Arsenal: If you don’t trust Bernd Leno, do you trust Pep Guardiola?

Arsenal fans haven’t been so sure about Bernd Leno, which I find infuriating, but if you don’t trust Leno, then do you at least trust Pep Guardiola?

There are certain Arsenal player criticisms that I understand, despite not liking. For instance, Granit Xhaka. I understand why he’s not the right midfielder for a lot of guys, but I don’t like that people think that way. The same was true with Olivier Giroud. But Bernd Leno? That is one guy who I will not stand to see criticized.

The fact that there are “news” articles out there spinning his lack of clean sheets as a personal responsibility doesn’t help the matter, but anyone that is harsh on Leno, or questions his reliability at the back, needs to now also ask if they trust Pep Guardiola’s judgment.

Before landing Ederson, Guardiola was supposedly trying to lock up Leno. This was all back in 2017. It obviously fell through and the German came to Arsenal, where he has been subjected to criticism for having a defense that leaves him stranded and for making the occasional poor judgment call.

But just having that extra slice of validation will hopefully shut a lot of these naysayers up. Because generally speaking, most naysayers are also Pep disciples (spoiler: I don’t believe Pep is that incredible).

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The important thing, though, is that the naysayers do often identify as disciples of the Pep, and it’s hard to criticize a player that Pep rated as such a disciple.

I’ve said it before and I’m sure I will say it so many more times—If you shooed Wojciech Szczesny out of the club for his inability to save the team behind a shoddy defense, you’re probably also shooing Bernd Leno from the club for his inability to save the team behind a shoddy defense. That’s just where we are now. Some people never learn.

If Leno was at City, he would have a perfectly exceptional amount of clean sheets because Pep has spent a rather large fortune on overpriced defenders, all of whom are meant to make a keeper’s life easier.

Leno doesn’t have that luxury. And, in typical Arsenal “fan” fashion, that must mean that he is the reason for problem, as if this is a black and white issue.

Wrong. Leno is an elite keeper with a pedestrian defense. Give him something to work with and he will work out just fine.