Arsenal: If you miss Szczesny, then shut up about Bernd Leno

Arsenal fans are already questioning Bernd Leno, and the tabloids are following suit. But isn’t this the same thing Wojciech Szczesny went through?

Bernd Leno arrived at Arsenal in the summer. He walked into the starting job midway through the Watford match on September 9th. Three months later, people are asking if he is really the guy for the job. Because, you know, three months is an appropriate barometer.

Never mind the barometer, even. Leno has shown us how capable he is with some fantastic saves, unbelievable composure with the ball at his feet and confidence in going after the ball. He even re-upped on his decision to go after the ball that would end up finding Charlie Austin’s head and said that he would make the same decision.

Why, you may ask? Because for the 800th time, it was the right decision. Austin was all by himself, he wasn’t going to miss.

Leno hasn’t kept many clean sheets, but it is so short-sighted and ignorant to go talking about how that disqualifies him from being “the guy.” Have you seen the defense that he is working with? Have you seen how inept they have been?

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Leno has had a couple of mistakes, sure, he’s human and he is still learning, but the majority of the goals he has given up have been completely at the whims of his flimsy defense.

This is so, sickeningly similar to Wojciech Szczesny’s time at the club. With a batter defense in front of him, Szczesny was constantly getting blamed for surrendering goals as if he was the sole person responsible for a porous defense. All this in spite of how clearly talented he was and how dedicated to the club he was.

When Szczesny left, a lot of fans were moaning over it. “Oh, if only we’d kept him instead of Ospina,” yet it was these same fans criticizing him for the defensive problems. Now Szczesny is winning Serie A behind a stalwart Juventus defense that has surrendered only eight goals all season and all these people are saying, “gah, I knew he was that good!”

Well guess what? The same thing is now happening with Leno. Do not blame a keeper for a crap defense because next thing you know, he’ll be winning trophies at some continental team with a fantastic defense.

Leno is a fantastic keeper, he is a do-over of Szczesny. Now, as fans, let’s not make the same mistakes and rubbish him for the same reasons that Szczesny was rubbished.