Our targets are slipping away...or were they our targets at all?

I'll tell you something you'd probably never believe: in a way, Twitter ruined me. Yes, I got the sense of not being alone by joining it and I'm happy I did. But there's a downside (isn't there always?): I now find it really hard to formulate a definitive opinion on something.

I like to call that phenomenon information overload: there are too many voices, facts, rumours on Twitter. Everyone has his own opinion, sometimes even his own agenda. Because of the excessive amount of information thrown at me, I (like everyone else on here, I guess) have two ways out: either change my opinion quite often, or stand firm whatever. Both aren't ideal options.

You'd be amazed, but there are a lot of things I haven't given much thought prior to joining Twitter. For example, I have never doubted that Wenger is the man to lead us forward. Funny thing is, if someone asked me why, I'd struggle for an answer. Maybe because I haven't known Arsenal without Arsene and was scared of change. Most likely I'd say I had an inner feeling that Arsene is the best man for job.

But I'm getting sidetracked here. The reason I'm writing this article is not to wax lyrical on some rhetorical question: rather, I wanted to discuss the concept of buying players. Fear not, I won't wander into the transfer rumours territory. Rather, I'll try to explain why all Arsenal fans shouldn't do it and why we shouldn't clamour for players only to subsequently be disappointed at the fact they signed for someone else.

There are a couple of things you should keep in mind when a new rumour surfaces. However likely it seems, however you want to believe it, take it with a gigantic piece of salt. With a few notable exceptions, you’ve been duped, lured by clickbait.

Don’t believe the press (part 1)

It’s the first rule. With not much to chew on in the summer, the press (sometimes spoon-fed by agents), prints transfer stories, 95% of which have zero credulity. For me, only the following sources are credible sources of information:

BBC
David Ornstein
Guardian
Sky Sports
Kike Marin
Jeremy Wilson

If these have confirmed the transfer, start enjoying the fact. Write articles, make videos, tweet about it. It’s as good as done. You can also believe these guys on rumours.

Don’t believe the ITKs

It’s a temptation, I know. When you see a fellow blogger claim a transfer is close, it’s hard not to get excited. However, the more I watch such accounts, the more I come to the conclusion what they do is pure guesswork. They are just a little better at guessing than everyone else.

I highly doubt any of those have an “inside source at the Club”, unless it’s the bus driver or the photographer. People who deal with multi-million transfers sign confidentiality agreements. I doubt they’ll risk their place by informing someone on Twitter. So ignore the ITKs.

Don’t believe the press (part 2)

You shouldn’t only ignore the press when they run the rumour story or claim for the deal to have been completed. You should also do likewise when sentences like “Arsenal miss out on” and “Liverpool (or United, or City) beat Arsenal to the signing of”. Especially if the Club that “has beaten us to the signing of” is way less prestigious/competitive at the moment. Just look at the recent transfers.

Dybala joins Juventus

We were accused of “missing out on” Dybala, who joined Juventus “instead”. You know how much Juve paid for the Italian? 32 million euros + 8 million in add-ons. Almost 30 million pounds for a player who had one successful season. Now, it doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have blossomed in PL, players far less successful at their previous clubs did (Henry & Bergkamp being the most prominent examples), but I’ve seen nothing to suggest we were in for him. Apart from clamouring from fans and some articles in Mirror/Metro/Sun (pick any).

Kondogbia signs for Inter

Another player who “slipped from our grasp”. The accusations flying around with him were almost hilarious, simply because Arsenal fans accused Arsene, Ivan, the board and whatnot on the basis of one good game in the CL. Kondogbia cost Inter around 25 million pounds. Whatever anyone says, you don’t buy a player like that to bench him and chances are we would have done just that after Coquelin’s renaissance. Moreover, I have once again seen no respectable sources confirming our interest.

“Gunners target Jackson Martinez joins Atletico”. What? Who said the guy was ever our target? Him and his agent? These people are talkers. Any player can say “Arsenal are interested in me”, it doesn’t mean we are. Remember Zigic? Anyway, I forgot to cite his transfer fee - 25 million pounds. For a 28 year old (or is he 29?) You telling me we should have flushed 25 million down the drain when we have Giroud and Welbeck, who fit the same mould? At a time when we have other areas to strengthen?

Wrapping it up

You know what all these rumours have in common? The clubs where these players have ended up. Unless you are planning to tell me Juventus, Inter and Atletico are bigger than Arsenal and offered these players something we cannot, then it means we were never in for any of those players. Martinez himself said he fancies Arsenal, so why didn’t we buy him? That’s right, we were not interested. The other two haven’t (if I recall correctly) at any point said they wanted to join Arsenal or have already received offers from the Club.

Do you think they would have refused to go and work with Arsene Wenger, who’s a renowned specialist in developing young talent? Look at what Vlad Dragomir (our first actual signing this window, a 16-year-old Romanian player) said:

“The Arsenal offer seemed the best to me, I felt that this is my place.”

Vlad Dragomir is our first summer signing

He then went on to say he couldn’t miss the opportunity to work under Arsene Wenger for the reason I mentioned above: because Arsene knows how to nurture young talent.

So don’t believe the rumours. Don’t shed bitter tears when we “miss out” on players. No point getting yourself down when we weren’t even in the mix. Trust me, we will sign the players we need (Cech *cough* Cech). They just don’t have to be the ones hyped up by the press.

Until later

Why do some of our fans hate David Ospina?

Why the hate on Big Dave?

I’m writing this article for two reasons: the first one is stated in the title and will essentially be the crux of this piece. I will get to it in a bit, after saying a few words on the second point, which I consider no less important.

Namely: I wanted to bid farewell to David Ospina. This is what he was recently quoted saying:

"They [Fenerbahce] are dealing with my agent. At the moment the only thoughts I have are for Colombia. I will not betray my team."

This confirms earlier reports that Fenerbahce have indeed made an offer for our current №1. While Ospina didn’t say “a deal is completed and I’ll leave for Fenerbahce after the Copa America” the mere fact he’s having talks with other clubs means Arsene has given the green light for the Colombian to leave. Amid all the Cech speculation gathering pace (Sky Sports and David Ornstein, arguably the most reliable sources after dot.com, have gone on record saying the transfer is close to completion), it’s understandable. Moreover, I’ve heard Ospina himself wants to leave if Cech comes in, simply because he doesn’t want to be relegated to the bench again, something that will inevitably happen, as Cech’s intention is to play regularly, otherwise there would be no incentive to leave Chelsea in the first place.

I get Ospina completely. He came in as a firm №2, battled his place from inconsistent Szczesny and produced a string of solid performances. Yes, the Colombian wasn’t flawless, but his mistakes are few and far between, while his calming influence on the defense cannot be measured (and therefore, appreciated) enough. Why should he start on the bench having done so little wrong? He deserves to be №1, in fact, I’m pretty sure he would have remained our №1 if Cech had been unavailable.

If it was up to me, I’d leave Ospina and loan out or sell Szczesny. As it is, Ospina will probably seek pastures new this summer and not because Arsene doesn’t want him. It’s sad really. So I would like to take this opportunity and wish Ospina all the best at Fenerbahce or wherever he ends up. Farewell, my friend.

And now onto my first point. As soon as Arsenal’s fanbase caught whiff of the fact Ospina could be the one to leave should Cech come in, something I haven’t expected (and wasn’t prepared for) started: fans began to mock, ridicule and abuse our Colombian goalie. All his mistakes were brought out in the open and dissected, all his drawbacks (at least they looked like drawbacks to these fans) were recalled. In a nutshell, our keeper became a pantomime villain, a persona non grata, a mediocre shot stopper. A nobody, for whom no respect and/or love should be expressed. So in my article I’ll try to find a logical explanation to this highly illogical behavior.

Is David Ospina a bad player?

No and he’s definitely nowhere near as bad as people make him out to be. Sure, he made a couple of mistakes, but it’s part and parcel of being a football player. Just because Ospina is a goalkeeper, his mistakes are easier to isolate and beat him with. I liked how @JokmanAFC summed it up in his article:

“All goalkeepers have a thankless task. If you play well, you will receive a modicum of praise but it is to be expected. They have one job, to deny goals being scored. Just fulfill the task given. If they drop a clanger, then it is scrutinised to its core and stories regarding poor form will abound. All thanks to one mistake.”

For every Monaco performance there’s a Galatasaray one (remember that game?). For every Swansea there’s a Sunderland. For one mistake against West Brom there’s a string of saves against Tottenham, one which spared us the blushes of being swept aside at White Hart Lane.

Yes, Ospina doesn’t look like a Hollywood shot-stopper; however this doesn’t mean he is a bad goalkeeper. He came in right after Szczesny’s debacle at St. Mary’s and, while the improved performances since January the 4th are not down to Ospina alone, he has still done a very important job at a hard time. Simply by going about his business in a calm and professional manner. Having such a goalkeeper helps the defenders psychologically. Yes, Ospina may not be great; yes, he may have had the benefit of playing behind a settled back four and an in-form Francis Coquelin; however, he made his contribution and it was a telling one.

Is David Ospina a bad person?

That was Flamini's downfall. Flamini is not a great player, but he gave the fans a legitimate reason to be unhappy with him by leaving in the manner he did. While I personally won’t hate him (maybe because I didn’t remember how he left and had to be  reminded), I can kind of understand other fans. They go overboard with their hate, surely they do, but there is a reason.

This part is not applicable to David Ospina. As is the case with on-field, he appears calm and professional off it. Likeable even, dare I say. Just look at this bit from his interview with the Guardian:

“I think that when you are going through difficult times, you have to ensure you are working twice as hard and you are always prepared. You have to hold your head up, too. You can’t be moping and all downtrodden. You need to be prepared in training during these difficult moments and just be ready to grasp any opportunity when it comes.”

There’s more to him than this particular bit, but I can’t take another quote without ripping it out of the valuable context. Read the article in full here, you won’t regret spending your time and will get a clearer picture of what a man Ospina is.

Wrapping it up

Having scrapped out the obvious, there are only two reasons left why the fans are chastising out Colombian shot-stopper and neither are good enough in my book:

1. Fans somehow think Szczesny is the guy with potential, while Ospina has already peaked. Hence if they had to choose who leaves should we buy Cech, they’ll pick Ospina most of the time
2. Some are scared that as long as we have two international goalkeepers at the Club, a 3rd one won’t join, so they want to get rid of one of the two as quickly as possible

Both arguments are flawed. I get fans are more attached to Szczesny because he loves the Club and has been here longer than his Colombian counterpart, however, saying “Szczesny can be world-class and Ospina can’t” is shooting for the stars. Only a year separates them. Ospina had a solid first season, his season of adaptation, while Szczesny is either too hot or too cold and it has been the case with him for five years now. He only seems to play well when in danger of losing his place. Also, if he couldn’t get his head straight for so long, who said he suddenly will when Cech joins? And please stop saying Ospina can’t be world-class. You don’t know that and David is still young. Not much older than Szczesny at least.

The second argument is no argument at all. If Arsene wants to bring in Cech and Cech wants to join Arsenal, then he will. He will do so after receiving reassurances he’ll be №1, so worrying on that front is silly, chastising Ospina is downright stupid.

So I struggle to understand why Big Dave attracts such hatred, having done so little wrong. But then I struggle to understand many things. Like how you can clap Fabregas and boo Sagna at the same time. Or blame Ozil for shirt-swapping. Or want Song back.

All of this makes me really sad. At times like these, I don’t want to be associated with GoonerFamily.

I’ll leave it here. Hope I gave you something to chew on

Would you rather...?

“I expected Aaron Ramsey to be in there as well with 10 or 15. We need another player who gets 10 or 15 goals but we have a good mentality and good cohesion in the team. There is something happening. You can see that.”

That’s what Arsene Wenger said after we thrashed Liverpool at the Emirates this season. In the immediate aftermath people interpreted his words as if Arsene wants to bring another player from the outside. After the dust had settled, it dawned on a lot of fans the Frenchman didn’t say “I want to buy a 10-15 goal player”, rather he was quoted saying “We need another player who gets 10-15 goals”. As such, he could have meant an internal solution.

No, not promoting Akpom or Gnabry in the hopes they can score the amount of goals in question. Getting more out of the existing personnel, players like Oxlade or Welbeck, seems more likely. However, my colleague Andrea has explored this possibility in depth here, so I won’t stop on it any further.

Rather, I want to concentrate on another problem entirely, one which seemed pretty straightforward at first, but not so much after I gave it some thought. Namely: what is easier: scoring an extra 10-15 goals or conceding 10-15 less? What is more efficient, achievable? What is Arsene more likely to do, try to add extra firepower in the hopes that more goals will get us a better end result or stitch up our defense so that additional clean sheets help us grind out points?

Concede less

I’ll start with this option, simply because it seems Wenger is more inclined to go this way. Why? Because we haven’t been linked with a lot of attacking-minded players, but look to be on the brink of signing Cech. Moreover, Howedes recently confirmed Arsenal made him an offer. It’s not crystal clear whether we made that offer in winter or very recently, but the important thing here is that Arsene seems keen on improving our defensive record.

This year we have conceded 36 league goals, but only 11 of these came after Ospina claimed the spot between the sticks as his own. In other words, we have conceded 11 goals in 18 games.

Now, I’m not saying it’s entirely down to Ospina: it’s not. He certainly chipped in with his calming presence, one which Szczesny is yet to learn how to exude (assuming he stays), however, Coquelin also blossomed around mid-January + we finally stabilised our back four.

Whichever way you put it, 11 goals in 18 games is impressive. Had we kept this rate up from the very beginning, we would have conceded roughly 23-24. Chelsea, with their famous double-decker, conceded 32. Southampton 33.

And yet Arsene is looking at our defense. He hinted Gabriel will feature more, Cech deal has been done to death already. For me, it’s hard to say exactly how much impact Cech can make on his own. Sure, he is a great goalkeeper, but how many goals can he prevent all by himself? How many points can he get us on a one-man mission?

My friend, a United fan, said De Gea was immense this season. That he bailed his team out of trouble time and again. That the Spaniard alone got United 12 points minimum. Let’s assume this is true: can Cech do the same? If he can 12 points on top of the ones we earned this season it will just about suffice to win the league.

However, we shouldn’t forget two things: United had a very leaky defense this year, which contributed to De Gea’s image of being a great goalkeeper. We, as I’ve demonstrated above, did grand in the 2nd half of the season with a goalie between the sticks who most consider mediocre. Moreover, let’s assume Cech wouldn’t have the mistakes our goalies made this season. Ospina made a grand total of one (against West Brom) and it didn’t matter anyway. Let’s say Cech would have kept out Gomis’ header. Alright, that’s one point in 18 games taken aboard.

Szczesny wasn’t at all impressive prior to him being dropped, but how many clangers did he drop? He made 11 errors over the course of TWO last seasons, 5 led to goals. Even if all 5 happened in 2014-2015 and even if these 5 goals were the only difference between a draw and a win (which they weren’t), we get a maximum of extra 10 points.

So Cech could have (hypothetically) won us 13 points. These probably would have sufficed, but only just and only after a great push of imagination from me. (All goalie stats courtesy of @AFCStatReport. You can find his article here).

Score more

It’s going to be another push of imagination from me, though a considerably less one. In short, if I had to choose between buying a new goalie and purchasing a player who can get us extra 10-15 goals, I would have chosen the latter. Here’s why.

I can easily single out a number of games, where one goal would have been the difference between one point and all three. Here they are

1. Leicester (a)
2. Tottenham (h)
3. Chelsea (h)
4. United (a)
5. Sunderland (h)

I haven’t counted in Everton, Hull and City, because in the first two instances we were chasing the game and got a point thanks to a last-gasp equaliser, while with City we have conceded late, surrendering our winning positions. All those games could have in fact been won with a better defensive effort. However, I think we can add Swansea at home to this list, because had we scored at some point prior to 85th minute, we would have probably won.

So, in these 6 games we managed to pick up 5 points only. Scoring mere 7 extra goals (2 against Swansea) could have seen us get 18 points out of 18. Only Chelsea presents a problem in this list, every other team is not that hard to score an extra goal against.

I have only used up 7 goals, I still have (hypothetically) 3-8 goals left and we would have won the league title even with these extra 7, finishing on 88 points with Chelsea on 86. I think even the existing personnel is capable of that final little push. We were highly unlucky to have Oxlade and Welbeck injured in the last month (when 4 games out of these 6 occurred), while Walcott and Wilshere were still regaining match sharpness. At the outset of the campaign we had other factors at play which prevented us from picking up more points: injuries to key players, instability at the back and post-World Cup syndrome. Alas.

Closing comments

When it comes right down to it, it’s all speculation on my part to while away the time, both mine and yours. However, I don’t think defenders and even goalkeepers should be our prime concern: as I’ve demonstrated with solid numbers, not just opinion-based blabber, we had an astoundingly good second half of the season. We don’t need extra defenders based on that. We don’t need a new keeper.

What we really need is a settled back four and an injury-free season. If we manage to accomplish that, I’m not so sure we need any fresh recruitments at all. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I don’t want Arsene to bring anyone in, or won’t be excited when he does. I also don’t think all the players who can improve us are out of our reach. I am just of the opinion we have enough potential to challenge even without new faces.

Over and out

How Arsene Wenger remains ahead of the curve

If you have been reading my articles regularly, you know I’m a pro-Wenger guy. There were periods when I doubted his skill, but these came before I was able to look at a wider picture, i.e. learnt to appreciate his planning abilities. Up to a certain point I was caught up in the now, unable to see the effects of Arsene’s long-term thinking. That being said, I have always respected the man as a person. I only doubted his managerial nous. I shouldn’t have.

This has only become clear to me recently, after the season ended. There are two reasons behind my enlightenment:

1. We ended the season on a high. As such there’s no moaning about how we should replace Wenger. A positive environment enables you to look at things differently. You are not caught in the miserable now, hence you are not thinking about it constantly
2. In summer, the quality of articles both increases and decreases. Decreases because lots are revolving around transfer rumours. Increases because the paucity of material at hand enables you to think big and look at things from different angles. Such articles give you food for thought

Some recent pieces of this ilk combined with my observations made me see the light: Arsene Wenger is the best thing to have happened to Arsenal FC. We are where we are now because of him. His devotion to Arsenal. Him working under constant pressure on things we didn’t even understand (and I don’t claim we do so even now). Arsene has patiently persevered in three directions and this summer it hit me with sudden clarity that the Frenchman is almost there. We almost reached the Promised Land, only fine-tuning is needed to get back to our best, the rest is behind us. So how come Arsene did all this? What are these directions I’m talking about? In short, what makes him a bloody genius?

Long-term planning

We all know about the financial restraints we were put under as a result of building a new, modern stadium. I don’t need to dwell on that.

However, a recent article from Chris opened my eyes to many more things. Arsene not only built a new stadium in an era where EVERY top club needs one (yes, Chelsea, City and even Liverpool and Tottenham are playing at old stadiums which will need replacing soon. In fact, both clubs from London are already searching for temporary homes while the renovation/building works will be in progress). While Chelsea, City and United owners have bottomless wallets, Liverpool and Tottenham don’t and will struggle as a result. Even the big guys will face problems cause:

• building/renovating a stadium isn’t cheap. Their Sugar Daddies may limit the spending power during that period
• no one said Sugar Daddies won’t refuse to invest in a new stadium/leave the said clubs

We are past that stage now. However, Arsene has also made other long-term investments: in scouting system (buying StatsDNA and recruiting new scouts like Brian McDermott), in youth set-up (e.g. Jonker for Brady), in improving training facilities. The list is endless. Check out Chris’s article above, it will tell you the story a lot better than I will.

Mid-term planning

Two things stand out here. First is Financial Fair Play.

While the mechanism is not in full swing yet and rich clubs will try to find a way around, we don’t have to worry about our own situation in the slightest. We only spend what we earn and with the financial chains no longer holding us it’ll stay that way. We don’t live off Kroenke. Both Chelsea and Cityl have that problem, a day may come when they’ll pay for it. I’m pretty sure even now they can’t buy whoever they please without selling someone first. Just look at how Chelsea had to sell Luiz to fund Costa's and Cesc's moves. How they sold Shurrle and De Breyne to buy Quadrado.

But it’s not the only thing that will keep their respective managers awake at night: which brings me to the second point - homegrown quota.

I’ll remind you the rule (being myself only recently explained it in detail). From next season on, every PL club can register NO MORE than 17 foreign players for the season. Maximum number of players they can register for a season is 25. That means you can have no homegrown registered at all, but your squad will only have 17 players. Not good for rotation.

Who can be considered homegrown? “A Home Grown Player means a player who, irrespective of his nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated to the Football Association or the Football Association of Wales for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons or 36 months prior to his 21st birthday (or the end of the season during which he turns 21)”

Notice a small but important detail: a player doesn’t have to be English to be considered homegrown. We have at least two players who aren’t English but are considered homegrown: Szczesny and Martinez.

Moreover, those who haven’t turned 21 can also be registered with the squad. You can register any number of those, in fact. They don’t take a spot from someone in that 25-man squad. Beautiful if you have talented youngsters who can already help out (we have at least Bellerin and Chambers ready for first team football). Completely useless if you don’t have such youngsters, which likely stems from the fact you either don’t develop the youth system at the Club or don’t allow talented youngsters a chance.

Where all of this leads us? That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, problems for clubs which don’t have 8+ homegrown. Which clubs will be hit harder than others? Chelsea and City.

You see, Chelsea has three homegrown: Cesc, Terry and Cahill. These are senior members, over 21. And City? Also three homegrown: Wright (didn't even know he was there), Clichy (hilarious) and Hart. Boyata, Milner, Lampard and Sinclair have all left.

Now these clubs are begging for homegrown players. City offered 40 million for Sterling. Chelsea tried to get their hands on Oxlade-Chamberlain. There are rumours City want Wilshere. In other words, both clubs are royally fucked up. They face a very daunting prospect of either overpaying for English players or having short squads for the PL.

And what about Arsenal? Well, Arsene Wenger is three steps ahead of the pack. I think when he first caught whiff of homegrown quota, he started building an English core. And it’s not made of mediocre players like Lambert and Jones. We currently have 10 homegrown + Chambers and Bellerin ready to join the fray from 2016-2017 season. These homegrown are: Szczesny, Martinez, Gibbs, Coquelin, Ramsey, Wilshere, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Welbeck, Walcott + Jenko (he’s likely to go on loan again). Of course, we don’t know for sure whether Walcott and Szczesny will be with us next season (though all the signs are pointing to the fact they will), while Martinez can also go on loan, but the important thing here is that we have GOOD homegrown players, all ready for regular first-team action. Not a bunch of bang average 30 year olds who are just “squad players”.

Short-term planning

Having sorted out long- and mid-term, Arsene turned his attention to the here and now. He brought in world class players (Cazorla, Ozil, Sanchez) to complement the British core. He tweaked the formation to 4-1-4-1 after realising a simple 4-2-3-1 leaves us overly reliant on certain individuals. He adjusted his in-game management (something many fans thought Arsene’s incapable of doing). He managed to beat some big teams this and ground out results when needed be.

Finally, he’s improving the personnel. The aforementioned Jonker for Brady. Shad Forsythe to improve (maybe even solve) the situation with injuries. And Arsene is becoming ruthless. He dropped Szczesny after his blunders. He didn’t reinstate Walcott. He keeps Wilshere on the bench and Ramsey on the right to accommodate Cazorla. Debuchy and Arteta can’t have a look in because Bellerin and Coquelin have been outstanding. Rumour has it, Arsene is willing to sell Ospina to make room for Cech. Our goalkeeping coach has already left, something that strongly hints at Cech’s incoming, simply because Petr wants to bring in his own coach, Lollichon.

Arsene refuses to sell his players for huge money because they are HIS players. The Frenchman looks like he got City’s and Chelsea’s numbers, he knows where their weaknesses lie and he seems ready to ruthlessly expose these weaknesses and make Arsenal bigger and better by capitalizing on the mistakes of their rivals. Arsene’s getting ready for war next season and believe me, he is hell-bent on winning it.

The verdict

Perhaps this article could have been written in less glowing terms, as the situation probably doesn’t call for these. I hope, however, that you will forgive my zealousness: this piece was mostly written on the spur (erm) of a moment. It’s more emotional than anything else.

Nonetheless, I hope it made for an entertaining read. Let me know in the comment section below.

Until later. In the meantime, enjoy this tribute to the great man from @The_Arsenal

The fortunes and misfortunes of Szczesny, Ospina and Martinez

The goalkeeper debate among Arsenal fans has shown its head on January 1st. On that infamous New Year’s day Arsenal’s squad, ridden with injuries, on the back of a busy Boxing period, succumbed to Southampton at St. Mary’s.

It’s not the disappointing manner of the defeat or a knackered Alexis Sanchez that we’ll remember that game for, rather it’ll be the performance both on and off the pitch of our then №1 goalkeeper: Wojciech Szczesny. After putting in an incredibly weak performance and capping it off with two obvious blunders both of which ended up in our net, Woj went and had a smoke in the showers.

Szczesny was dropped immediately. He would only play 5 games out of the remaining 25, all of them in the FA Cup. None of them (bar the final game) overly convincing. Wojciech finished the season as a №2, behind the unspectacular, but solid David Ospina.

With transfer window due to open in 2 weeks, the whole situation begs the question: what will happen next? Who will be our goalkeeper of choice next season? Rumours are flying around we are in for Petr Cech and, while I hate getting caught up in the transfer mill, the comments from Cech’s coach at Chelsea hint Petr wants to join Arsenal.

So I’m going to look at our goalkeeper merry-go-round by making a brave assumption that Cech WILL join us.  What will happen to our other goalkeepers?

If Cech really does come to Arsenal, it won’t be to sit on the bench. Cech is 33, not 20 or even 25 to wait for his chance. He’s a proven Premier League goalkeeper, one who has been ever-present at Chelsea for 11 years.

Moreover, I’m sure Arsene understands all this. He knows Cech will only agree to join if we offer him something he lacked at Chelsea this season: regular football. Not much sense in swapping the Blues’ bench for ours. So that’s what I think will be in store  for our current goalies.

Wojciech Szczesny

He’ll be sold. For me it’s as simple as that. It looks like Wenger’s patience ran out after that defeat to Southampton.

Let’s be honest, why should we keep Szczesny if Cech joins? Because he is a fan of the Club? Okay, but what else does he bring to the table? The mere fact we are having a debate about whether he should or shouldn’t be our №1 five years after he joined tells you all you need to know.

Szczesny had a brilliant last season, he did. And he undoubtedly possesses the ability to be great. Problem is, it looks like Chezza is stagnating. Moreover, it looks like he’s gone backwards this year. Can he get his head straight? If the answer is “yes”, then he should stay. However, from what I’ve seen, it doesn’t look like he can. I won’t pretend I know what the manager thinks, but for me Szczesny should be the prime candidate to leave if we bring in Cech.

David Ospina

He’ll probably assume the role of solid back-up, the one he was initially brought in for:

“When I signed, he (Arsene) was very clear on that with me. But in my mind I was coming to Arsenal and I wanted to show what I could do.”

Will the Colombian feel hard done by if he begins the season on the bench? Especially after winning the battle for the №1 shirt the previous season? He undoubtedly will. However, while I was a huge fan of Ospina at the outset, I changed my stance somewhat recently. I’ll explain why.

Ospina didn’t have any particularly memorable games upon seizing his opportunity. He had a brilliant game against Spurs, one which we lost, but that was it. I wasn’t overly worried by the fact the Colombian wasn’t making Hollywood saves every week: my argument was he didn’t cost us points. He may have not won any, however he surely wasn’t making childish mistakes leading to goals. He was calm, solid and confident without being self-confident. It presented a nice change from Szczesny’s behavior.

In May, however, Ospina did the exact thing I feared: he cost us points. Just once: against Swansea. I defended him like mad that night: he was not the main culprit after all and even if he was, it was the first time in 5 months.

Then Ospina had a nightmare of a performance against West Brom. Luckily, by the time he decided to make a couple of blunders we already were 4-0 up. However, it was not until very recently that I truly started to feel uneasy about the prospect of seeing David start the season as №1. The trigger was Colombia vs Venezuela game during Copa America. To be more exact, it was the manner in which Ospina conceded: a soft header. Rings any bells?

So now the Colombian has at least 4 games which can give you food for thought, the 4th being against Monaco. I won’t blame him for the deflection, or Berbatov’s one-on-one, but I think a better keeper would have kept out Carrasco’s shot.

Yes, the Colombian will have every right to feel hard done by to start next season as second choice, however if he does, you could argue it won’t be completely off the mark. But I don’t see Arsene selling him after just one season.

Damian Emiliano Martinez

Now here’s an interesting case. Someone on Twitter suggested that in case Cech comes in, Ospina can be relegated to 3rd choice and Martinez promoted to the bench. Crazy as it seemed to me at first (make a newly-bought international back-up to someone who hasn’t even got 10 Club appearances?), it started to make more sense as time passed.

Thing is, Martinez looks a talented prospect. While he certainly is less experienced than Ospina, he hasn’t reached his peak ability-wise. Ospina looks like he had. Moreover, while Martinez had an absolute disaster of a performance against Stoke, he showed flashes of promise before that, keeping three consecutive clean sheets against Borussia, West Brom and Southampton.

I also liked his manner: calm and assured. A younger and taller version of Ospina, one with less experience though. My fellow writer Dave Seager remains unconvinced by Martinez’s time with Sheffield; as for me, I think we can have a surprise on our hands. Maybe that’s the optimist in me talking, however having seen Coquelin rise from the Charlton ashes, I  think Martinez would be less of a surprise in terms of making a breakthrough. Maybe he can be given a chance in the cups?

Is there a risk of him leaving should Cech come in? I somehow don’t think so. Sure, probably another loan is more likely than a fight with Ospina for a place on the bench, but a loan should not be viewed as an end to your aspirations. While if he stays, Emi can gain valuable experience by learning from Cech. Definitely better than learning from Szczesny.

The verdict

I haven’t touched on another possibility, one which is not completely out of the question: we won’t bring in Cech or anyone else in the goalkeeping department. In this case, I suspect things will stay as they are now: Ospina will start most games, Szczesny will play in the cups, Martinez will likely  go on loan. It’s pretty straightforward, really.

Can we bring someone else in? Of course we can, but it’s pure speculation at this point. Moreover, I haven’t really seen us linked to anyone (Cech excluding) recently. And I only brought up the whole thing with Cech because there’s just too much smoke.

Right, that’s your lot.

Voice your opinion in the comment section below.

Cheers