Ian Wright has slammed Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno, claiming that he switches off at times.
The German shot-stopper has been talked about for much of the campaign, with Emi Martinez’s departure one that has left a sour taste in the mouths of fans.
Leno’s performances have done little to appease those fans who were aggrieved with the now-Aston Villa goalkeeper’s departure, and there has been a series of errors from either him or his defenders which have cost us points in recent months.
Ian Wright has claimed that Leno runs hot in spells, but claims that he loses concentration, and described his error as ‘poor, poor, poor’.
“You look at that and it does seem very amateurish and I think that comes down to concentration,” Wright told Optus Sports (via HITC).
“He does have spells where he’s very, very good. But I’ve seen him rush out, get sent off, give away penalties. He has these moments and that for me is a real moment there. It’s poor, poor, poor goalkeeping.”
I wouldn’t be shocked if Ryan was given more regular playing time following not only Leno’s disappointing run, but Ryan’s impressive displays between the sticks.
I’d be shocked if Ryan wasn’t signed this summer from Brighton, but he could well be in line for a chance to stake his claim to be number one.
Patrick
Leno is not a bad keeper, he just isn’t as good as Martinez. Martinez was better in every department than Leno, some by small margins some by large. Arteta alone decided that Leno was better than him and that was a stinker ofca decision. Like a lot he has made when you look back.
I made no bones about my preference for Martinez
The issue is whether by selling him and being able to buy Partey was the right decision. We are not blessed with loadsa money. Leno isn’t bad but his mojo is currently in retreat. I’m sure he’ll come back
Sue, ive said all along, Partey was not down to Martinez sale and if it had been, they still could have got 20 mil for Leno, we paid more than that. It was the wrong decision made by Arteta.
Although I would say that one of the stumbling blocks in the whole equation was the fact that Leno suffered a serious injury which would have made it difficult to secure a suitable transfer fee, that doesn’t absolve Arteta from making such an obviously poor decision
I would also say that our abject failure when it came to raising funds through the sale of our players, likewise played a role, as we simply couldn’t resist the temptation to fill our coffers irrespective of the potential costs on the pitch, but once again that doesn’t absolve him from blame…especially considering the fact that we refused to raise a similar or larger amount through the sale of a far less pertinent player in AMN
the fact is if you’re a club that has a longstanding problematic history when it comes to the Keeper position, since the days of Seaman and even Lehman, then you finally unearth a diamond in the ruff, you don’t immediately ship that player out…just another example of the dismissal mismanagement of our club, which started when Dein left the room and continues, with no signs of slowing, to this very day
100% agree reggie. We could have sold too torreira instead of letting that stupid loan happen. Now with what he said it will be hard… Arteta could also have already think about playing more ESR or balogun instead of willian. Willian will cost waaaay more than the few amount of money we saved selling martinez. About willian : – a huge signing-on fee, bonuses and loyalty payments could take Arsenal’s spend on Willian to £35m over the three-year period.‘He would have got nowhere near that money at Chelsea,’ a source told the Daily Mail.
And AMN.
Leno should be dropped, costing team points with repeated mistakes. Crucial that goalies don’t shut off or get caught ball watching which Leno does too often.
You can see he doesn’t inspire confidence in the back line the way Emi did, or control and distribute from the back either.
Ryan deserves a chance compared to what we have seen lately from Leno, then again Arteta does have his favorites, ask Willian or Xhaka out of position at LB.
Sell Leno, sign up Ryan and Rui Silva from Granada (free)
Arteta isn’t mature to be a manager of a big club like arsenal. He has an attitude towards some players like Gabriel mattinelli, former emi Martinez etc. He also can’t improve a good player to a world class
Add balogun…
Add even AMN. AMN has his flaws but at one point before he was sent out, when we were really bad in November, he almost never played. Arteta never really tried him. Instead playing willian or elneny. Very sad. Rather stubborn manager.
Wright has hit the nail on the head. There is simply NOTHING worse than a goalkeeper who seems only too happy to play for his own personal highlights reel and NOT maintain the consistency which made Seaman, Lehmann and Cech such great keepers.
Arsenal and Arteta SHOULD NOT feed into his vanity by letting him play any more games this season. Draft in Private Ryan!