Wojciech Szczesny was once regarded as Arsenal’s greatest prospect, and some even said he had the potential to become one of the world’s best goalkeepers. But after recent events whether it be from poor form to smoking in the showers, Szczesny has come under an immense level of criticism. In my opinion it’s been a long time coming.
Back when Szczesny was just a mere prospect, he was sent out to League One side Brentford in 2009 and became something of a club legend in his short spell there. Their then manager Andy Scott even said “His performances suggest that he would not be out of place in the Championship or even the Premier League. It has reached the stage where when he lets in a goal we wonder why he hasn’t saved it.” When Szczesny broke into the Arsenal team at just 20 years of age, his first season was a promising one. He made his debut against Manchester United in a 1-0 defeat, but generally played well. He also kept a number of clean sheets that year and was praised for his performances. Arsene Wenger once said “We have identified Wojciech as a future great, great goalkeeper.” All the signs that season suggested Wenger was justified in his claims, Szczesny was turning out performances far beyond his years and was certainly a more viable option in goal than Manuel Almunia. Despite a costly error in the League Cup Final defeat to Birmingham, Szczesny had proved he had what it took to be a regular starter for Arsenal; from there on the only way was up.
In the 2010-11 season, Szczesny was made first-choice goalkeeper, despite only being 20 years of age. He was instrumental in the two-leg victory over Udinese to ensure Arsenal progressed to the group stages of the Champions League. He made a wonderful save against the prolific Antonio Di Natale – who rarely ever missed a penalty. Myself, like many other Arsenal fans that day suddenly recognized that we finally had a brilliant goalkeeper – the best we had since Jens Lehmann. There was of course the grueling 8-2 defeat at Old Trafford that will haunt the memory of many Arsenal fans, but when we were fielding the likes of Armand Traore it’s understandable as to why we conceded so many goals. Despite that game, he made some important saves against Tottenham in the famous 5-2 victory and was instrumental in the win over Liverpool, even saving a penalty in the process. But in the 2012-13 season there were signs Szczesny’s development had halted. After a string of bad performances Wenger took the rather unexpected approach of dropping him against Bayern Munich, preferring Lukasz Fabianski. Fabianski impressed, and subsequently became Arsenal’s first choice goalkeeper for a month, before sustaining a rib injury against Everton.
Szczesny started the 2013-14 campaign badly in a 3-1 home defeat to Aston Villa, even conceding a penalty. Despite this he managed to keep 3 clean sheets in the following 4 games. He continued his excellent form and even gained a new long-term contract in November. His form continued throughout November, a month in which he conceded just one goal and kept five clean sheets in six matches. He also recorded his 50th clean sheet for Arsenal. When you read some of his stats it’s easy to wonder why I’m even writing this article (I’ll get to it I promise!). Whilst there is no doubt Szczesny is a capable goalkeeper, his sometimes rash behavior on the field combined with his bad attitude off it has led him to be questioned time and time again. The world’s best goalkeepers make BIG saves in BIG matches, whilst it’s unfair to pin massive defeats like the 6-0 against Chelsea solely on Szczesny, it’s necessary to question his ability to perform in the important matches. Similarly that year he was sent off against Bayern Munich, albeit for a blatant overreaction from Arjen Robben. Whilst his raw ability is unquestionable, his immaturity and big ego has exhumed a bad attitude and it’s been telling in his performances. But it’s understandable, this is a man who’s only ever competition until now has been Manuel Almunia and Lukasz Fabianski. He expected to walk into the team every week even if he made a mistake. Despite some bad moments, Szczesny shared the Golden Glove award with Petr Cech that season, collecting 16 clean sheets all in all.
This season Szczesny’s performances have been poor, a prime example of this would be the 2-1 defeat to Manchester United. His communication with his defenders has always been bad (again I refer to the Birmingham League Cup Final). He absolutely clattered Kieran Gibbs who otherwise would have cleared a harmless ball from his area, this led to the ball being played to Antonio Valencia who subsequently scored United’s first goal off of a flattened Kieran Gibbs. He also got chipped by Wayne Rooney for United’s second, another thing I’ve noticed with Szczesny is that he comes out far too early, rather than standing tall like most goalkeepers. He done the exact same in the recent 3-2 FA Cup victory over Brighton, where he could have arguably saved both of their goals. But his performance against Southampton was the worst one by far, both the goals he conceded were entirely his fault and his seemingly unconcerned demeanor afterwards summed up his arrogance. Whilst I agree that some level of arrogance is necessary in all good goalkeepers, Szczesny takes it to another level. Allegations of him smoking in the showers after the game again demonstrate a disgusting attitude, and Arsene Wenger rightly fined him for it. And now with the genuine competition from David Ospina, Szczesny’s position in the first team is under question – with some media outlets even reporting he could be on his way out this summer.
Whether or not Szczesny does play a vast amount of games this season, David Ospina has performed well and is incredibly experienced. If Szczesny is to restore his place as Arsenal’s number one, I believe he has to take a long hard look at himself and put the hours in on the training ground. As it stands, he’s playing for his Arsenal future and has to show the form he demonstrated when he broke into the first team. His stats are not dreadful on reflection, and it is due to this that many Arsenal fans (myself included) were under the illusion that he was an outstanding goalkeeper; however over the past two seasons I’ve considered him to be an average one. It may seem like brutal criticism but I believe his performances have just not been good enough, especially for a team like Arsenal. Everyone will have different views on Szczesny and I do admit that on some occasions, the whole team’s defensive performances have been calamitous at times. But when a team is under pressure and are struggling to contain the opposition, they rely on their goalkeeper to get them out of that situation. Is Szczesny that man? My firm and honest answer is no.
