From Eddie : The Blame Game
Hi Myles,
I see that you have pinned the blame for Birmingham’s winning goal on Koscielny. A bit harsh.
In this case it took two to tango, or should that be tangle, and his partner in this unco-ordinated dance was the goalkeeper.
Goalkeepers are coached to command “their area” both physically and vocally, and defenders will routinely leave a ball alone if they get the “call” from the keeper.
It is clear from TV replays that Koscielny, who was set to clear the ball, got a call from Szczesny to leave it, and the keeper’s body position shows that he expects the ball to come through to him. There is nothing wrong in principle with the keeper’s decision, but he gave the call way too late, put doubt into Koscielny’s head and was ultimately caught in two minds himself, hence his fumble with the ball.
Why the surprise? Everyone in world football knows that Arsenal are weak in central defence, and the Zigic goal highlighted their particular vulnerability at set pieces.
The view that Szczesny might be the longterm solution to the goalkeeping problem, is in my opinion, based on a combination of desperation & wishful thinking. Regardless of what happened yesterday, I have seen nothing particularly outstanding about him. He, like so many other young players, has shown no more than the potential to be something special in the future.
Ah, the future, back to that again.
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Myles replies :
You’re right. It was harsh on Koscielny.
At the time, with a 20-year old goalkeeper behind him, I thought the thing for Koscielny to do when the score was 1-1 in the 89th minute was to clear that ball. Even if the keeper shouts.
If the keeper picks it up, Arsenal have possession, and possession is the domininant ideology of Arsene FC : If we have the ball, they can’t score.
My long-term view has been that that if you must develop players, don’t develop goalkeepers. Hire a Lehmann who can play behind Kolo Toure and Sederos/ Sol Campbell and move his defenders around.
Don’t put somebody who is learning the game behind four defenders who are learning the game.
It was wishful thinking to think that a kid can help Arsenal to win the Carling Cup. For me, and as thousands of other people, one if Szczesny’s biggest virtues is that he’s not Almunia or Fabianski.
Maybe Szczesny will be Arsenal’s keeper in 2014. But, of course, I’m not here to sell the future to Arsenal fans.They’ve been sold the future for the last five years and they’ve payed a high price emotionally as well as monetarily.