Arsenal: Oh be quiet, Bernd Leno will never be a problem again

Sometimes people say stupid things about Arsenal, like thinking Bernd Leno is a problem, which is perhaps one of the stupidest things said this summer.

There are certain things that everyone can agree on about Arsenal. The defense needs help, for instance. We can all agree on that. But Tony Cascarino, never wanting to blend in, or make sense, has gone ahead and said something that is truly ridiculous—that Bernd Leno is going to have to be better this year.

I really can’t even comprehend how a statement like this hits the news, but then again, it came from talkSPORTS, who are bent on salting Gooner’s britches, and just like that, it all makes sense. It’s because of outlets like that that people like Cascarino still have their words published.

Bernd Leno was our third best player last year. Literally. His only issues came when he first took over for Petr Cech. He struggled to acclimate and made some strange decisions. Like any professional though, he learned, he improved, and by the end of the year he was a sentinel.

There was only one match between December and May that was a bad egg, but he sandwiched it into other fantastic outings. There were so many examples of him keeping us in matches, saving us points, and those far outweighed the rare instance where he struggled.

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So unless Cascarino only watched the first half of the season, then this entire thought (if I can even call it that) was a waste of time and breath.

There’s a reason why the Gunners didn’t go after another top tier keeper this summer, despite some initial rumors that they would. And that reason is quite simple. Because when you have a top tier keeper, it makes little sense to waste precious funds on another one.

I, for one, was elated with Bernd Leno’s growth last year, and just about every fan I know felt the same. By the end of the year, there was zero stress about a position that had caused us stress for several years.

From the Ospina years to the Cech years, there had been far too many questions asked over the past few years, but Leno fixed that, and it’s absurd to think that he did anything differently.

Now, whether the defense can help him out or not is a different story, but we’re not here to talk about that.