011, and it’s not hard to see why.
Source: arsenal.com
Ospina, meanwhile, has remained his humble-self upon arrival, and had been assigned the archetypal #2 role in the Arsenal side: only feature when called upon though remains a regular in domestic cup ties. Despite this, a large chunk of his game-time was diminished after Arsenal’s early exit from the League Cup, but as Wenger had continuously reiterated, his time would come.
And it wasn’t long before it did come.
In a cagey New Years Day affair at St. Mary’s, where Arsenal were going toe-to-toe with fellow Champions League chasing Southampton, Szczesny – quite literally – handed Southampton the three points on a silver platter, and sunk Arsenal’s season into deeper misery. But if that didn’t seem fatal enough, the Pole decided to light-up in the dressing room showers afterwards, and, judging by his exclusion the following week, had crossed Wenger on one too many occasions.
Ospina entered the fray against Stoke City where Arsenal ran out comfortable 3-0 winners and, despite Stoke having a measly two efforts on-target, Ospina certainly hadn’t done himself any harm in his quest for the #1 jersey.
After keeping consecutive clean-sheets at the Etihad and in Arsenal’s comprehensive 5-0 victory over Aston Villa, there seemed little reason for Ospina to reconcile with the substitutes bench as after all, Szczesny had failed to keep a clean-sheet in nine matches before he was forced to sit out.
But those stats appear terribly misleading. In his three-game spell, Ospina had only seven shots on-target to contend with; Szczesny, meanwhile, had a total of seven in one game against West Ham on Boxing Day.
Nevertheless, after Arsenal announced the signing of Ospina, the first striking aspect about his appearance was his height – or lack of for that matter. He stands at a mere 6 feet tall, which, accounting for the physicality of the modern game, makes him liable to the occasion mishap in the air. In comparison to his Polish counterpart, Ospina stands at 5 inches shorter which, when put into slightly more damning context, makes him 5 and 6 inches smaller than both Joe Hart and Thibaut Courtois respectively, and 7 inches shorter than Southampton’s Fraser Forster.
In spite of this, however, his height had never acted as an obstacle during his time in France. In fact, Ospina collected a whopping 98% of crosses for Nice last season, according to Squawka. To throw more stats at your face, Szczesny conceded 16 more goals than the Colombian last season, though Szczesny boasted three more clean sheets.
Source: arsenal.com
His aerial frailty certainly hasn’t proved costly on any occasion so far for Arsene Wenger’s side, but Ospina has looked hesitant at times this season, most notably at White Hart Lane earlier in the month.
The ex-Nice shotstopper appeared slightly apprehensive with the ball at his feet and was liable for an alarming number of shots which were needlessly palmed out. He, too, must shoulder part of the blame for Harry Kane’s equaliser, after flapping at Moussa Dembele’s flick on which left Kane with a simple tap-in at the far-post.
That said, a presumptuous individual is not what Arsenal need between the sticks at the moment, as, ultimately, Szczesny has lost his place in the side as a result of it. His eagerness to rush off his line cost Arsenal dearly in the first-leg of their Champions League against Bayern, his cocksure attitude in possession has precipitated one too many heart in mouth moments for Arsenal fans, and his fundamental errors seem all too frequent for a side aspiring to lift the title.
Wenger himself has refuted talk of Ospina being Arsenal’s number #1 for the foreseeable future, comparing Szczesny’s recent omissions from the starting XI to the situation in 2007, where Manuel Almunia had burst onto the scene and Jens Lehmann’s appearances became increasingly infrequent.
Although the chances are is that Ospina’s inclusion is merely an indication of the competition that now presents itself to the Pole. The bulk of Lukasz Fabianski’s career as an Arsenal player was met with more derision than applaud, thus Szczesny’s place was rarely threatened.
Wenger may cast an eye over to West London and turn green at the goalkeeping dilemma that presents itself to Mourinho. There aren’t many, if any, clubs as peerless in the goalkeeping department as Chelsea, but the ideology is shared: both may crave the starting role but, ultimately, they will improve each other.
And that’s exactly what Szczesny requires at this stage in his career. Fabianski’s performances in the FA Cup last season at least warranted talk of the #1 jersey, but his compatriot quickly diminished those whispers when he took home one half (alongside Petr Cech) of the Golden Glove award last season.
Joe Hart certainly benefitted from a short spell out of the Manchester City last season after a dim run of form to begin the season. Pellegrini later reinstated the Englishmen and he went onto enjoy a stellar second half of the season, which was capped off by a Premier League winners medal.
The discussions that surround the position may appear superfluous to some, but let’s bear in mind that Ospina has just five Premier League starts to his name so far. Criticism him at your will, but don’t forget the motive behind his signing: to bolster Arsenal’s goalkeeping options.
Craig Vickers
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