Arsenal’s goalkeeping role has been one of the most talked about this season, with Emiliano Martinez’s a regular talking point, but could we be set to lose Bernd Leno also?
Mat Ryan was given the nod to start ahead of Bernd Leno this weekend, in the 1-1 draw with Fulham, and the Aussie barely put a foot wrong.
Ryan was beaten from the spot after Gabriel Magalhaes was guilty of giving away a penalty, and Josh Maja’s penalty into the roof of the net was not to be stopped.
His ability has clearly impressed our side as the Football Insider claimed we are in ‘advanced talks‘ to sign Ryan on a permanent deal.
The Arsenal number two started in favour of Leno in the league this weekend supposedly on merit, but personally there is much more to it.
I don’t believe it is a coincidence that Ryan’s reported permanent move is currently in an advanced stage, and that he was simply the more deserving of his start, when you realise that the German made some controversial statements only days before the weekend.
Bernd Leno was interviewed as part of our pre-match press conference ahead of our crunch encounter with Slavia Prague last week, where we earned a place in the semi-final of the Europa League, and he claimed that while he was happy at the club, he was considering a new challenge elsewhere.
I couldn’t help but feel angry with the timing of his comments, as shown on Arsenal’s official website. Not only on the eve of a massive match in the EL, but coming so soon after the club stuck by him by refusing to guarantee Martinez the number one spot at the start of the season.
Leno has largely underwhelmed since the turn of the campaign, but this has been a big dagger in our back, and I can’t help but believe he was dropped at the weekend because of his comments.
Arsenal now appear to not only be trying Ryan out as a potential number one moving forwards, but also seem more than content to test Leno’s resolve on the subject.
Is Ryan good enough to be the number one at the Emirates?
Patrick
From the little have seen from Ryan I think he’s a good keeper but I would have preferred someone younger.
Any chance of us resigning Martinez lol?
Hes just made a blunder.. if Leno did that everyone would be all over it!
Exactly Kev
Martinez as Spaghetti gloves , very commanding in the box but his shot stopping is diabolical.
Yeah Dan spot on mate! I don’t get this martinez obsession.. let’s see how good he is with fans at his back.
Maybe you should compare Leno errors to Martinez errors. Every keepers makes mistakes, but comparing Leno errors to Martinez is a joke, how many cleansheets has Leno had since coming to arsenal.
Do you honestly think even if Alisson or Oblak was Arsenal number one they would be keeping clean sheets galore with that backline? And no I’m not comparing Leno with those 2 but fact of the matter is our defence is rubbish and that’s a fact! Emi Martinez is a good keeper but nothing more if he was as good as he and everyone else thinks he is, his ambitions would be higher than Aston Villa and might I add he’s still not Argentina number 1 and they don’t exactly have any world class goalkeepers.
But if am not mistaken Martinez had 9 or 10 cleansheets in all competition with that same rubbish backline and we didn’t have Gabriel or Partey then. With that same rubbish backline we won against Chelsea and man city in the fa cup with Martinez and kept a cleansheet against man city, with that same rubbish backline we won against Liverpool in the community shield with Martinez. I know we all have who will like and if you care to know I was very happy when we signed Leno that’s why I choose the name Lenohappy but I didnt allow my love for him cloud my judgement, Leno is an average goalkeeper.Have said it before and I will say it again, we won’t win any major trophy with him as our number1. And PS: Leno is Germany number3, sometimes he’s even behind Kevin Trapp who plays for Frankfurt.
Hasn’t martinez been out on loan to a handful of championship teams ? If I remember correctly he played for reading I can’t remember who else but why was he not snapped up then ? I don’t deny he had some games last season whilst Leno was injured the same Leno who apart from Auba was our best player.. When Martinez came in after the Brighton game Arteta began to park the bus so he was a lot more protected and also he had the luxury of zero fans… Look we can go back and forth with the Leno and Martinez comparisons but he’s gone now and I would rather back the number one at Arsenal than the number one at Villa because funnily enough I’m an Arsenal fan! Haha even with Oblak that Arsenal team won’t win a major trophy I think there’s more concerning problems in that team than the goalkeeper.
Tyrone’s reaction says it all!
Yes why not should never have sold him
I can almost guarantee we’ll see Leno on friday.
But to be honest i prefer Ryan. He seems more commanding, vocal and better with his feet compared to leno
I haven’t seen Ryan’s saves and ball handling in many games yet, so I can’t really judge his abilities. I’m just concerned with his stature, because Ospina and Pickford also had the height problems
As far as I know, Keylor Navas is currently the only short GK that has been performing consistently in the last two seasons. In my opinion, we better look for a taller GK in the mold of Seaman and Martinez
Seaman 1.93m
Martinez 1.93 m
LENO 1.9m – bloody shortarse !!
Yes but that is their height. What is the length of their out stretched arms 😜
Think Boeing 707
According to Google, Ryan 1.84m, Ospina 1.83m, Pickford 1.85m, Navas 1.85m. Ospina and Pickford are inconsistent
He was certainly good in the air when he nodded the ball across the Fulham penalty area for our equaliser.
Anyway, I think people are reading far too much into this as basically he is wanted as a back up not a number one. Leno, as much as he has his faults is the number one and will likely remain so.
Our new GK must play in the cup matches, to force Leno to perform better in EPL
Gotanidea, I have watched Mat Ruan a lot as he is the Australian national keeper following on from Mark Schwarzer and Mark Bosnich, none of whom were mugs.
Brighton and Hove Albion supporters have tongue in cheek said that the pre assist for Arsenal against Fulham was one of the best things he has done for the Club. A bit rich given his goal keeping was a major component of them staying in the EPL in previous seasons.
Mat Ryan is a good a number two as Arsenal is likely to get, while the Academy goal keepers develope. He is still relatively young at 29, very experienced and 1.84m tall (6’+ rather than 6’4″). One could argue that positioning and agility are more important than an extra 4″ in height. Also people assume length of reach is proportional to height, but that is not always the case, because arms can be shorter or longer (Declan).
Should Arsenal sign Mat Ryan he would not let the Club down, if called upon IMHO.
I hope Ryan will be successful at Arsenal
I remember watching Schwarzer at Boro, when Boro were still playing in EPL. He looks like Van der Sar, great in handling crosses
And Mark Bosnich was arguably the best keeper in England at Aston Villa. He was then bought for Manchester United, without the say so of Ferguson, who refused to play him. He then was sold to Chelsea, where he again performed well, but his “life style” caused his game to deteriorate.
wojiech was also a tall keeper. cech too.
Emi poor on the cross for Citeh’s second.
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Not this again!! You’re reading too much into it… We need a No.2, Leno hadn’t had a break in a while…
Yeah too right Sue and Mat Ryan is a good number 2 to have and he’s an Arsenal fan.. no problem with this at all 😄
Agreed- solid back up.
Also, let’s be honest we were faced with Runar at one point (bless him).
Anyway given the earlier chat on here about our goalkeepers height, I’ve heard we already have the answer in the camp………………… Lucas Torreira.
WHO bought Runar ARTETA that’s who
The more the merrier!! 😄
We need a No.2 GK – true and we have a very decent one – Leno. His attitude stinks and so does his on field tactics, errors and this closed mouth. Mikel did a great job by selecting Matt, the pre assist was something Leno would never do, too clumsy to leave his 6 yard box, let alone run to their 6 yard box. Days are numbered for Leno, and kindly note, no one dares talk crap when Mikel is the boss. The bench is the right place for Leno. The only success we had after Leno joined us, was the FA cup and that too was when he was injured.
Matt is much much away to Leno in performace, just the same as the distance from Australia to Germany. I don’t trust Leno for the Villareal match, hope he proves me wrong.
Why exactly does his attitude stink?
His days are numbered? How did you come to that conclusion?
Sorry Patrick, but you are spinning the words of Leno.
He said he was happy at the club, but then added that who knows what the situation would be when his contract ran out – hardly the need to get a dagger in the back feeling 😂😂
As for Ryan, Leno and Martinez, we only have one of them signed, one is on a loan and one has left.
Get Ryan signed up and let’s move on.
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But if am not mistaken Martinez had 9 or 10 cleansheets in all competition with that same rubbish backline and we didn’t have Gabriel or Partey then. With that same rubbish backline we won against Chelsea and man city in the fa cup with Martinez and kept a cleansheet against man city, with that same rubbish backline we won against Liverpool in the community shield with Martinez. I know we all have who will like and if you care to know I was very happy when we signed Leno that’s why I choose the name Lenohappy but I didnt allow my love for him cloud my judgement, Leno is an average goalkeeper.Have said it before and I will say it again, we won’t win any major trophy with him as our number1. And PS: Leno is Germany number3, sometimes he’s even behind Kevin Trapp who plays for Frankfurt.
That’s for Kev82
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Ryan is a great talent, but he’s no match for Leno.
We’ve seen him(Leno) made some astonishing and outstanding saves over the years..
Blaiz And we’ve also seen him (Leno) made some astonishing errors over the years.
I don’t think we would be talking about this if those up front had taken their chances and our defenders hadn’t made stupid mistakes. What’s wrong with winning 3-1 or 4-2?
I thought the Leno unrest was to do with his dislike of the goalkeeping coach we got from Brentford. I thought we had fired this coach because of the Leno issue. Does anybody know about this?
Leno was rested, no big deal. Mat Ryan will need to think seriously before signing for Arsenal. Ryan is way too good to be a second choice goalkeeper. As it stands, he may certainly lose his number one spot for Australia to Mitchell Landerak who plays consistently in the lesser J-League in Japan. I often have to laugh to myself. If Leno was an Australian, there is no way in the world he would beat Ryan as the number one choice. Ryan is 1.84m = 6 foot. So what the hell is the issue. Leno stands 1.9m=6ft 2inches. Yet in situations like one on one’s he stands 2 foot tall and in his shell. Greatest goalkeeper of all time Patrick Jennings stood 1.83m. Gordon Banks stood 1.85m. Peter Shilton stood 1.83m. Ray Clemence stood 1.83m. I don’t know why all the fuss of Ryan standing in at 1.84m. Seems to be alot of goalkeeping experts here. Looks like my goalkeeping coaching job is in danger. I just remember folks, when judging a goalkeeper, take a hard look at what’s in front of the goalkeeper. My main criticism of Leno is that he needs to command his 18 yard box a little better. And grabbing the odd defender by the throat. Honestly, that Arsenal back line can be woeful at the best of times. A goalkeepers nightmare. One of the things I’m trying to educate my school of goalkeepers, is to show some form of authority over the defenders and midfielders. Alot of goalkeepers don’t talk much. And there is constructive talking and bullshit chatter on the field. Praising a player on the field is bullshit chatter. Anyway, I would not read too much into Leno not playing against Fulham. The Same may happen again against Everton. Got a funny feeling as to what is happening. And no,,,, Leno is not being ditched as number one goalkeeper at Arsenal
Leno is very very good as a goalkeeper.
The problem with him is his inability to inspire confidence in his teammates. Simply put, he doesn’t bring us consistent good fortune.