I see a few here griping about Cech. But think about this, when was the last time Arsenal had a keeper who Arsenal fans were happy with performance wise?
Szesney? Fabianski? Almunia? That German GK whose name I forget? Cech proved he is a quality keeper by 10 years of consistency at Chelsea.
Surely it gets to a point now where you think, perhaps it's not the keepers, but actually the goalkeeper coaches? The manager? Or the defence?
Just saying. Like swapping managers for a season it soon becomes apparent maybe sometimes it's not the managers but something wrong at the club, likewise here with Arsenal's consistently lambasted goalkeepers over the years.
If De Gea or Neuer were at Arsenal, I reckon they'd probably let in a lot more than they do at their current clubs. In fact, has Arsenal ever had a consistently world class performing keeper since Wenger arrived?
Arsenal and goalkeepers
posted on 4/1/17
DDG and Courtois easily make the top 5 GKs in the world at the moment.
posted on 4/1/17
De Gea plays in one of the worlds best defences. Cech plays in one of the worst last season and this season in a very average defence.
posted on 4/1/17
comment by Smalling_Jones_ (U16290)
posted 11 minutes ago
DDG and Courtois easily make the top 5 GKs in the world at the moment.
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That's nothing to be proud of though. It just tells you the standard of goalkeeping is nowhere near ehat it used to be. It's literally Buffon and then there's a huge gap in quality before you can mention Lloris, De Gea, Oblak, Courtois and Neuer
posted on 4/1/17
Cech 2015/16 34 games 101 saves 16 clean sheets
Cech 2016/17 20 games 54 saves 6 clean sheets
De Gea 2015/16 34 games 83 saves 15 clean sheets
De Gea 2016/17 20 games 43 saves 7 clean sheets
De Gea has had many games all he had to do was save a shot or two and we would keep a clean sheet and get 3 points but he failed this season.
posted on 4/1/17
That's nothing to be proud of though. It just tells you the standard of goalkeeping is nowhere near ehat it used to be. It's literally Buffon and then there's a huge gap in quality before you can mention Lloris, De Gea, Oblak, Courtois and Neuer
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But that's only because Buffon is a freak. Why not compare the current bunch to the other keepers from the early 00s. Casillas was probably the next best and I'd take Neuer over peak Casillas personally.
posted on 4/1/17
Arsenal this season in reality have the 8th best defence in shots on target faced but have joint 4th best defence.
Lasr season Arsenal had 7th best defence in shots on target faced only allowing 2 fewer shots on target then Bournemputh who conceded 67 goals but Arsenal only conceded 36 goals.
Goalkeeping isn't Arsenal issue. Arsenal just have virtually no defence under Wenger. I think last 2 seasons had best keeper save percentage wise to play a lot of games. Man Utd had like average 10th or 11th best keeper but because he DDG plays in one of the worlds best defences he gets praised instead for his 1 o 2 saves he makes that gets replayed 10x to make it look like he was busy
posted on 4/1/17
Buffon had a run of poorer seasons too, early 30s I think it was.
All keepers have periods of low confidence at some point in their careers and seasons where they don't do so well.
A lot of fans just have poor memories and are horrendously kneejerk.
As an aside, taxidriver, can you explain when you say (about Cech):
"[...] it's becoming a concern when every near post shot beats you" and in the very next sentence "We know his reflexes are gone but he is still a world class keeper due to his positioning which is second to none."
His positioning is second to none, making him world class, but he keeps getting beaten at his near post?
posted on 4/1/17
comment by Mourinho delenda est (U6426)
posted 2 minutes ago
Buffon had a run of poorer seasons too, early 30s I think it was.
All keepers have periods of low confidence at some point in their careers and seasons where they don't do so well.
A lot of fans just have poor memories and are horrendously kneejerk.
As an aside, taxidriver, can you explain when you say (about Cech):
"[...] it's becoming a concern when every near post shot beats you" and in the very next sentence "We know his reflexes are gone but he is still a world class keeper due to his positioning which is second to none."
His positioning is second to none, making him world class, but he keeps getting beaten at his near post?
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He still has great positioning but gets down far too slowly due to his poor reflexes.
Thing is I have always felt his positioning would always get him out of trouble.
posted on 4/1/17
It would help if we didnt keep giving away pens every other faking game. Think thats 5 we have given away this season already which is just a shambles and when you have a GK who is poor at saving pens its mkes a massive difference.
posted on 4/1/17
comment by taxidriver (U21039)
posted 49 minutes ago
comment by Mourinho delenda est (U6426)
posted 2 minutes ago
Buffon had a run of poorer seasons too, early 30s I think it was.
All keepers have periods of low confidence at some point in their careers and seasons where they don't do so well.
A lot of fans just have poor memories and are horrendously kneejerk.
As an aside, taxidriver, can you explain when you say (about Cech):
"[...] it's becoming a concern when every near post shot beats you" and in the very next sentence "We know his reflexes are gone but he is still a world class keeper due to his positioning which is second to none."
His positioning is second to none, making him world class, but he keeps getting beaten at his near post?
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He still has great positioning but gets down far too slowly due to his poor reflexes.
Thing is I have always felt his positioning would always get him out of trouble.
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Sorry, I disagree.
Correct positioning at your near post means you'll keep out nearly all low shots with your legs or feet. It's generally when you leave too much room open there than you need to get down to shots.
That said, I am not of the opinion that any goal conceded at the near post is a goalkeeping error. It serves as a general rule, but there are certain shots that are impossible to keep out even with the best positioning, and the keeper always needs to assess the situation and decide whether it's worth taking the risk of inviting the opponent to go for the near post.