Arsenal and goalkeepers. A happy relationship that has boasted the likes of Bob Wilson, David Seaman and Jens Lehmann in the past – which now sails over stormy waters with the likes of Manuel Almunia, Lukasz Fabianski, Wojciech Szczesny and now David Ospina all carrying the number one shirt in the last 10 years for The Gunners. Don’t get me wrong, all talented goalkeepers on their day, but haven’t quite exuded that confidence and security in which their predecessors all did so consistently.
As we progress into the latter stages of the season, another split has developed amongst the Arsenal faithful (a split amongst Arsenal fans? Surely not!) between Wojciech Szczęsny and David Ospina. Conversation and debate has spread far and wide in various podcasts and forums, as well as subreddits, blogs and just general twitter ‘chat’ – who should be Arsenal number one?
Believe it or not, Szczęsny is approaching his tenth year at the club which is quite an incredible milestone, having arrived at just 16 from Legia Warsaw in 2006. With the Pole, things are never really done in an unexciting fashion. In November 2008, he lost his balance while lifting a heavy weight and both his forearms were fractured, causing him to miss five months – not an injury that anybody would want let alone an up and coming goalkeeper! Despite the two horrible fractures, he returned strongly and was promoted to the Arsenal first team the following season.
In November of 2009, Szczęsny joined Brentford on a one month loan, and after impressing with the League One side – his stay was extended for a further month. Due to gaining regular first team football and playing so well, his loan was extended again until the end of the season. His notable performances at Brentford sparked reaction fromArsène Wenger in late 2009, revealing that he and the rest of Arsenal’s coaching staff had high hopes for Szczęsny, saying, “We have identified Wojciech as a future great, great goalkeeper.”
However, our Colombian friend David Ospina is far from leading a vanilla lifestyle. Ospina began his professional career for Atletico Nacional in Colombia’s Categoria Primera A, completing 97 appearances and winning two league titles in three seasons with the club. At just 19 years of age, Ospina was transferred to Nice – with hopes of being the long term replacement of now Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris who was moving to Lyon. Frederic Antonetti, the manager of Nice who brought Ospina to the club, says: “He has everything you need to be a top goalkeeper. He’s good in the air and he’s good on the ground. He has that little extra something to be a champion. Hugo Lloris was an international-standard goalkeeper; so is David”.
After a good showing in Colombia’s impressive World Cup run, he was linked to many European clubs. Despite being heavily linked to Atlético Madrid, Nice chairman Puel announced that Ospina would depart the club to join English side Arsenal for around £3 million.
So that brings us to the 2014/15 season. The first part of the season for Arsenal could have been perfectly described by typical English weather – unpredictable. Hot one minute, the next cold. Sunny one minute, pouring down with rain the next. Szczęsny held the number one shirt for the majority of the season, and the hopes around the club were that he would have been able to build on a very impressive 2013/14 in which he shared the Golden Glove award with Petr Cech – but some of his old traits came creeping back into his game. Ospina on the other hand, started a few league games here and there before suffering a mysterious thigh injury in October that would keep him out for three months, and effectively for the rest of 2014.
Fast forward to the 1st of January, and a knackered and injury ridden Arsenal lose 2-0 away to Southampton – with Szczęsny guilty of two bad blunders for both goals. It didn’t end there for the 6’5” goalkeeper, with reports circulating later that day that he was caught smoking in the showers and was fined £20,000 by the club. Szczęsny was forced to apologise, but apparently this infuriated Wenger and he was left out of the matchday squad for the following game against Hull in the FA Cup.
From that point forward, Ospina has established himself as the number one goalkeeper at Arsenal, swapping roles with Szczęsny who is now the cup keeper. I write this on the 22nd of March 2015, and this is still the case – David Ospina is the number one goalkeeper, and Szczęsny waits diligently for his chance on the bench. So what now? Is this a permanent change? What happens for Szczęsny now? Here is my take on the goalkeeping situation.
Szczęsny: My view on Szczęsny is that he is the more talented keeper of the two. A tall, commanding figure standing at 1.96m who is also able to pull of incredible, and more importantly match winning saves from time to time. He possesses the natural confidence and craziness that you need to become a successful goalkeeper, however while this is one of his strengths it can also become his Achilles heel, causing complacency and erratic decision making which can cost your team goals and it has done for Arsenal on a few occasions.
I feel that at 24 years of age, he is still really young and learning a lot about what it takes to be a goalkeeper at a top club, because that’s what seperates the good goalkeepers from the great goalkeepers – concentration. You will not have the ball for long spells, but at that flick of the switch you need to stay alert to make a save or come charging off your line, which I feel he can be brilliant at, but also terrible at. It’s a strange one. I think it’s all about gaining consistency for him.
Szczęsny in my opinion is the more decisive goalkeeper, in the form of making a contribution that will keep three points as three points, or keeping one point at one point rather than none at all. He is able to make saves under pressure, as well as being able to come and claim crosses to alleviate pressure off of his defence, which he did so brilliantly at Upton Park this season for example. However, these match defining moments are void if he cannot do the basics to a required level week in, week out which is what frustrates me most about him. I think he gets a lot of stick from the fans for being overconfident and cocky, but I would rather him be that then a bunch of nerves which we have seen in the past in the likes of Almunia and Fabianski on occasion.
Ospina: Despite me liking Szczęsny, I do still think Ospina is a good goalkeeper. In spite of being 6’0” exactly, he is still very capable in the air and claims plenty of crosses well – after all, he did have a 98% successful claim rate with Nice last season. In terms of quick reflexes and acrobatics, I feel that this is where his smaller size puts him at an advantage, and he excels in making saves from close range as well as being able to act effectively with deflected efforts (let’s just forget about Kondogbia’s goal in the Champions League).
At 26, he has two years on Szczęsny and I think this can be telling at times with his decision making. Ospina is much more conscientious when trying to slow the game down, laying down and holding onto the ball regularly – where Szczęsny can be quite naïve and throw the ball out quickly when he doesn’t need to do so. He also knows when and when not to come off of his line, showing a brilliant example of this when thwarting Lukaku twice at home to Everton just a few weeks ago.
One concern I have with Ospina is that his kicking is quite poor. When taking goal kicks, you are looking to either find Giroud to flick it on/hold it up or put to the wings for a flick on from a full back – but his kicks are quite weak and rarely pass the halfway line, which in effect causes the whole team to drop deeper than necessary. Another issue I have with Ospina is his tendency to go for the ‘Hollywood saves’ when maybe he could catch the ball, as well as him sometimes palming the ball back into danger rather than clear of danger and out into touch. However, I do feel that he is a more level headed goalkeeper than Szczęsny, and the chances of him having a crazy moment are far less than the Polish international.
In terms of who I see as number one, it is still Szczęsny in my eyes. Despite his crazy moments and inconsistent distribution, I still feel that he is the more talented goalkeeper of the two and is able to decide games on his own. His height is a huge bonus, and I think this will serve him well while in the Premier League when teams are throwing everyone and everything at him in the box in the final few moments. I mentioned earlier how his confidence/persona is often slated by fans, but I feel that this is a crucial part to being an elite goalkeeper and while it CAN be frustrating at times, he will learn to use it more appropriately with age. With Szczęsny, I feel that time is on his side, but he cannot take his position at Arsenal for granted because despite the managers’ faith in him, he is far from irreplaceable. Maybe I would have wanted him to improve a bit more than he has, but If Wojciech can find consistency, I’ve no doubt that we have a potentially great goalkeeper on our hands – it’s just a matter of whether he will be able to find it or not.
With Ospina, I still think he is a good goalkeeper who will always perform at a steady rate whenever he is asked. I think in terms of reflexes and decision making he is very solid, but small issues such as looking awkward at times and his kicking put him down in my estimations. He has done a great job since coming in and replacing Szczęsny, and hasn’t really done anything wrong enough to be dropped again which is always a good sign. I think his size could be an issue in the future as it makes him targetable by clubs with big strikers such as Stoke and West Ham, but he does look quite comfortable in the air despite this.
That’s my conclusion. Szczęsny is still the man for me, and while Ospina is probably more consistent than him I feel that he has more talent and his ceiling is ultimately higher than the Colombians. HOWEVER, and I’ll be slightly controversial here, with Arsène looking to really take Arsenal to the next level again and rumours of Petr Cech being available in the summer – it would not surprise me if both of them were not number one next season! It never hurts to keep them on their toes though.
