http://ind.pn/1SH6aAe Pretty much confirming that he will be on his way out in the Summer and that both Arsenal & Roma are in negotiations for a permanent transfer. How do we feel about this? Personally, I still think he could have improved because he is still very young for a goalkeeper. However, some of his last few performances in an Arsenal shirt were horrific. A very good shot stopper and could position himself well, but his distribution and decision making left a lot to be desired. Most of this, I believe, has been to do with his lack of concentration on the pitch, in addition to his inflated ego. He seems to have had a very good season at Roma & they're currently 3rd in the division, but I've not really observed his performances in Italy. It's a shame because when he first came onto the scene, he looked like he had the potential to become a very good goalkeeper for years. Unfortunately, he was our main 'keeper (excluding his time at Roma) for 4 and a half years yet he kept making the same errors. On his day, he can be a very capable goalkeeper, and perhaps he is proving that at Roma now, but at Arsenal he wasn't reliable enough. I wish him all the best at Roma, though.
He reminded me of Ian Walker of Spurs in the 1990s. Worked really hard, improved, learned from those around him but the minute he became 1st choice thought he'd made it and became too cocky and a bit of a twat. If his attitude was like others like Lloris, Cech, De Gea etc he could of been a top notch keeper
He will never be a world class keeper, so not the end of the world, we have had too many GK's like him in the last decade, just good, nothing special, and that costs you in the long term.
With Cech and Ospina as back up we don't need him. Shame, because he looked like he was going to devleop along the same lines as De Gea, Lloris etc, but he just stood still whilst his ego overtook him.
Early on he did. Great shot stopper, good positioning and confident and commanding his area. But he failed to develop on the technical side of things like crosses, knowing when to come for balls and when to stay, not going to ground too early, when to play it short and when to get rid. Also his kicking was woeful.
I have never understood the hype around him tbh. In my eyes he was nowhere as good as Lloris or De Gea. Was just decent. But a lot of fellow gooners seem to think he was better. May be its just me
I think he showed really good early promise, but he simply failed to develop in key areas and always looked like he had a mistake in him.
Too error prone and doesn't have enough command of his box for the Premier League. Look at the gulf in class between him and Cech. Ospina's better, frankly. His stupid attitude towards smoking also suggests ego issues. I'm not trying to start an argument, but do you think that this is something that's popped up quite often in recent years? Is Wenger developing the young talent at the club sufficiently well?
I like what ColinLee said above about Ian Walker, Szczesny is a bit like him, lots of potential, and some great abilities but far too many weaknesses and too inconsistent to be top class. Such a shame as I did like him and thought he showed promise/potential. But as your last point mentions PleaseNotPoll, this is another of a golden bunch of youngsters that we/Wenger developed that failed to hit the mark (Theo, Szczesny, Bedntner, Denilson, Song, Wilshere, Oxo, Diaby). Since then there has been precious few youngsters being developed to a high standard - Bellerin, Coq and recently Iwobi are the only ones that spring to mind.
I'm not sure if it's just me, but as I was reading that list of misses, I seemed to strike them all off with roughly the same two criticisms. Injury or attitude appear to have held them back more than ability, virtually across the board.
I think you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned attitude and injury. Szczesny, Frimpong, Bendtner, Wilshere (although I think he'll make it) and Diaby, have been prime examples of either injury, attitude or both putting the skids on their careers. I think part of the problem is the modern day footballers who think they've achieved it at the top when they get given a big contract by a top club and then don't put in the necessary work to earn it. Bendtner infamously called himself the 'best striker in the world' and Frimpong spent more time talking about 'Dench' and posting selfies that he did putting in a shift. Diaby was unlucky, because he got his ankle shattered by a pub player, and Wilshere, whilst his attitude off the pitch concerns me at times, is a top quality footballer with a die hard attitude on the pitch.
We've got an old thread on our board in which someone said he was ten times the keeper De Gea is. Sadly the poster in question was a gobby, clueless Chelsea fan so he's been in hiding since September.
please log in to view this image You'd have thought by now Arsenal fans have learnt not to just mindlessly believe anything they read in the news. From his Official FaceBook page.
