Arsenal and Bernd Leno: When is it okay to worry?

Bernd Leno has not enjoyed the greatest start to the 2019/20 season. While it is too early to hit the panic button just yet, when is it okay for Arsenal to worry about their starting goalkeeper?

For many years, Arsenal needed a goalkeeper. After the departure of Jens Lehmann and with Arsene Wenger circulating his trust around an equally hapless cast of characters that have since proceeded to enjoy terrific careers away from the pressurised confines of playing behind an Emirates defence, the Gunners simply could not find a reliable, consistent, capable shot-stopper.

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Then, in 2015, they finally made a splash. Petr Cech arrived from Chelsea. He proceeded to make two mistakes in his opening game, a 2-0 defeat to West Ham United. His performances improved from that point onwards, but he never quite reached the same incessant heights of his Chelsea days.

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And so, with Unai Emery now in charge, looking to implement, modernised, play-out-from-the-back style, Bernd Leno was signed for the best part of £20 million, the German tasked with first easing Cech out of the line-up and then locking down the position for years to come. With Cech initially struggling with his feet and Leno later impressing with his hands, the then 26-year-old achieved precisely what he would have wanted in his first season at the club.

However, this season, Leno has not played at quite the same high level that he ended last year’s campaign at. He looked shaky against Burnley, struggling with their bombardment of high balls, clearly uncomfortable with having to deal with a traditional, old-school British barrage. His kicking was then far from convincing against Liverpool, failing to find teammates high up the pitch as the pressure moment. And then, in Sunday’s North London Derby, he made another crippling error, spilling Erik Lamela’s relatively tame shot straight to Christian Eriksen for the opening goal.

Since the start of the 2017/18 season, Arsenal, 29, lead all Premier League teams with the most errors leading directly to a goal. In fact, only two other teams, Southampton (24) and Bournemouth (23), have more than 16 goal-conceding errors over the same period. Much has been made of Granit Xhaka and Shkodran Mustafi’s errors, but they combine for eight. Leno, although he has played less than a season’s worth of football, has six.

I am most certainly not calling for Leno to be dropped. Emiliano Martinez may have been a favourite at Reading last season, but I am not sure he is of the desired quality to lead a top-four challenge in the Premier League. And Leno has still made some crucial saves this season, no less than against Spurs, repelling terrific efforts from Heung-Min Son and Eriksen to earn a point for his team.

However, it would be remiss to not highlight these recent blips in form. While Leno should be praised for his ousting of Cech and his largely bright start to his Arsenal career, he should also expect criticism to come when his standards slip. And this season, his high standards have slipped.

Am I concerned about his performances for the remainder of the season? No, not yet anyway. And neither should Arsenal. But if he does not iron out his seemingly natural inconsistencies and improve his long kicking, more pressing questiong should — and will — be asked.