Leno should be dropped against West Ham this Saturday
Hello once again Gooners, how are we preparing for our London derby again against West Ham this weekend? I expect the team to be training hard on how to beat West Ham. West Ham is a London team and we know how difficult it is playing against local rivals. We Are arsenal and we fear no team, but it won’t be that easy, if I am to tell you the truth. We need to use players who will be focused and disciplined all throughout the 90 minutes of the game. Players who have appeared in lots of games in recent times, and players who have shown tiredness or lack of concentration, should be rested. One such player is our goalie, Bernd Leno.
I ask to be forgiven if my point here doesn’t go down well with a lot of you, but I wish Leno should be dropped and I have just one reason why; and that is his mistake against Olympiacos. That alone should be ample reason enough for the manager to rest him for at least three games. He needs it to get back his focus and he needs to rest his body, especially as he featured in a lot of games this season. Leno is human and like all humans, he needs to recharge his batteries.
With a good backup goalkeeper, Arsenal should have no fears resting Leno and making use of Martinez. Leno being a high class goalkeeper needs to be pushed to work harder and reduce his mistakes. He has made some deadly and costly mistakes in the past and we should be wise enough to know that all he needs for him to gather himself again is a good rest. In Martinez, Arsenal should still be in safe hands against the Hammers, who have been in form in recent games after the appointment of David Moyes.
If I had my way, I would rest not just Leno, but also our defence line. But since it is impossible to change all your defenders for a game, changing Leno would be sufficient for now. I am a bit sure that Leno’s confidence level at this period is on a low and it will be counter-productive to make use of a player who still feels bad for costing his team in a vital European game.
We are Arsenal and we are proud.
Sylvester Kwentua