I have to talk about Szczesny. He is a very good shot stopper, and he's gotten really good at clearing corners... but for ****'s sake stop getting out of goal for no ****ing reason. He's made 2 such really amateur mistakes in the last few games, either of which could have cost us the game. Depending on the ref's position he could have easily been sent off there on Cole's foul. I hope all the attention isn't getting to his head. (the other one was against Sunderland if you're wondering)
He also did it against Sunderland when we were level, he came out to close down Sessegnon who wasn't even bearing down on goal. It does make me very nervous when he does it, it's like he's trying to harness the spirit of Peter Schmeichel but it never usually goes to plan.
The scary thing about Chensey is people forget about how young he is because of the way he has played for us since he became first choice. He is 21 and for a GK that is at the baby stage. The level he is at for his age is truly scary.
Well he definitely knows what he did wasn't the smartest thing to do: "13Szczesny13 Wojciech Szczesny I don't know why I stayed on the pitch but WHAT A GAME!! Great spirit, great atmosphere and a great win! RVP needs to start scoring though!!"
The good thing about WS is that he is still learning and at the same time is good enough to save us points game after game. Give him a year of good football and he will be top class. As for that tackle - at least he made a decision and went for it, he was not waffling like Almunia or even Fabiansky. And in the end it worked. What could have happened had he stayed in the goal?
I genuinely believe that in time he could be remembered up there with Wilson, Jennings and Seaman as a great keeper. As others have said he is very young and could have 20 years ahead of him. Cech had a poor game yesterday and shows how it can all change for a keeper though so Szczesney needs to keep his feet on the ground and work hard to stay there.
I think Cole would of scored yesterday if Szchesney hadn't fouled him. Not the last man but it was a clear goal-scoring opportunity, don't think Mert or any other defender would of got back to clear if Cole had been able to shoot. Said Red at the time, replays still haven't changed my mind. I hate Chelsea though so happy you won either way.
Letter of the law states the last man stopping a goal scoring opportunity. You can argue others were covering but it was the keeper who made the foul, open goal if he doesn't touch him. I agree, it was from the wing but Cole practically had to just hit it into an open goal. You had cover coming back but realistically if Cole struck the ball, it probably will go in, it's not like there was anyone to stop it.
personally i feel we need another experienced goalkeeper who is good at decision making brought into the club. gerry peyton is our current gk coach, but i've never really heard much about him. we need someone who can be an example and teach szczesny, something almunia or fabianski will never do, so we need a coach who can do this.
I have to say, I think Szczesny got lucky not to be red carded yesterday. The letter if the law was applied and it was right, he wasn't the last man and it wasn't a clear goal scoring opportunity (just) But there are plenty of refs, with the home crowd baying for blood, who would have sent him off. Even Szczensy himself admitted via twitter that he couldn't understand why the ref didn't send him off.
I agree, he shouldn't have been sent off, the ref got it right. But I still think he was lucky not to get sent off.
I think Cole had to do a "professional" dive to avoid injury. At that speed full on shin/thigh contact could have been pretty serious.
That was actually my point. If either the ref or the assistant had bad positioning that would have looked like an easy red. It was the wrong decision; the ball was already not easy to connect on first touch, so Cole would have had to go for a low cross most probably. IMO Szczesny should have just covered the near post and not risk it. I think more often than not these kinds of situations wouldn't go in his favor.
