View From The Sphere

A tale of two Poles

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Wojciech SzczesnyIs Petr Cech about to replace Wojciech Szczesny?

A few days ago, apparently, a story made the rounds suggesting Szczesny might be on his way out of Arsenal due to partly being dropped in favour of Lukasz Fabianski.

Having been locked away for jury duty, I largely missed it other than to see the headlines once or twice when I had a moment to use my mobile. Frankly, I was too lazy to attempt to post on it, not least of all because the task of spelling the lad’s name would be too much for my mobile screen. At any rate, it ended up being a whole lot of nothing, which is how it usually goes with 99.9% of transfer-tales. However, it does raise the question of how to handle the keeper situation. Fabianski has had two solid games for us, but Szczesny is still our #1.

However, as I’ve previously written, the young Pole has not distinguished himself to the level we expect or need. Yes, he’s been hung out to dry on many occasions, but that happens to all keepers from time to time. In that earlier post, I bemoaned the fact that we so rarely emerge from a match with Szczesny having delivered a MOTM-type performance and having endured a MOTM-type performance from an opposing keeper. There are keepers who, by reputation and by performance, instil doubt and fear in opposing strikers and, sadly, Szczesny is not there yet on either element.

With this as background, I’ll admit that I glanced at headlines suggesting that Szczesny might be on his way out and didn’t respond with much alarm. It might be down to Fabianski’s recent displays, the fact that we are now well within striking range of Spurs, or the idea that Szczesny himself just hasn’t impressed as of late. However, he is only 22 and has made 72 Premier League appearances, so he figures on having a long and illustrious career.

Now, recent news suggests that Chelsea’s Petr Cech is on his way to Arsenal over the summer. This is as close as I’ll come to transfer talk. I will say that this does excite me. He is among the Premier League’s best keepers and, at the age of 30, still has some legs in him. In fact, a signing like this could be ideal as it might provide a few years during which Cech and Szczesny could alternate, the youth learning from the sage, until Szczesny, with a few more years’ seasoning, emerges as a more-polished, mature, and dominant keeper.

On the other hand, maybe a little transfer-talk is all we need. Szcz?sny has no doubt seen the headlines and watched Fabianski. If this doesn’t provide motivation for him to double-down in training and in matches, little else will.

Signing an older keeper, maybe even older than Cech (Jens Lehmann? Brad Friedel?) could provide Szczesny with a mentor who is content to stay on the bench and tutor. Signing anyone much younger than 30, such as Victor Valdes, might convince Szczesny that his time is up. While this might prompt him to up his play briefly in order to pump up his financial value, it may leave us scrambling to replace him while relying more heavily on Fabianski and Vito Mannone.

As the season draws to a close, I hope that our two Poles can man the sticks well enough to help us cross the finish line among the top four. After that, we can well and truly assess our options and how best to move forward.

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4 comments

  • sebas says:

    The only thing that young szczesny instills fear in is his penalty shot stopping. We must admit that he has become pretty handy at that, namely at anfield and at home against dzeko.

    • ivorstephens says:

      If he had a decent defence he would probably have a better tep ps he was motm against sunderland this february snd against city in jan(our motm at least)

  • ivorstephens says:

    LEAVE SZCEZNY ALONE hell be a top class arsenal man for many years to come

  • sonofagun says:

    Im surprised ther is someone out ther who believes in the czech 2 arsenal rumour plus valdes in nt under 30.write something new pls ths story is old n ther hs bin better posts on it than ths hogwash u r writing.

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