David Seaman has stuck up for Bernd Leno.
Arsenal legend David Seaman has stuck up for Bernd Leno following some criticism of his recent form.
On the whole, the German shot-stopper has had a strong second season at the Emirates Stadium, but, as Seaman acknowledges, goalkeepers always have their critics.
Leno notably had a poor game in our recent defeat against Olympiacos, but Seaman has reminded fans that the 28-year-old has also made plenty of important saves in games.
“He’s been criticised, but you do,” Seaman told Goal.
“Being a goalkeeper, you make mistakes and you do get criticised.
“I saw a stat saying he’d made the most mistakes or whatever, but he made a lot of saves in those games as well.
“A lot of people have been talking about him as Player of the Season at Arsenal because he’s had a lot to do, which is surprising for an Arsenal team because we’re normally really good at defending. But that just shows where we are at the moment.”
It remains to be seen if Leno really ends up being good enough for us – he looked one of the better ‘keepers in Europe during his Bayer Leverkusen days, but never quite inside that top bracket.
Still, Seaman is right to urge a little more calm and perspective over Leno’s performances, with many of our recent ‘keepers certainly doing a lot worse than this guy.
For the most part, even if Leno has made some individual errors, it’s also worth remembering the defence he’s having to work with, with even someone like Alisson bound to struggle a bit more with David Luiz, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Shkodran Mustafi ahead of him.
Nice one, Dave!
You’ve got to hand it to Leno, he’s kept us in a lot of games…. that Antonio save on Saturday – top notch!
Yes Sue, an article about Leno criticism after he was man of the match against West Ham doesn’t quite fit at present does it. Great save from Antonio and not the only one either.
Lenno has performed exceptionally well for us particularly in this season. It is unfair to criticise him at any point and considering the number of saves he has made and the number of times he has come to the rescue of his defenders also shows the state of our defence.
Arsenal should stop selling promising players. They sold Fabianski, Schezney,and Gnabry. You buy Leno, which is not an upgrade of Fabianski. Now Arsenal want to sell Maitland-niles and Gouendouzi.
Arsenal sells Coquelin and buy Xhaka which is not an upgrade
Good point Top Gunner and it is partly why we are where we are. Poor recruitment as led us buying players that are not upgrades on wha we had already but slowly asset stripped the club over he last 10-15 years
On the article, Leno is a great keeper and made some great saves. Keepers will always get harsh criticism because one mistake generally leads to a goal.
Leno is doing well as the defence gets more solid less chances on goal equals less mistakes… statistics!