Since the shoulder injury sustained by Lukasz Fabianski two weeks ago, his younger compatriot, Wojciech Szczesny, has come into the side and has performed admirably well, which has understandably led to a debate occurring over which of the two goalkeepers merits the job on a long-term basis.
Arsene Wenger has openly sided with the eldest of the two, having said before the game against West Ham that he regards Fabianski as his first-choice. The Frenchman was surprisingly blunt about the matter; a rarity that is surely significant to club and fans. He has always had a lot of faith in Fabianski, even when the Pole was being roundly criticised by the media after several high profile errors. Wenger always argued that if Fabianski was able to get a run of games under his belt, then he would be able to emulate the form that he was fabled to have in training.
Wojciech Szczesny is going to cause the Arsenal boss a multitude of problems though. Despite being just 20 years of age, the Pole has demonstrated both the technical and mental qualities that goalkeepers much wealthier than him in experience possess. The parry against West Ham was a perfect example of such maturity – he had done nothing since the first whistle, but he was still positioned perfectly, and was well aware of his surroundings when he made the top class save.
There are problems that Wenger will have to contend with, but they have been created independently. The main issue with the two goalkeepers is that they are both extremely talented, and also youthful. Fabianski is older than Szczesny, but not old enough so that the latter can wait for the former to retire, leaving the starting berth wide open for Szczesny to grasp. The goalkeeper is not a player who is rotated often – the second-choice has to wait for the domestic cup competitions in order to get a game, and even then his place in the side is not assured.
So what is the eventual outcome of this particular scenario? It seems unlikely that Szczesny shall usurp Fabianski as first-choice in the near future, if of course one were to take the words of Wenger as gospel. However, surely there will come a point in time where the younger goalkeeper will make the breakthrough. He has such talent, and is generally regarded as a better talent than Fabianski in Poland, and Wenger would be reluctant to let him leave the club. However, there is no way both of them would be happy to remain at Arsenal knowing that they were destined to be the reserve choice for the rest of their career in North London.
It is certainly not the most pressing of issues in terms of this season, but there is no doubt that there is going to be a time when a decision is going to have to be made. There are undoubtedly more pressing matters for Arsenal to deal with at present than deciding which Polish goalkeeper to start between the sticks. Nevertheless, it will be a tough call for Arsene Wenger to make in the near future.
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i love the both of them and will hate to see any go, but when we get to the thames, we’ll cross it. i would prefer the younger to stay.
I think personally Fabianski is still suspect of making mistakes. We’ve only seen a bit of Szczesny so I can’t really judge him too much. In any case they are both good, it will be a tough choice for Wenger in the future.
szczesny deserves to be our no1 he has been good since he came in.if not for saha’s offside goal scored on us tonight he would have kept another clean sheet.more clean sheets since he came in than fabianski who is a good keeper with potential but he got alot of chances and he made alot of silly mistakes.