The criticism of Arsenal’s 22-capped international is a joke

I’m going to be a tad controversial. Wojciech Szczesny has been getting a heck of a lot of stick recently, I don’t think he deserves the amount of abuse and criticism from the fans.

Yes we can take the Southampton game. He had an awful 90 minutes. I don’t really like the majority of what his dad said, but I agree with him with the statement that Szczesny has become our scapegoat. The new Olivier Giroud.

Defence has been absolutely rubbish in the Saints game. Hull. Rugby Club. Swansea. It’s easy to pick on the ‘keeper as he is the last line of defence. We all know how poor we can be from defending set-pieces. When you’ve got Per Mertesacker producing embarrassing moments (With the imminent signing of Gabriel I’d like to see him give BFG a run for his position), Mathieu Flamini in front of him, it just doesn’t help your situation. Even Laurent Koscielny wasn’t looking his normal self when Woj was in goal against Brighton. I will use the Joe Hart example again as he’s a prime example of the pressures on ‘keepers at a high level. A couple of bad games in a row and suddenly you’re not good enough and the tabloids will exploit it.

We let in crosses very easily, and the full-backs have to accept some blame for that. It just invites pressure on the defence, the keeper and most times it can actually be avoided.

I do like Ospina. He’s a ‘calm’ presence in the back four. But I’m yet to see anything special from him. We have Coquelin doing his job at the moment and that makes the back line look more solid. He protects the back four. And when the back four is protected there’s very little the keeper needs to do. It’s interesting how whenever Ospina plays very few shots are allowed at him, not that I can fault him anyways. He hasn’t messed up, whereas Woj evidently has. Ospina gives Szczesny competition, without competition Szczesny will rest on his laurels leading to more mistakes.

This is the same Szczesny that despite being part of a back five that conceded six to Chelsea and City, as well as five to Liverpool last season, finished with the Golden Glove. Now I think the defence does deserve credit but when I watch Arsenal a lot over recent years and look at the issues, I haven’t really moaned about the keeper since the Manuel Almunia & Lukasz Fabianski days. We can all talk about the Kos & Mert partnership but they weren’r perfect. I did my fair amount of ranting already this season, which now that I read back on this piece, is now very much included. I’ve probably moaned 10x more at the defence and injuries, minus Diaby. Tired of moaning about his injuries.

Wojciech is the same age as Manchester United’s David de Gea. Both aren’t afraid to do something unusual, but De Gea does it more in the right way. He also has took massive strides in improving his game. Szczesny needs to get out of his cocky shell and do some growing up mentally. His Dad, too. We all know how good he can be on his day, so to even consider selling him is absolutely ridiculous.