Martin Keown has questioned whether Arsenal made the right decision to allow Emiliano Martinez to leave the club.
The Argentine shot-stopper deputised for Bernd Leno after he picked up an injury against Brighton, and led the club to FA Cup glory, as well thoroughly impressing in the league, before helping Arsenal to win the Community Shield at Wembley also.
Emi was later allowed to join Aston Villa, and currently holds the best defensive record in the division, conceding only twice thus far, both against Liverpool in a 7-2 win.
Leno on the other hand has shipped six goals, the second-best tally in the division, but his performance last night was a scary one.
The German was at fault for the opening goal, before nearly allowing his side to go two behind by rushing well out of his box to the ball, only for his clearance to clatter into his own defender and into the path of the Vienna striker, who failed to keep his composure to find the open goal.
Keown was on BT Sport to discuss the match afterwards, and stated that the club may regret their decision to keep Leno and not Martinez.
“Having let Martinez go, who was magnificent, to see Leno making these types of mistakes, you wonder whether it was the right call,” Martin said (via the Daily Mirror).
“It was a difficult night for Leno. The team had their backs to the wall but showed very good character to get back into it.
“A couple of changes were made. I thought when they changed it actually and went to a back five, the pictures then became more familiar to the players and they found a way to win this match.”
It’s also rather worrying that new signing Alex Runarsson hasn’t been deemed worthy enough to play a single minute in the League Cup or Europa League thus far, having arrived as Emi Martinez’s replacement, which tells me we could well be relying on Leno throughout the remainder of the season.
Will Arteta be ruing the decision to allow Emi to leave without a proper replacement, or will he even be regretting hat he doesn’t have him as his number one?
Patrick
