Bernd Leno was prefered over Emi Martinez in the summer in a decision that feels like the wrong one now.
The Gunners had been looking to keep the better of both goalies after Martinez told them he wants to play more often after proving his worth in the absence of Leno.
The club chose the German and cashed in on Martinez who has gone on to become one of the best in the Premier League, while Leno struggles with inconsistency.
Germany has been the breeding ground for some of the best goalkeepers in the world and Leno isn’t the first German to be Arsenal’s first choice with Jens Lehmann manning the goal for them in a more successful era.
Leno has also shown some fine form between the sticks for the Gunners, but I believe strongly that we should sign a better goalie.
There has been so much talk about overhauling the squad and almost every position at Arsenal has been discussed exhaustively, apart from the goalkeeper spot.
A good goalie can be the difference between a winning team and a losing one and the likes of Alisson Becker at Liverpool and Jan Oblak at Atletico Madrid have proven that.
While we shop for new players to fill the voids in our squad, we must consider signing a top-quality goalkeeper as well.
An article from Ime
You now see why it was a mistake to let martinez go.
The major problem is if you have quality midfielders and defenders, goal keepers have little to do.
Leno only needs tight competition to bring the best out of him.
Everyone has raved about Aston Villa’s defence all season and Martinez in particular.
Sure Martinez had 4 more clean sheets but he did play 3 more games. More important is that fact that Leno had a better ratio in conceded goals to minutes. Aston Villa let in more goals than Arsenal.
And that’s where stats are meaningless because there are so many other factors not taken into account. It’s a team game with very player having an effect on a games outcome, apart from luck, the ref, VAR, etc etc.
Go by the eye test, honesty and sense of good judgment. That way even when a player looks like he’s doing great in another league or has impressive stats you’d still be able to know that they will be found out by their individual game. On Martinez, he was for me the best keeper in the league. Arsena lhave this auora of being unlucky. You just knew Martinez in thaT scenario would go on to impress and not fail.
Leno just needs a good competitor, because he showed improved ball catching ability and consistency in our last five EPL matches. Hopefully he’s still motivated to play for Arsenal and keeps improving his decision making/ ball handling skill
GAI
i am afraid if he hasn’t learnt by now then there is helping him
We need an upgrade
Don’t get me wrong here has been great at times bit when he has been bad he has been terrible
He has cost us.more points then he has saved us
Move on
Yes, I think Arsenal will sell him if a club offer 20+ M for him
Ya Arsenal need a good keeper to compete with Leno. He’s too comfortable with his position at the moment. But really, how many good shot stopper are available?
The good ones in EPL are either 30+ years old or expensive, so hopefully Onana or our young GKs can compete with Leno
We do yes, we should buy Martinez and then we may get Buendia 🙂
Another huge mistake from Arsenal.
Leno gets nervous and lacks concentration when we’re playing poorly.
Oh for an Oblak at our club.
We are linked with Obama of Ajax who is a top class keeper . If we get him and Ryan as back up . Then we can sell Leno
This is utter nonsense, this is rubbish – the result of flawed reasoning – that cannot be supported by real evidence or independent data.
I suspect you would also support selling our 50M rated keeper for 20M and using the proceeds to sign an inexperienced, unproven replacement.
Our area of focus for this window should be to strengthen our midfield…instead of trying to find a problem that doesn’t exist.
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Leno is still unproven at this point (hence why do many people still question whether he should be out go), so we may as well try someone else.
50m rated? By who? If we could get anywhere near that for Leno I’d be utterly amazed.
👍 👍 👍 👍 Yes Leno is not perfect, but he gets a lot of unfair criticism. Competition brings out the best in good players. The low cost option would be Mat Ryan, a proven EPL and international goal keeper, with Onana a real value for money prospect.
Limited transfer funds should be directed towards strengthening the deficient midfield.
Dont think Leno is a problem at the moment. He conceded lesa goals than Martinez in the PL. Our more pressing needs are in midfield and fullback positions.
Less*
Leno is actually better dan Andre Onana!!
Onana is rated highly Bcos of Ajax’s presence in UCL n dominance in Dutch league!!
If he comes to d EPL, he will see it’s a different kettle of fish!!
Leno’s only problem is lack of Urgency wen playing from d back..
Against Villarreal@d Emirates stadium, i was Livid!!!!
But he’s a good keeper!!
Onana has a doping ban which ends in November. His defence was that he mistook his wife’s medication for aspirin so the ban was reduced from 12 to 9 months. Our keeper is the least of our problems, he’s not top class but definitely well above average.
Its a shame how lacking in some few departments can make a player not reach their full potential. This guy could really have been one of the best in the world if not for his flaws. Arsenal couldn’t have gotten him by now if he reached his max. However, just like at Bayer Leverkusen he’s still error prone and it looks like he can’t shake it off. Hopefully we sell him now while we can then when he has a year on his contract. I am not convinced about Ryan and unsure about Onana. Hope the GK position won’t be a bigger problem in future.
If you want to play from back then Leno is not the player you want to see in goal, he is good shot stopper but he just can not be a ball playing keeper. That is why we conceded goals and poor fouls even we got lucky on few occasions because Leno played the wrong ball to wrong player in wrong situation. That is where we made a mistake with Martinez, he actually was much better fit to this obsession of playing from back all the time but hey we won’t be Arsenal if we don’t make these sort of decision. Another master stroke by Arteta then they say trust the process 😂
Now that’s the most Logic-al thing you’ve said on JA so far…it’s not that Leno is some sort of clown, but if we are going to play out from the back, he makes absolutely no sense whatsoever…this is why I was so strongly opposed to the whole Martinez decision from the get-go…finally we had found someone who fit the script and what do we do, screw it up, as per usual
It still amazes me how we could sell Martinez, the better keeper, the keeper that suits our style of play more and the keeper that keeps/kept more clean sheets. Leno isn’t a bad keeper, he is a good shot stopper but that is it with him. The choice to keep him over Martinez was a really bizarre and poor decision. Leno is now valued less and Martinez is now valued more. Plain stupid but that is the modern Arsenal.
We had a good keeper one in Emi Martinez!!
But it seems the GREAT Goal-keeping coach we stole from Brentford thought Runarsson was better.
Now, Leno is no good. So based upon his advice we need yet another keeper.
Can I suggest we keep Leno and get rid of the coach (I know he is Spanish, and Arteta probably likes that, but my god what rubbish advice he has offered so far)
Reggie, I keep saying that the current management at Arsenal wouldn’t know a good footballer if they tripped over one. Will they ever learn what is under their noses?
How long did Emi Martinez sit on the bench as the reserve keeper, while players like Fabianski, Cech (Chelsea reject) and Leno played in the first team? Surely Martinez should have been given more opportunities to strut his stuff. When he finally got the opportunity he grabbed it with both hands (he can catch a ball, rather than always punching away) and Leno did not have to earn his place back. Is it any wonder he left?
If only they had a better goalkeeper last season…
I’m still fine with Leno, I think he’ll come around. Let’s not forget how many times he saved the day.
However, I still believe they should have kept Emi and sold Leno. Leno could have beeen shifted for more than 20M.
Decision makers at AFC should all get the sack. That would be my top priority for this club.