Arsene Wenger has made it an Arsenal tradition that his reserve goalkeeper who plays in the FA Cup games, even if it is a semi-final or Final, and this years demotion meant that Wojciech Szczesny was between the sticks against Reading yesterday.
It has already been proven that David Ospina has a MUCH better record than Szczesny, and I am certain that the Colombian would have saved the goal that Szczesny fumbled yesterday and would have saved us the trouble of played the extra 30 minutes, but that is just conjecture on my part I guess…
Immediately after the game, Wenger (as usual) did not want to publicly criticise the Pole. He said on Arsenal.com: “I have to watch it again. I thought it wasn’t in at first because it took some time for the referee to give the goal so I thought we escaped, but unfortunately not. Maybe on slow motion you could see that Wojciech goes back a little bit to save the ball with his feet and then when the ball bounces, the ball was certainly over the line. We have to analyse that but I think the cross before the goal shouldn’t have come in as well and then the scorer was free. There’s a combination of mistakes but Reading really wanted it and were ready to die on the pitch to go to the final.”
Szczesny himself didn’t make any mention of his part in the goal. He simply said: “It was unlucky. Fair play to the goal-line technology – you can’t even argue with the referees any more! I’ve just seen the replay now and it’s clearly gone in.”
Personally I can’t understand it. When the cross came over going to the other side of the goal, Szczesny made sure he was in the right position to stop the ball, but somehow didn’t get any clean contact on it and it ended up in the net. It looked clumsy and amateurish to me, and I just don’t think it is worth the risk of him playing in the Final. Do you?
I’m not against the idea of playing the second choice keeper in the cup matches but the final should be the no1 especially if the no2 conceded a howler in the semi
fully agree, championship matches are earned
I think Sczesney is completely rattled by the presence of Ospina. His confidence is now very low. When fabiansky was around , he was confident that he would start. But he needs to be aware that being low on confidence will not do good to him at all. Its just attitude change that’s required of him. He is a good goalie.
I saw some unwelcome gesture from him to play as our 2nd goalie. And it won’t help his performance at all. He has to fix his attitude, or it’ll be his negative point to AW. I’m 90% sure if Ospina stand there it won’t be a goal, because he’s not floor his body easily. LEARN Schezo LEARN! Your 2nd position won’t be there forever. It can go UP, or DOWN, or even GONE.
Meanwhile, Oooooooooooooooooooooooospina………..
The same thing was said last season……should we play Sheez instead of Fab in the final last season…..
The FA Cup final is most likely be Sheez final game for Arsenal…..
The difference is Fab was the best player on the field in the semi final last year and played his way into the final. Unfortunately for Szczesny the same can’t be said after letting a soft goal like that in.
Ospina between the sticks for me.
David ospina all the way! Coyg!
We must not underestimate aston villa in the fa cup final, and must make it a priority to play our strongest squad! Ospina gets my nod!
Its a tradition and should be
continued. Singling out Szczesny
would be telling him to leave after
7 yrs of top service.
Especially if Wilshere gets on the pitch
after being out most of the season and having
all his issues. Especially if Wallcot plays after
being injured most of the season and holding out on the club.
Especially if Diaby gets a new contract after missing 48 games
this season and 190 of the last 200.
Sanogo getting 60 k p/w watching Palace play.
Podolski getting 90k p/w watching Inter play.
And if Rosicky gets a token farewell appearance.
Players coming from nowhere getting special treatment
Bad buzz that.
the fans do not care about tradition
the fans care about is result
It’s not singling him out ,he made a big error which may cost us in the final . It was different with fabianski last year he played well throughout the competition , just because scz is the cup goalie doesn’t mean he doesn’t have to earn it the same way ospina does with the league games
Sanogo gets 20k!! and our club isn’t even paying it at the moment.
Stop making sh*t up just to whinge!!
If Theo and Jack play.. You complain
If they don’t.. You complain
Wenger WILL play Szczesny in the final. I’m 100% sure of it. I’m just hoping that he performs well and that our defense helps him out.
He stuck with Fabianski last final and will stay with Szczesny in the final this year.
Lets just hope for the best and hope Wenger at least plays Giroud
Hell yeah!!!
This is the brutal truth, ENGLISH players are just too average.
Theo Walcott- speedily over hyped but technically a drag. Arsenal have been dragging this dude for far too long, day dreaming he’s the real deal, wenger should wake up and see things without adding sentiments, it’s not rocket science BALE is a class act and theo is still babysitting. he has only performed once in nine (9) years and he’s not the magical thierry henry guess what, he will never be.
Whilshere- Another one season or should i say a game (barca) wonder. He was hailed as the messiah who has come to don the number 10 jersey given bundle of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, he’s wasted it on dope and self appraisal with the help of the british hype, oh! Yet again francis coquelin is proving to be the raw talent, yet again stubborn dithering and chauvinistic sentiments will creep into le profs heart to ditch his (le caoq) projection.
Gibbs- he is bound average, i reiterate once again (good/average defensive technique but poor attacking abilities) evaluating his overall performance in Arsenal, he’s best a squad player, very injury prone which distort his football education. By the way Bellerin has proved to be the man to bank on. Technically sound, great attacking acumen and good/improving defensive potentials.
Ramsey; yes! I was gob smacked by his magical and unbelievable season last season almost literally shouldering the team but yet again he has gone under the weather, too slow and untidy passes. He may have something buzzing in him, right now he’s a shadow of himself and yet again wenger’s stubborn Preponderance may alter the mid field team cohesion, cazorla, ozil and coquelin. It’s just pathetic!!! ramsey should be a squad player coming from the bench to spell out cazorla and even rosicky.
Before crack becomes canyons wenger should strictly pick the strongest first eleven by great work ethics, talent and performance.
In addendum he should start making provisions for their replacements for futuristic reasons, either by looking inward or outward.
Some more brutal truths; Ramsey is not English. Some more; Gibbs IS a squad player and Bellerin is not his competition. Walcott, Wilshere and Gibbs are not 1st X1 starters so your gripes a little redundant atm. Bale’s last season in England 24 goals and 8 assists; Theo 21 goals and 15 assists. The numbers suggest either your mate Gareth is not quite as good as you think he is or Theo is better than you are giving him credit for. Either way dull trolling.
Should Szczesny play in the final? Your answer: “Hell yeah! because English players are overrated!”
I am always amazed by the ability of some so-called fans to write 20 lines of comments, full of bullsh** and not at all related to the subject.
Everyone saying Szczesny made a huge mistake in conceding the goal. I disagree completely. The ball was played across the face of the goal, Szczesny had the scramble across his goal to get the the bottom corner where the shot was aimed. The ball was deflected about two or three yards in front of him and went the other way. When all of his momentum was moving to the bottom corner, to change direction in that space of time is extremely difficult. Not to mention the ball bounced just in front of him as well. That can make it difficult on a clean shot, let alone one you can barely see.
The two biggest culprits in conceding that goal were Debuchy for getting beaten too easily and not stopping the cross, and Gibbs for losing his man.
I agree Mick but you won’t stop the bandwagon. That said I would prefer Ospina to play, but we know Wenger is stubborn/loyal to an often annoyingly obsessive degree. If he thinks WS has a future at Arsenal, and he is fit, he will play him. End of.
Liverfool lost and the media are pretty quiet as usual…
where are the articles like poor tactics?Wrong player selection? Rodgers never learn? Etc….
If Arsenal has lost there will be 100 articles…
If Wenger wants to give himself the best chance possible of winning the cup, then no. Ospina has been fantastic this season, and deserves to play in a cup final. It’s a cup final, you should always pick your best team.
And on a side note, Szczesny didn’t justify his call up against Reading because of his complete howler for their equaliser. Playing him in the final would be even more of a risk now.
Lucky Arsenal! When you have to rely on `luck` beware! Reading taught us one thing, Arsenal`s team selection was wrong. So, to hell with Wenger`s tradition he has to take the best to Wembley.
Something like? Ospina, Bellerin, Paulista, Kosciency, Monreal, Coquelin, Carzola, Walcott, Ozil, Sanchez and Giroud. Notice no Ramsey (bench), no Mertesacker (injured). The bench looks pretty healthy now with Wilshere, Arteta and company all fit.
The FA cup final, or any Finalz is a test of mental strength over skills or technique. The team that wants it more normally wins, its very rare to have a one sided final. Unless players loss focus or having those breakdown moments
Sorry for Per but it will be good to see Gabriel get a run of games from the start. Even if Per was to recover in time I wou hope to see Gabriel against Chelsea because players like Hazard will eat Per alive.
I understand why Wenger would want to introduce Gibbs and Debuchy back into the starting lineup because they were actually suppose to be the starting full backs at the beginning of the season but injuries changed that and Monreal and Bellerin took their chances well. Schez though I’m unsure about and I’m starting to lose confidence in him. Also maybe he planned on resting Giroud for Chelsea and even though Welbz has been doing ok since he joined but I honestly think we need another ST, a young one to rotate and eventually replace Giroud as he’s also getting on in age. Ramsey has done well for us but I’ve always seen Wilshere as the better player and maybe that’s just me, but Jack was onto something before he got injured again and I reme him dominating the park at home to City where we drew 2-2 and we should have won that day if Debuchy never got injuries and our momentum was killed after that.
OT: Just as I was warming to LvG ever so slightly over the last few months I think the mask slipped and the real LvG stood up in his Chelski post-match interview. Hilarious stuff. If we get a result at OT and Geoff “I’m can only ask obvious WUM questions I already know the answer to” Shreeves versus LvG may be a better spectacle than the Mayweather/Pac-Man fight.
@ jonestown1
Ramsey is British!!!, if i’m mistaken didn’t giggs play in the olympics for great Britain?, you guys call on the troops where ever when needed in and out of england.
I think it is either you misconstrue the drift. It’s not only about 1st team or squad player. There’s a big doubt in their overall talent.
As for bale, his market value says it all theo atm is plummeting down to the bench.
I know with great vigor you will sentimentally defended your turf.
Who am i to doubt your baise patriotism.
I will only urge you to shed your sword, we both love Arsenal. COYG!!!
I know Ramsey is British – he is not English as your post suggested. If you knew me you would know I find nationalism abhorrent so I have no axe to grind re Englishness nor am I defending my “turf”. I think Walcott, Gibbs, Wilshere and Ramsey for that matter are all good SQUAD players and all of them at their best could do a job in the 1st team if called upon. At the moment none are good enough to tie down a first team slot on a regular basis. What I don’t understand on here sometimes is how people can possibly think you can pad out your squad with a “who’s who” of world class players – unless you are going to pay these stars £150K-£250K to sit on the bench then they are not hanging around for long – and even if they do stick it out, they are unlikely to be properly motivated or have a lot of love for the club. Seriously, who would replace these four with to be squad players and spend a lot of time on the bench?
Honestly, I don’t feel comfort when Szczesny stands in our goalie and I think other fans do the same. It is better to have Ospina for the final as it is a decisive match though I feel sorry for Szczesny. He has already lost his confident.
Yes, Szczesny should play. We have a policy to play the second choice goalkeeper in cup competitions – he was there when we got to the final, he deserves to play it. He may have played badly but that goal actually was just a nasty one. I think he should have saved it but it took a deflection that takes it away from him and you can understand how a keeper not getting much game time lets it in. Would we be more solid with Ospina in goal? I think so. Do I want to be a dick to Szczes in order for him to play? No. We’re not mercenaries.
He’s not reliable. Ospina must start.
In the words of Rodney (only fools ) no way pedro .