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Arsenal And Wojciech Szczesny Destined To Reunite
By Josh Sippie
Wojciech Szczesny is in Italy and Petr Cech is at Arsenal. Two years ago that would have been impossible to fathom but that is the truth of the matter right now. Cech has essentially eliminated all desire for any other sort of goal keeping options with how strong he has been. Cladio Bravo? Manuel Neuer? No thanks.
Meanwhile, in Italy, Wojciech Szczesny is doing exactly what he had been doing at Arsenal – delivering inconsistency.
The Pole has made some superb stops including essentially winning the match against Juventus. But despite the strong start to the season, he has since fallen under criticism from his own manager after being unable to pull off a save from a six-bouncer that Gary Medel put on goal.
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Despite the current situation, Wojciech Szczesny has admitted that “I saw Arsenal as my whole life and I do not hide that is still my dream [to return]. For me it is a family, I owe so much to those people that if I were to be given a chance I would play for them [again]” (via Goal.com).
This bit of wordage goes hand in hand with statements that Szczesny made back in 2012 when he finally achieved the No. 1 shirt. “I realise there is a big chance in front of me and I might not give this No 1 shirt away to anyone else for the next ten to 15 years,” he said via Arsenal.com.
My heart really does go out to Wojciech Szczesny. Mainly because the situation that he is in is not a friendly one in which to achieve his dream. The Pole has always been a favorite of mine and to see him exiled to Rome while Petr Cech is bound to win us a trophy or two makes me want to do my best to forget about his Arsenal chances. But then again, Arsene Wenger is not exactly like that.
Szczesny is going to be back. Before the naysayers do their naysaying, let’s have a montage intermission.
That is what Wojciech Szczesny has done. Looks an awful lot like Petr Cech, no?
Arsene Wenger loves his projects. He loves turning young talents into world-class talents. He had accomplished that with Szczesny when the Pole won the golden gloves. But the following year, when New Year’s struck, Szczsesny was benched. And he never returned to the starting role. Confidence was destroyed and Szczesny was buried when Cech came to the Emirates.
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But do me a favor. Watch that video again and notice the defense on some of the goals. It is not there. I have always said that one of the main reasons why Szczesny has looked awful in the past, particularly at the start of the 2014/15 season, was because the defense left him in situations where he could not do anything. Did he make some mistakes? Yes, after his defense had already let him down all year. He had to start to overcompensate and that led him out of his comfort zone.
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We saw against Sheffield Wednesday that a shoddy defense can even let three in against Petr Cech. A goal keeper can be as good as he wants but without a competent defense, he is going to look like garbage.
If Szczesny’s dream is to get back into Wenger’s squad, he has every tool available to make that dream come true. It is going to be incredibly difficult, but it is not impossible.
The save ability is already there. Just watch the video. Szczesny does more with one hand than Ospina can do with two. It is a matter of strength, reflexes and stature.
The big critique on Szczesny’s game has been his decision making. That is something that Petr Cech excels at. I had hoped that the plan would be to keep Szczesny this year and let him learn under Petr Cech, but that was not to be. He was loaned out. Given a year or so to see how Cech dominates opponents is all Wojciech Szczesny needs to iron out the kinks in his game. The kinks caused by poor defense.
Wojciech Szczesny left Arsenal on a bad note, leaving a sour taste in our mouths. But do not for a second believe that Arsenal could not still use him.
Szczesny has his heart set on that No. 1 shirt at Arsenal. Ironically enough, Cech did not go for the No. 1 shirt. Call it fate, but the No. 1 shirt is still there for Szczesny to take. Maybe it would be nothing more than symbolic, but I would not put it past an enigmatic keeper like Szczesny to make a big impact at Arsenal. Even with Cech aiming for another seven years with the Arsenal.