Arsenal Vs Wolves: The Bernd Leno problem

Bernd Leno has largely been excellent during his first season at Arsenal. But against Wolves, he made two major errors. And silly, inconsistent mistakes were always his problem.

Bernd Leno has been one of Arsenal’s best players this season. When he first arrived in the summer, he had to sit behind Petr Cech for the first few weeks of the year. Questions regarding Unai Emery’s trust in his new shot-stopper grew.

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But once he won the starting role and embedded himself into his new team, his form started to shine. During the winter months and especially once the calendar turned to 2019, Leno began putting in some excellent performances. Spurs, Manchester United, Huddersfield Town. These were some of the best showings from any goalkeeper all season.

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Leno was being mentioned as a potential Player of the Season winner, such were the quality of his latter displays. But the doubts regarding his transfer in the summer never focused on his high-end play. Even his greatest detractors stated that he is an incredibly gifted goalkeeper capable of sensational matches and runs of form. The main criticism that was levelled at him was consistency, specifically in the manner of regular and mind-numbing errors.

The German had a propensity to commit stupid mistakes at a painful frequency. Spills from corners and crosses, bemusing decision-making to sweep off his line and try to clear the ball, moments of madness that are difficult to explain with rash reasoning and unhinged play, all of which proceeds to undermine the confidence the defence has in your abilities. Leno was not a bad goalkeeper. He was an inconsistent one.

On Wednesday night, he once again showed this inconsistency. Arsenal travelled to Wolves needing a win to take hold of a possible top-four finish. By halftime, they were three goals down, two of which could be apportioned to Leno mistakes.

The first, Wolves’ second, was a haring error, rushing off his line to try and collect an inswinging cross that he should never have even tried to clear. His starfish jump, after the ball had been headed past him, was a clear indication of the panic as he realised his error. Then, to compound the mistake, he failed to palm clear Diogo Jota’s low, driven shot just before the break. He got his hand to the shot, but it was too weak to prevent the ball from squirming in.

It is not the time to worry just yet. One poor game does not make a poor goalkeeper. David de Gea, the best goalkeeper in the world for half a decade, is struggling for form at present. But these kinds of instances, especially the mental error for Wolves’ second goal, are what his critics warned of.

This is the Bernd Leno problem. It is not enough to demand Arsenal replace him just yet, but it is worthwhile surveying over the coming months.