Bernd Leno joins Fulham

[Santi]

People trying to create a problem where there isn't one. We kept the better keeper. That's without a doubt. Loved emi for what he did but before lockdown he was average at best. We cashed in as we should've. Before long he will be seen as another manninger.

Leno is fine. Good game today. Even when he spilled the ball, the way he landed, anyone let's go of it. Still made a great save.

Prior to Leno coming back we looked like a settled defence with who ever was playing, that I would say comes down to the communicator in the box, EMI commanded that and credit to him, Leno clearly has work to do with the high ball and gaining that presence, the drop ball aside which to leave out of the equation Leno never looked like coming and getting any high ball and that's a missing componant in the armour that he and the keeping staff need to rectify

Good post.

Fully agree that Leno has to improve on commanding the box, be more decisive during aerial balls and improve on his distribution.

Also kudos for being objective by insisting the dropped ball incident wasn't Leno's fault.

Had to make a gif -



Leno notices he needs leeway;
Loud shout from Leno to Ceballos;
No attempt from Dani to make way;
Subsequent collision;
Leno knows he's falling down face first, albeit bravely retains the ball on his way down;
Hits the deck awkwardly, inevitably loses control of the ball.

If this doesn't help people understand its context, nothing will.

Didn’t care about this, was the shit punches. One decent distance but landed at West Ham player on edge of the box and the other was a flap punch where he barely touched the ball.

He’s 100% more flappy on crosses than emi was and we got a big reminder yesterday. Luckily neither resulted in anything for West Ham so we get away with it and move on, hopefully he’s better in future.

[Ach]

I remember one where it was too high to catch but he got enough on it to guide it away from a West ham player.

Good keeping

[Salibatelli]

He’s a decent keeper no doubt, I still don’t like the fact he punches rather than catches the call though, always preferred keepers who try to catch the ball.

Martinez would try to catch the ball which is preferable IMO.

[Marsbar100]

i felt safer with emi

[Nuggets]

i felt safer with emi

He had a commanding presence in the box, I still think we could have sold the wrong keeper.

[DiamondGooner]

i felt safer with emi

He had a commanding presence in the box, I still think we could have sold the wrong keeper.

We did, that's no question for me.

The issue is AFC had invested in Leno and I'm not sure with Leno being out for so long that we could of got £20m for him.

Emi had the hot hand and his stock was up, so I get why he was the one to go.

My regret is that Aston Villa have a better keeper than us, we're not just reacting to one bad game, this is a conclusion of having Leno for 2-3 seasons and seeing how much better our whole defense was with Emi between the sticks.

But again, no point us crying now, its done, we need to hope Leno gets back to form asap.

[ag6789]

It is a done deal, Emi is gone. Now, hopefully, Macey will step up and cover for Leno. Don't understand why we let go a second keeper when he looks more competent . Happened with Fabianski, then Sczchesny and now w/ Emi.
So is the second keeper needs to be significantly poorer than the first choice? Then the first choice won't have any competition and get a free pass. Doesn't make much sense to me.

[Angelito]

No

He was fine today

Apart from the moment he almost cost us the game. Gabriel rescued him.

Leno had caught the ball, held on to it firmly and gave Ceballos a shout. You could hear it loud and clearly on TV.

Instead of moving out of the way, Ceballos remained frozen to the spot causing the collision during with Leno lost the ball.

I thought he did well to keep hold of the ball for as long as he did. It was an ugly fall and would not have happened had Dani reacted to Leno's shout.

Yeah, some of the reactions to Leno's performance today are extremely reactionary.

Fully agree. So damn predictable, too.

Not to mention this was only his second game after nearly three months on the sidelines.

I feel sorry for Bernd

Second in our POTY last season and people think someone who had 15 first team games under completely alien circumstances is better than him

Every time he makes one slight margin of error he’s gonna have people on his back saying Emi was better

Shame really

Sims predicted it

+1 Props to Sims.

It turned out to be even worse: context goes out of the window and he's getting blamed for an error that wasn't his.

Am one of the few members on this forum who appears to rate both goalkeepers to a similar standard. For this reason I'll be one of the first to insist Martínez is the better of the two, if indeed—at Aston Villa— he's able to maintain the same level of performance that he showed in those 15 games.

Currently, the sample size is just too small to not make a rushed verdict. Then there's effect of recency bias and the sheer romantic nature of Emi's story that, undoubtedly, challenges our ability to judge patiently and objectively.

The sad part is—had the club sold Leno—It'd have been Martínez who'd have been on the receiving end.

I think the alarming part is we all agree that Emi's run since Leno's injury has been highly impressive and a sort of yardstick for goalkeeping excellence at Arsenal. It's perhaps been the most commanding since Lehmann was here.

What that means, in essence, is that we need someone similar to the class and leadership demonstrated by Emi in those games over someone like Leno. Now, whether Emi is that guy, or it was simply a purple patch, we don't know that yet. What we do know is what's expected from a stable Arsenal goalie. And Emi's stint during the end of last season is closer to what we need.

Is Emi that guy? Can't say for sure right now. Leno's time away from the first team did reveal that we need someone who can deliver at the level shown by Emi, so in theory, Leno isn't that guy.

It's as if Szczesny would have been the perfect goalkeeper for this side, and I never did like him back when he was here.

Emi's confidence is at another level. The man has insane belief and his roots has gifted him a gritty, robust personality. That comes to play when he is between the sticks. While Emi was all personality and grit, Leno is more the silent type with superb reflex.

I can't deny that I feel more confident with Martinez as the goalkeeper. But I'm talking about the Martinez post Leno's injury last season.

The fact that he refused to settle as Arsenal's #2 speaks spades about his character and his astronomical confidence in his ability and mentality.

[Santi]

Szczesny was awesome and underrated by our fans, proving how good he is now. Said all along that red card with Poland in the Euros really knocked his confidence, fans got on his back for everything and he did stagnate for a little while.

Shame we let him go so cheaply, Juventus seem pretty happy with the deal.

[Callum]

It'll be interesting see how Emi does at Villa; if he plays the whole season he'll undoubtedly have a few shaky moments. Ultimately he played brilliantly for 10 or so games and earned a move off of the back of it, but we've not seen him play over the course of a full Premier League season.

Arteta and Cana have saw them in week in, week out in training for almost a year and judged Leno to be the number one.

[Ach]

Who the hell is Cana?

[Callum]

Who the hell is Cana?

Our goalkeeping coach.

[Santi]

awful knowledge from cripssylad there

the Alzheimer's must have finally gotten him, at the age of 163.

[Losmeister]

It'll be interesting see how Emi does at Villa; if he plays the whole season he'll undoubtedly have a few shaky moments. Ultimately he played brilliantly for 10 or so games and earned a move off of the back of it, but we've not seen him play over the course of a full Premier League season.

Arteta and Cana have saw them in week in, week out in training for almost a year and judged Leno to be the number one.

clean sheet saves pen in Game 1....

[Losmeister]

and I think... zero market for Leno coming off injury.... and Emi had just been STELLAR...

and the whole losing your position due to injury thing.....