Mikel Arteta may have finally got the competition he wanted regarding Arsenal’s goalkeeping position.
After Ramsdale kept a clean sheet in his Arsenal League debut, his manager refused to acknowledge who was his number 1.
The hope is having a rival for his spot will bring out the best in Leno with the team being the long-term beneficiaries.
This was what our boss wanted after he won the FA Cup but instead Martinez gave him an ultimatum.
It’s easy to be wise after the event and say we should have given the Argentine guarantees, but in reality, no top coach makes such promises.
That left us with Leno who, due to an injury or the realisation that his employers were considering someone else for his job (or both), confidence has never been quite the same.
I never rated the German like some other gooners who would describe him as one of the best GK in the country. In reality he was making too many errors that were leading to goals.
At first this was blamed on Emery whose tactics saw the 29-year-old face 20-30 shots per game.
Under a new regime though he has continued to make mistakes to be the person to take us back to our previous level. His gaffes led to Chelsea, Everton, Leicester and Burnley all winning at the Emirates.
His kicking cost us goals in Vienna and at Turf Moor.
In drubbings at Anfield and the Etihad he was beaten at his near post.
This season already he’s conceded at Brentford from a throw-in and could have done better for Man City’s first goal.
To me his biggest gaffe remains Olympiakos when he was in possession with seconds remaining as we defended an aggregate lead. Instead of kicking the ball up the pitch he panicked and conceded a corner. That was the moment I knew he didn’t have the mentality to play for us.
The moment he played a game with huge pressure, he melted.
All of this in the knowledge that he couldn’t be dropped, because Runnarson was not prepared for this stage (which someone should have lost their job over).
Maybe Leno will be better because of Ramsdale’s arrival? Maybe he will focus more now he knows he has to fight for his place.
You sense though that Ramsdale has the baton and would have to do something wrong first for Leno to be ahead of him.
23m (rising to 30 million) is a lot to pay for someone to sit on your bench.
It’s more likely that Arsenal are preparing for life after Leno which for once shows organisation from the club.
Most reports suggest contract negotiations have not begun, but only because the player has indicated he would like a move.
It’s believed Inter Milan’s interest has turned his head, but this current version of Leno wouldn’t be good enough for the Champions of Italy.
I like for once Arsenal have shown some ruthlessness, and let’s hope it’s a sign of things to come.
For years we have been dictated to by average talent.
Leno isn’t a player we should be begging to stay.
He’s not a player we should be paying over the odds to entice him into a new deal.
With 2 years left on his contract, we have taken control. We haven’t let him run down his contract and then worry about a replacement. We got a target that clearly the club has been scouting for a while and now Leno has a choice.
Improve to get back into the team to put himself in the shop window ,or sit in the dugout and drop further down the pecking order for Germany, with a World Cup just over a year away.
Arteta promised on his first day that anyone who doesn’t want to share his values can leave. Leno needs Arsenal more than Arsenal needs Leno.
To be a big club you think like a big club. A big club doesn’t worry about an average keeper wanting to move.
Be Kind in The Comments
Dan
I still think we should sack Arteta but with that being said there’s no denying that Leno has been one of Arteta biggest problem, after Martinez won both the fa and community shield for us I said it that we won’t win any trophy with Leno has our first choice keeper because Martinez showed us what a complete keeper should look like, the same Martinez won Copa America with Argentina a trophy they haven’t won in 16years, it’s not coincidence. But with that being said, I love it that the club realized they made a big mistake by selling the better keeper and now they’ve tried to make amends, so let’s wait and see if Ramsdale is the answer.
Bro how do you constantly label it a mistake by Arsenal when even Martinez himself countless times came out saying he pushed for it and pushed to leave. He wanted out, I mean we talk about letting players who don’t want to be here go, but it’s a mistake when the club let’s go a GK who insisted he wanted to leave and refused to offer.
It’s the fact that people still blame the club and manager that is still baffling.
All the manager ever came out to say was he wanted both GK because the competition will bring the best out of both and it will be best for the team, thavis what the manager is still trying to do now with Ramsdale and Leno.
So how can it still be the club you guys blame?
Well said Eddie
???? maybe giving some assurance to Emi and letting him play like what he has done with ramsdale?
A really poor manager sells a better keeper for less than what he pays for a lesser. WTF?
The love for the novice clouds the facts for some of you here
How delusional and once again showing bias.
Did Arteta drop Martinez or Martinez wasn’t even given the same assurance you’re trying to create a dead agenda with? Do you guys even listen to interviews before you come on here making allegations?
‘I was talking to him in front of a team-mate as well. I told him I wanted to play week in, week out and he couldn’t guarantee who was going to start.
https://www.justarsenal.com/martinez-opens-up-on-his-conversation-with-arteta-before-he-left-arsenal/263567
No sane manager will assure any player 100% he will play week in week out. Players are picked based on form.This is not the Wenger era when the likes of Ramsey & Ozil would be picked irrespective of their form and position, now every player is picked based on form alone, no player is above the manager or club. Fans need to wake from their slumber and realise that the Mikel era is here and players will be picked based on match day performances and training ground responses only. No more favorites.
I was a big Emi fan, but the man spoke too much (and still does but it hardly bothers me as he is no longer our player) and demanded being no1., so Mikel had to let him go as that was his wish. So please stop this thing that we let go the better keeper.Plus we needed 18M to payout the other player. I knew Mikel had what it takes to be a top club manager by stamping his authority over bad apples. Keeping Ozil on 350K/week away from the EPL team sheet itself is a tough decision which only a confidant manager can make. Not that it affected us on the pitch or off the pitch, it sent out a clear message, shape in or ship out. This ruthlessness he picked up from Pep and Leno is no exeption. Happy for Ramsdale to be here, I see him in the Jens Lehman mould, and he will do well for sure. For far too long our club was run like a “daddy’s home” and dad’s boys could laugh, play and still get away with it. Not anymore folks! If Mikel stays with us or moves elsewhere, discipline has been reintroduced in the club and that will make the new manager’s job very easy (when it is the case)
Its not confidence, its stupidity. Keeping a $350k player on the bench to prove a point? Playing xhaka instead of ozil? Thats stupid, ozil wins us games, xhaka loses us games
It baffles me when people talk about Wenger’s era of playing certain players irrespective of their form as lack of class but what we get from Arteta now is what great managers do. REALLY? Do I need to remind certain people here that Arsenal has never been bottom table team under Arsene’s 20 years plus in charge?
Talking about Martinez, he was right. He saw what was coming, that Arteta is shit. Why didn’t he wants out during AW or UE regime?
In as much as I don’t want anyone to lose his/her job, Arteta shouldn’t be in charge of arsenal.
Yeah, we did win our last game but I took no positive from that win. It’s a game we should have won with a big margin but we struggled to win with a controversial lone goal.
What a decline!
Actually, there are a number of great managers that have approached things in a similar manner to Arteta.
Your comment about Arteta lacks any kind of class.
I share with you perfectly said
Enough of this mistake talk. There was no mistake, Martinez wanted to leave, that’s all
Every player underperforms because of Arteta; look at Auba since Arteta. Ramsdale IS not better than Leno, we’ll see it next games…
Martinez wanted to leave because he felt he wasn’t treated fairly, he didn’t want to leave, he wanted what he deserved and that was to start as no1. It was a mistake, please dont dress it up to what it wasn’t.
It was not a mistake.
Arteta and Arsenal did the right thing in letting Martinez go.
It was a considered and responsible decision.
But it was irresponsible and wrong.
@kev mentioned about Leno’s errors at Leverkusen before he joined us. I don’t know whether this is true or not, because I’ve never watched Leverkusen games
I wished we bought a bigger GK in the mold of Seaman, such as Donnarumma and Martinez, instead of Leno and Ramsdale. But I think Leno can still be our number one GK, if we can reduce the pressure on our defense
The unnecessary pressure usually comes from our excessive backpasses, due to our inability to keep the ball in the opposition’s area. This can be fixed by getting a better CF or using a strong CAM to do it
This is only partly true. The reason for the passes is of course to control the game. Many of the top teams in world football approach the game in this way.
Problem is Arsenal have lacked enough quality players in key areas; including defence – one of the reasons for keeping David Luiz last season.
Backpasses are necessary, but we shouldn’t have overproduced them
Which makes me wonder why arsenal didn’t snap up Donnarumma for free? How on earth did we miss that?
The article fails to mention the innumerable number of times Lenno kept us in the game due to his magnificent saves. Arsenal as a club cannot be blackmailed by Martinez and he had to fight with Lenno for the no.1 spot which he did not and so had to leave. As for Ramsdale, he did keep a clean sheet but the real tests still await and one cannot draw conclusions from one game. I would still rate Lenno as our no.1 and hopefully he will cut down on his errors but one should also remember that more shots are taken at our goal due to an ineffective defence and the lack of strong resilient DM. Also the pressing from our forwards is lacking which results in more pressure on our defence. Everything cannot be blamed on the GK although I agree that Lenno must certainly cut down on his errors. We should remember he was selected for Germany for the Euros and it is no small matter to be selected to the German national team.
Gunner for life, good post that reflects the short memory some fans have.
Wasn’t Leno voted Player of the month or season (can’t remember which one)?
What is even more crazy, is the fans were blasting the club for spending a reported £30,000,000 on a keeper we didn’t need…. and now he’s the man we’ve been waiting for.
Has everyone forgotten the abuse he was getting from fans, telling him he wasn’t needed?
A couple of mistakes and Ramsdale will become yet another target for these fans and Leno will become our saviour once again.
FUNNY OLD GAME.
Ken it’s the cycle of life, or in this case the cycle of Arsenal fans
Pretty much how I said it the other day Ken
A new shining toy and fans will jump on the bandwagon until his first mistake then it will be the same old .
Arsenal fans do have very short memories,
Leno was brilliant until Arteta gets his hands on him ,bow look at him ,his confidence his at an all time low and fans now crave a keeper who keep a clean sheet agasist the whipping boys of the PL.
I’ll support both keepers even though the ramsdale money could have been better spent having watched some of his games over the last few seasons(maybe some of ours fans should do the same )
What I won’t do his forget how Leno as helped us over the years and wish him the best when he leaves next season .
I just hope fans won’t turn so easily against Ramsdale when the heat gets turned up and he starts making mistakes ,which will happen .
Fair comments on fans Ken but I also think Leno is not the keeper he once was, even 18 months or so back, and I largely agree with DANS article. He has made a number of key and costing us errors.
He no longer looks to have any real confidence or presence and though he remains a top shot stopper, in all else he is sub par these days. I really do not see him here next season, whatever else happens.
name me those games ?
and I’ll give you a list of his errors
Bear in mind as well it’s his job to stop goals going in
In your opinion how many mistakes is too many ?
lets say if I can prove he’s made 10 mistakes that led to goals , is that okay or too much ?
Dan, if you follow the club, you know the games, just as I know the mistakes he’s made.
Just a few stats from PL site for all to digest, regarding Leno’s figures – including the errors that you wanted to point out :
Saves 313
Penalties saved 2
Punches 48
High claims 48
Catches 23
Sweeper clearances 39
Throw outs 561
Accurate long balls 357
Errors leading to goals 8
How many mistakes are permissable? Name me one keeper who has never made a mistake and there’s your ball park figure.
The above figures / stats are not mine, but from the PL website and, as for the number of times he has played for the club, eight errors seems a good return… in my opinion.
All I want to know is why Lacazette isn’t starting.
He’s leaving
Yes, to Barca who wanted him for 2 years.
Can now get him for peanuts
Leno was the runner up of the Arsenal Player of the Season award in the 2019–20 season, commanded 16 per cent of the final vote. When he got injured we all were worried.
Emi surprised us with performance once he got chance.
It’s not easy to take decision on basis of 6months very good performance vs 1.5 year of consistent performance. We all considered Leno very good till we saw Martinez.
Lust like Emi surprised with good performance, Leno has surprised with poor performance since his return from injury. When we discuss Emi’s departure we don’t see Leno’s performance prior to Emi. Today we say Leno is not good in air, doesn’t organise back 4 well, defence feel less confidence, he is error prone. We fans only voted for him 2 seasons back as one of better performing players.
It’s easy to criticize MA for this decision. I do have issue with MA’s performance as coach, I don’t blame him for Emi’s departure. And good we have someone who’ll be no 1 in near future as Leno seems to have lost it.
What a convenient scapegoat Leno is for the Arteta heads. Every mistake put under the glare of a spotlight. Most of the games Arsenal lost owing to a supposed Leno error should have been won, if Arteta had had a positive game plans and the mid field, creatives and strikers had not conceeded possession stupidly or taken the rare chances presented to them. But as some observent commentators have noted it is very easy to single out one individual, especially since he has also been outspoken about his lack of faith in the process. Also for those still moaning Martinez, get over it. He’s gone and has also been leaking goals at Villa. Besides, he was stuffed about by Wegner who never believed in him.. He was around long enough but was kept out by an aging and not always consistent Pter Czech.
Balogun’s brother has apparently openly criticised MA’s tactics and lack of coaching ability.
Guess we won’t be seeing much of Balogun anymore…let the ousting commence!
No doubt leno is a good keeper with great reflex but he doesn’t poses that commanding presence in his post
If we had commanding CB’s like Adams, Keown, Campbell, Bould, Kos, Mertesaker etc then we could start criticising Leno’s performances in this area.
If he is this bad, the German FA must be really struggling for their keepers – it doesn’t seem to be an issue for them though.
Ken about the German national team, Leno is third choice behind Neur Ter sterghen. At the 2017 confederation cup, the Germany coach didn’t take any senior players to that competition, no Neur, Leno was given the nod in the first match against Australia ahead of both Ter sterghen of Barcelona and he was at fault for Australia both goals, he didn’t play any more in that tournament. Leno has always been an average goalkeeper who only have one quality which is a good reflex.
Ken
Leno will never be Germany no 1
Good.GK but not excellent
Good shot stopper but not a commanding GK
Always has a mistake in him
He saved us with some fine saves
But also prob cost us about 6 to 8 points.last year
The spine of the team was weak so he is the first to go
There were better option for us out there but he has gone with ramsdale
Alway has
Leno has played 100 PL games with 8 errors leading to a goal. Allison 104 games with 7 errors.
Ramsdale has 3 errors from 76 PL games, 11 clean sheets and 125 goals against.
Leno, from 100 games has 24 clean sheets with 127 goals against.
Time will tell who becomes the No.1 but I would not be surprised if Leno moves on in January. Young is not necessarily better where GK’s are concerned, remember Kepa? Leno’s still only 29 and his stats are decent considering the defences he’s been playing behind.
Well said, Andrew!
Well said, especially the defence he plYs behind. Also Leno is a shot stopper period, he’s great at that. The moment he was asked to play a way he can’t, he’s been bad.
Anyone seen Bruno Fernandes’ assist tonight? That’s exactly what we dont have in our team. Creativity and intelligence. Cant remember the last time anyone in our team succeeded in such an effort.
Exquisite 👌
Would our strikers put that chance away?
Great pass though!! And great player…
I agree but in all fairness Ronaldo barely put it away either, he kicked it straight at the keeper and got a bit lucky.
Great pass though
@GoalDan,
Yeah true, I dontthink they would. Last season the few chances we had, got squandered by Laca and Co.
Leno just does not fit the Arteta way of playing from the back. That’s sets him into panic mode and forces other errors upon him.
I have nothing against Leno, no more than I have anything against Arteta. I am giving Arteta the next 6 matches to get us into the 4th round of the League cup, beat spurs and have 15-18 points by then.
He pretty much now has his own team available. Players that have been signed while he has been at the club and others that he brought through or extended their contracts.
This summer he will have 11 first team players out of contract and next summer another 5. Not to mention a hatful of academy players also out of contract. There is much work for him and Edu to do over the next 5 – 10 months.
Like many I don’t really rate Leno. For some reason I get the impression he has a bit of an ego on him. And I think that gets in the way of him performing effectively as a significant player in goal. I’ve always said that a goalie is only as good as the players in front of him but he/she still needs to perform at the top of their game. I’ve seen a lot of stats being bandied around ie, games played to saves ratio etc but given the role of a supposed, top flight goal keeper, I wouldn’t expect anything less. Goalies are generally fortunate enough to not have the worry of being displaced quite easy as there’s not such a clamour for their spot in terms of numbers. It’s not many clubs in Europe that will have two or three of the world’s most sought after goalies on their books as I don’t think they’re willing to be bit part players and hope they get a chance to oust their competition. Again, ego comes into play with the goalie between the sticks led to believe he’s the chosen one(for now) whilst his competitors own ego’s come into play thinking they’re good enough to play their trade as number one at another club. I mean, it’s not bad to have ego. But when you’re able to rest on your laurels as Leno has been allowed to do, you can see why he feels he doesn’t have to put in a shift!
I hope as implied by the article that this shows a ruthless streak to Arteta and his man/team management. I get the feeling though that Arteta might have also succumbed to Leno’s ego and is just appeasing us with the introduction of Ramsdale. It won’t be that along at all before Leno will be between the sticks all haughty and proud thinking, ego to the max convincing himself that his position is justified. If Ramsdale can improve the team with quality and consistent performances, then he should not have to make way to Leno just because he’s a famous name who needs his ego massaged by a weak manager.
Appeasement will never be a good substitute for reasonable and sound judgement. No matter who the player is and the celebrity status they enjoy!
Yet another nonsense commentary:
Arteta succumbing to Leno’s ego??
Arteta/Edu spending £24-30m on a keeper simply to “appease” fans??
Yet another stupid article.
Just ask Guendouzi, Saliba, Kolasinac, Holding, Chambers, ESR, AMN Lacazette, and many more Arsenal players who have been told they are in his plans, and then suddenly they are not!!!
how ruthless Arteta is
Leno’s true errors are more than his mistakes leading to goals stats. The shots that a keeper should be saving, will add to more mistakes, like v Brentford, when he was beaten at his near post because of his positioning being awful. The shots on our goal can be low at times but too often he will be beaten still. Leno is a good keeper, top clubs need more than that as they demand a commanding presence and having a great positional awareness to go with his shot stopping, as well he’ll be good with sweeping duties, he needs to be a top package.
What makes you a good GK is your ability to command your defence and always shouting at your defence for them to be at alert…as a good GK u need to be calling your players telling them what u want from them also be telling them when u want one of them to join the attack..is the responsibility of a GK to be a leader at that back yes….Leno is my main man but he lack’s that leadership from the back.. what makes Martinez better than Leno is because of this leadership….if you watched Mendy or Alison and other EPL top Goalkeepers then u gonna understand what am saying