Do Arsenal Need a Better GK? Statistically Szczesny Performed Alright

The number one goalkeeper at Arsenal has been an issue ever since 2007, when whoever made fewer mistakes between Jens 857 minutes without conceding Lehmann and Manuel "If I didn't get injured I would still be starting for Arsenal" Almunia got to play.

Szczesny scored nicely!

Szczesny was under a lot of criticism last season after some poor performances. His rating on Fifa 14 is one less than it was on Fifa 13 (not a good thing for any player). He has played relatively well so far during this campaign.  I decided to cover last seasons statistics because there is information on 38 games, rather than the 4 of this season.

My original idea was to compare Szczesny and Lloris (who some believe we should have bought a year ago), but I decided to throw in the other three as well. Each team's defence will obviously affect their respective goalkeeper's statistics, and that's why I'll be comparing only the top 5 Premier League's teams' goalkeepers as the best teams should have similar quality in the backline. The information was gathered from whoscored.com and thescore.com. Most of the statistics will be presented in a percentage or per game because some players played fewer games than others. Wojciech Szczesny, David De Gea, Joe Hart, Petr Cech and Hugo Lloris will be compared.

A Different Dilemma at Left-Back

Since the sale of Ashley Cole in 2006, Arsenal have not had a reliable left-back. Wenger put faith in the Englishman and many were hoping that he would be an Arsenal legend and possible future captain.



I'm quite annoyed that I couldn't find anything without Gervinho!

He departed for Chelsea on deadline day, leaving many fans annoyed. Clichy was a good enough replacement (I rated him quite highly), but his frailties soon shone through: his defensive ability wasn't great, often being caught out of position. The Frenchman’s attacking play didn't cover up for his lack of defensive qualities either; I remember numerous crosses that were kicked straight out or over everybody’s heads. Kieran Gibbs looked a good prospect when Clichy was injured and had his first international call-up at 20, big things were expected of him, but he had quite a few injuries and Gooners around the world cringed when Clichy and Gibbs were injured, resulting in the hapless Traore being deployed at left-back.

Match in Brief

Van Persie and Walcott score to put Arsenal into the Champions League.

 

A very good all round performance by the boys. My man of the match goes to Gervino for providing most of our creativity.
Also an honourable mention for Szczesny for a good game and a great penalty save (I thought he would be blown for coming off his line before the ball was kicked but was extremely happy when he wasn't).

What is also very good is that Wenger now has 6 days to sign a player wanting to play in the Champions League. This is a big perk for players.

Arsenal have a tough match coming up- United away, but with the confidence going out of this match I can see us winning.

Regards