Was that one mistake too many for Bernd Leno?

When will Arteta see sense on Leno?

 

Yet again we lose, yet again we fail to score, and yet again Leno is at fault.

 

So just how long are we Arsenal fans going to have to suffer by seeing poor results and players in our team who are just not fit enough to wear the Arsenal shirt!

 

Another disappointing home defeat to one of our rivals in the race for a European spot comes as no surprise, yet the way we lost just about sums up our season. And it confirms to me whether or not Leno is fit to be our number one or not!

 

Speaking to arsenal.com after our 1-0 defeat to Everton, Arteta showed full backing towards Bernd Leno though when he said;

 

“[I will tell him] that we all make errors, it’s part of football and you have to be prepared to lift yourself up and focus on the next challenge.”

 

And my response to that is yes, we do all make mistakes, but Leno has made more than enough over this season, in games that have cost us points and our position in the league and enough is enough!

 

After giving a chance to Mat Ryan last week against Fulham, and him only being beaten by an unfortunate penalty, then stating after the game that he has been “training like a beast” over the last few weeks which is why he got the call, I fail to see what he has done wrong to be dropped in favour of Leno!

 

I have said this from the start and will continue to say it, letting Emi Martinez go was the biggest mistake Arsenal have made this season and they have made plenty!

 

Now I am not saying he wouldn’t have made mistakes, he is human, but I am 99% sure that if he stayed and played in the games Leno did, we would not be sitting in ninth place facing our worst ever season without another trophy to our name.

 

Will things change? I highly doubt it but one thing is for sure, if Leno continues to be our number one for the next few seasons, we can kiss top four and competing goodbye!

 

Shenel Osman

Tags leno Ryan

46 Comments

  1. You could say the same for our manager made numerous mistakes in team selection tactics he is responsible for where we are the table doesn’t lie but still our greedy yank owner has stuck with him prob because of the compensation he would have to pay him if he sacked him so looks like we are stuck with this clueless manager for god knows how long well why he remains in charge I will give watching Arsenal a miss its just to painful to watch!!

    1. 100% agree on the mistakes Arteta has made part. But regarding why he isn’t sacked, I don’t think it’s the compensation. He’s just a shield like Wenger was, and a new shield is hard work, considering how long it took to hire Arteta.

      It’s pathetic really and it reeks of weakness, but Kroenke only care about our stock market prices and I’m fairly certain he does not know we played Everton and lost again!

  2. Leno has always been a liability
    He has always been like this from day one
    He has never been good with his concentration, ball handling, swiper, passing out from the back and commanding his box the one thing he has which is his reflexes and making occasional super saves has been reduced because he rarely have to face many shots on goal but yet has been conceding crazy number of goals from the few shots he has faced that has exposed him woefully

    1. August 7th 2020

      Fans have picked Bernd Leno as Arsenal’s second best player of the season with the German as integral at the back as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was at the other end.

      Quote Pepe above ;

      “Leno has always been a liability
      He has always been like this from day one”.

      Don’t let the facts get in the way !

      1. AJ being the second best player in our worst finish in 25 years is hardly impressive
        I can’t disagree with Pepe as I often pointed out last season how many mistakes Leno made

        1. Dan.

          The counter argument to that is 2 men don’t / can’t make a team.

          Let’ S s have it right Leno has not been right (on my view ) since the “Emi “decision and following debate.

          My response to Pepe was posted in frustration that in my opinion to say

          “Leno has always been a liability
          He has always been like this from day one” is total rubbish.

          I been IN the stadium when the guy has got ovations for some of his work- yes, I’ve seen them.

          So to say since day one is simply wrong.

          The double save against Spuds at Wembley is right up their with the best goalkeeping I’ve seen in nearly 60 years of our keepers.

          Should questions be asked now – yes.

          But since day one ???

  3. Waiting for the 21/22 season to be sure of what seriously Arteta will achieve with Arsenal.
    Though, it was like everything cooperated with him to win the FA Cup above his mettle.
    However, the sign of nothing to come from Arteta with Arsenal, would be retaining Leno, in the Club. If Mikel is deficient in decision-making, then more analytical mind should make them for him

  4. Who brought the Goalkeepers we have Arteta that’s who. The blame lies with him that’s what you get with a inexperienced manager the sooner we are shot of him the better I am a long Arsenal fan but now even my patience is wearing thin

      1. But he chose him over martinez. That’s equivalent. (Not even mentioning we spent almost 2M on runarsson who was not even 1st choice in a french club that ended season 16 out of 20) And a very bad signal sent to everyone. You can play well, rise to the occasion, deserve your place, but you won’t have the place 👍 martinez acted like a talisman at the end of year. That was maybe a harsh decision to stick with him and let leno on the bench but the logical one to make if you pretend being a top club. Martin known highlighted that in August. What did wenger do to wrighty after his injury in 1998 ? Played Anelka. Then stick with Anelka first 🤷🏻 Harsh but unless you make mistake you deserve it. Managing is sometimes about making difficult decisions… This one was not 100% obvious because of leno season but rather the one to make and try. And it did not necesserally meant selling Leno immediately.

        1. Brilliantly said. In fact in going to cut Emiliano some slack and say that if he had been promised the confidence of starting the season and having his performances be a factor in whether or not he kept playing, he would have accepted that. I’m SICK of this narrative that he got greedy because that’s NOT true. Look at how he’s doing at Aston Villa. He’s consistently been great and is undoubtedly the best keeper in the League this season but knows that Tom Heaton is providing serious competition, so he’s not taking things for granted. But Arteta just didn’t see it that way and considered Leno the blue-eyed-boy. He just didn’t have enough confidence in Emi to make him the starter and it hurt him. I love how you said that Wenger wouldn’t made that mistake. That’s why he was such a great manager although he did have his share of dodgy moments.

          1. Thank you mani. I thought arteta hiring was a good decision at first but this mistake was just one amongst others that happened lately sadly. I think this manager is not good enough. Too many mistakes. The one with martinez hurts a lot. This was too much of an hurry. Stupid sale. It will cost so much more to go for a proven keeper now. And the leno value has probably decreased a lot this year through the mistakes. Some will argue it is easy to remake the decision but i was already hoping/praying that we would not when the news emerged. Sadly we did that. For 30 or 35 M maybe. For probably 18 it is a terrible mistake. Especially given he was on low wages. We gave more than half in keeping mustafi and papa (and not registering saliba) on the books instead of selling them for a zero fee in August/september. And now a PL top caliber GK will probably cost us a lot more. I can’t anymore trust any process with arteta. What is sad is that he had a 100% backing from the board.
            Why ? because he won the FA cup playing defence with martinez that was tremendous and Auba that was walking on water at the time. As a rookie coach, he should have never had that 100% backing for whatever stupid decisions so soon.

  5. Shekel if you were The Key decision maker at arsenal would you have kept Martinez knowing his contract would end this season, would you have kept playing a player who refused to sign over the one with 2-3yrs contract or you would have agreed to his term of being no 1 choice then relegate Leno to the bench? I want your honest opinion and those who have been mentioning the deal since the guy was sold

    1. We have lost wilshere, and many others for free. Even paying them off like mail and mustafi. Martinez deserved a chance. He loved the club, I am sure he would have signed and even more if promised to start 1st choice with a clause to be sold for 20M later if he did not play a certain amount of games. This is just a mistake. And it put pressure on leno. We had two super keepers. We are left with one with no confidence. Or confident because he is now speaking of other challenges (wtf?!) but making terrible mistakes this year

  6. On Leno, I think he is finding it difficult to cope with the pressure since coming back from his injury last season and with fans huge expectations because of Martinez. Probably he will get himself sorted soon. At this time we need to support him as our own. Ryan isn’t our gk, he is on loan, am not saying Ryan doesn’t deserve his chance am just saying Leno should not be axed , the situation could be managed by creating competition and use it to bring Leno back to his best. Leno should not be too comfortable with his position

  7. Leno is a good goalkeeper who is capable of making wonderful saves, and that’s it.
    He doesn’t inspire confidence in his team and can concede stupid upsetting goals for no just cause, and without warning😂.
    That’s why Arsenal has been largely inconsistent since he came on board.

  8. I was a goalkeeper for around 25 years and remember saying to a close friend of mine that we sold the wrong keeper last season. Unfortunately Martinez did not come with a huge transfer fee and as a result was “unfashionable.” This was the reason we stuck by Leno and not the ability.

  9. We sold our best goalkeeper Martinez, is that just part of ‘football’. Our worst manager, Arteta, sold our best goalkeeper, then gets rid of most of his predecessor’s signings, and treats some abysmally. How Arteta is still at this club is farcical? We are sinking morally, ethically, in game quality and our league position. A second rate rookie is managing to lead us to the edge of the abyss. Our club is going downhill out of control.

    1. I totally agree with what you said. Arteta should be the all time worst manage in Arsenal history. He should just go instead of destroying my beloved Arsenal.

  10. Leno my Leno. Kepa didn’t even make half the errors that Leno makes but still Chelsea dropped him and he cost a lot more than Leno. Man Utd dropped de gea who is not that bad for Henderson and since then they’ve been keeping clean sheets but our coache is too scared to make that decision.

  11. Ot just watched Robbie lyle interview on sky sports. That’s how your conduct a professional interview unlike the disgraceful talksport. It was such a good listen without the presenter talking over him

      1. Have you ever heard ty swear when being interviewed? or how about kelechi? moh? James? Charlene? Helen? Cecil? Graham? Plus more

        Unfortunately there are several others on the platform who use foul language and should be accountable for what comes out their mouth not Robbie.

          1. There are positives and negatives but
            People only bang on about the negatives just to knock the guy. When we start winning consistently again I wonder if the same people will attribute that to aftv.

  12. The main issue was Keeper attributes…we needed someone who had a commanding presence in the box, who wasn’t afraid to coach-up our soon-to-be more youthful defensive ranks, but instead Arteta chose the fragile, mistake-prone Leno, Sideshow Bob and the sloth-like Xhaka to lead the defensive line…if this isn’t grounds for dismissal, considering the results, I don’t know what is…this triumvirate has cost us a minimum of 20 points since the months leading up to Emery’s firing

  13. WHAT is the use of bringing in a proven Premiership goalkeeper and a two-time World-Cupper in Mat Ryan if Leno WON’T have to worry about competition?

    I’ve ALWAYS said that as good a shot-stopper though he is, he has serious concentration issues and cannot inspire confidence and stability in his defence. Martinez did that MAGNIFICENTLY as we won the F.A. Cup last season and then beat Liverpool to the Community Shield while at least securing a top-10 finish. Lest we forget, he got us back into the Europa League after Leno sent us out with his clanger against Olympiakos!!

    I’m sick of Arsenal fans who have been so seduced by the quality of some of his saves that they gleefully overlook his terrible mistakes. A case in point being how everyone hailed his display against Liverpool’s reserves in the League Cup while conveniently forgetting how just days before that in the League he flattered to deceive against their first team! AND with dreadful mistakes against Wolves and West Ham in addition to this shocker, I’m sorry, but I DON’T trust him anymore. I’m SICK of this guy being given chance after chance and being mollycoddled at the expense of better, more solid and consistent keepers. We lost Emiliano because of this, and we MUST NOT lose our Aussie loan import. Private Ryan MUST be drafted in against Villareal to help save our season. End of story. 😡😡

  14. Arteta seemingly has his favorites and will not recant. Willian unsurprisingly was trash yet again but still got the call.

    Xhaka out of position as LB when Cedric could at least defend and get forward.

    How Nketiah got a start baffles science. Balogun outplayed Edie in limited minutes in Europa stages.

    Martinelli is miles above Nketiah in technique, passing, finishing, creativity, not to mention intensity and hunger.

    Simply amazing how often Arteta gets selections and subs wrong. When an 11 plays decent he cuts and chops the lineup anyway.

    The whole lot needs to go; Kronkes, Vinai, Edu, and Arteta.

    1. Simply a not good coach. The CV only mention worked as pep assistant. This line made him going ahead of vieira or just Freddie who was doing well at least with the youngers. Now it seems that we would have better done maybe sticking with freddie like Man U did with Solskjaer . But it is easy to remake this decision now. I have to admit i also believed in some magic from arteta at the beginning. Simply did not work. Bad coaching, questionable line ups and substitutions. Even if we win by chance/miracle the EL through some incredible play from someone, he would probably be better that he is replaced.

  15. Mani, you could change the name of ” this guy” from Leno to Arteta and it would still ring true. I don’t think goalkeeping is Arsenal’s main issue. Every team has defensive lapses or a flaw. Man. City often concede a goal but are simply able to counter this by scoring more than the opposition. Don’t get your wings in a flap over Leno, he is just one of Arsenal’s many problems.

  16. Leno knows mistakes or not he is our undisputed number one no competition. Selling Metinez was a bad business. Cheski is a case in point if one have a horror show the other will have run-of games no questions asked. But arsenal we accept mediocrity and so from here till season ends Leno with all his flaws and anticidents is all we got.

  17. Because of his many mistakes this season MA is in no position to blame/hammer players for their own and he knows it i can only imagine the conversation
    MA”Bernd this was unacceptable..”
    Leno”really? Let’s talk about your tactics team selections your non negotiables..

    1. I was literally abused on social media for saying Martinez was the better keeper. How could those people not see it?

      Anyway we’ve got Ryan. I recon he’ll last longer at Arsenal than Leno has.

      1. For me the pecking order at Arsenal based on actual goalkeeping ability is-
        1- Matty Ryan
        2- Leno
        3- Okonkwo
        4- Hein
        5- Runar

  18. From what I see from this management team and the budget I think we have, Leno is very safe.

    In their eyes, he is not our biggest need. We need a left-back since Thierney is always injured and Kolo gone. We need a creative midfield player since we can not rely only on ESR. We need a right-back if Belerin goes and we need another DM or all-around midfield player because Ceballos will go back to Real (as will Odergaard) and Elneney is not good enough.

    So expect Leno to kep his job.

  19. we will have to buy a proper keeper this summer,
    and the Russian striker Dzyuba, he is similar to
    Haaland but with a lower price.. then we need an
    exciting creative midfielder??

  20. yeah im pretty much done with Leno and his errors. He’s not close to the top level GK’s in the league so what exactly is he doing here.

  21. Leno has had a few shockers, his worst attribute is not being able to command or communicate with the whole defence. It’s obvious to see the nervousness he brings to the back line with his decision making and passes. Unfortunately he is still the best at the club. MA must live and die by his decision. Still have you seen how poor the Arsenal women keeper is? OMG!
    Arsenal had a great keeper scouting/recruiting system with Fabianski, Wojech, Lukic, Seaman but now?

  22. Leno has good quality and quantity most expecially when another season coming up up up leno we must be also necessary we dont to rift to another mistake like emi and fabiaski patient is the sources any success

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