northbank123 wrote:QuartzGooner wrote:Szczesny has seemed off since his Euro 2012 wobbles for Poland, wonder if he now has self doubt issues so covers them up by being a bit cocky?
Think it was Jamie Redknapp highlighted that too. I would go back a full year - I think the mistake he made at Fulham when he came and flapped at a cross and it fell straight to one of their players to score, combined with the general impact of throwing that match away after cruising for 45 minutes was a bit of a turning point. Before that he was immense and near faultless. Since then I've lost track of the number of times he's hared out of his goal only to either get beaten to the ball and skinned with consummate ease or been caught out of position allowing the striker to score like Swansea and Norwich last year, the number of times he's come and flapped at aerial balls and the number of times he's received a backpass and fucked about too long with the ball at his feet. For me he's not been the same keeper since that time.
I actually thought the same thing with Almunia to a certain degree. Okay, he's just a shit keeper and it was a matter of time before that shone through, but by and large before that 4-4 with Spurs in November 2008 when he was absolutely dreadful he wasn't terrible for us - never a great keeper but fairly consistent and reliable.
I think there may be a valid point about the confidence because if you watch him off crosses into the six-yard box, he's very careful to avoid contact and just goes into the nearest open space (which is generally not where the ball is going) and dangles a fist whilst somebody two yards in front of him gets a head on it. I've always said that how they're dealing with aerial balls is indicative of a keeper's confidence (it certainly has been for me). It's like he's scared of contact all of a sudden, he seems to be intentionally avoiding coming through the attacker to get a fist on the ball.
HOWEVER, I would emphasise that his general antics (Liverpool being a prime example) hardly smack of a man desperately trying to turn his form around.
Northbank...... A lot of your musings on this thread are correct, his cockiness being one, making himself out to be some kind of joker is another. However...... There is a fine line between arrogance and self belief/confidence. There have been a few great keepers who really are the most arrogant
you could ever come across, Olly Kahn springs to mind. A keeper needs a certain amount of arrogance, he needs belief in his own ability (and confidence in the defenders around him).
I agree with your point above re: lacking confidence with aerial balls and this does seem to have only happened this season. Wengers refusal to buy an older experienced keeper to challenge and educate Szczesny has definitely not helped his development and I am not sure he will ever reach the potential that he had, another Wenger success story!
Going back to my original point about Gerry Peyton, he does have a major roll to play with younger keepers. He arrived at the club at the same time as Jens, but Jens was already a seasoned pro all Peyton had to do was keep him on his toes.
Since Jens left we have had a succession of poor keepers who all show the same failings. Unless we have been very unlucky the only reason for that is the coaching they are receiving. A coaches job is to iron out their mistakes as well as improving them. I worry when I see Almunia, Fabianski, Mannone and now Szczesny making the same mistakes, Szczesny is not entirely blameless as you quite rightly point out and really does need to get his head down and start working on his deficiencies.
The club need to bring in an older pro to challenge szcsesny because if its left to Wenger we will see no additional keeper for years.
And Peyton either has to change the way he coaches or he needs replacing before we end up with another third rate keeper on our hands.
