Wojciech Szczęsny

It's only one game lads, and it's his debut, so adrenalin might play a part. If he can keeps this up for a bit, then the gooners might have a little hope. Foster, Kuszczak, etc. all had brilliant games for us in the past.
 
Tumbling-Dice said:
Looks like a decent keeper on tonight's showing.

He was probably their MotM tonight.

Lucky with the Anderson save but a la Schmikes, make yourself big and you always stand a chance. Excellent reach for the Rooney save.
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I actually had him as man of the match in the MotM thread, though I don't think it counts. Superb performance tonight imo.
 
solvista said:
I commented that he looked like the Dane whenhe starshaped himself that stop.

Do we have a third choice keeper that is capable of that performance?
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Why 3rd choice? He was picked over the other 2 Arsenal goalkeepers. That makes him first choice.
 
December_16 said:
It's only one game lads, and it's his debut, so adrenalin might play a part. If he can keeps this up for a bit, then the gooners might have a little hope. Foster, Kuszczak, etc. all had brilliant games for us in the past.
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Very true.Consistency is one of the most important thing in football and more than every for goalkeepers.
 
Almunia had an injury months ago, he should have been out for week or two, but he has been out since September.
 
Tumbling-Dice said:
Looks like a decent keeper on tonight's showing.

He was probably their MotM tonight.

Lucky with the Anderson save but a la Schmikes, make yourself big and you always stand a chance. Excellent reach for the Rooney save.
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Well if there was one good thing to come out of last night he was it

Apart from his nervous and poor kicking (down more often to the poor back passes he had to deal with ) the lad was excellent. He definitely exuded a sense of calmness and composure on such a big stage and one could feel he had a personality to impose upon proceeedings. Well done him

Frankly if it were me I'd put him in every game from now on


...but Wenger will probably drop him
 
Was he picked before fabianski or was he carrying a knock? I thought i read he was injured but then he was on the bench
 
December_16 said:
It's only one game lads, and it's his debut, so adrenalin might play a part. If he can keeps this up for a bit, then the gooners might have a little hope. Foster, Kuszczak, etc. all had brilliant games for us in the past.
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His performance reminded me of our own PIG actually and not just because I can't spell either of their names.

A competent shot-stopper but dodgy with the ball at his feet. I'm not sure that's enough for any keeper to succeed at a club like United or Arsenal where they get relatively few saves to make but are expected to use their feet a lot.

As for people getting all in a lather over the "Schmeicel moment", does nobody remember our own Ben Amos making an even more difficult "starfish" block from a far post header against the Airtricity side in pre-season? Making yourself big is a skill taught to all young keepers, sometimes the ball hits you, sometimes it doesn't.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
His performance reminded me of our own PIG actually and not just because I can't spell either of their names.

A brilliant shot-stopper but dodgy with the ball at his feet. I'm not sure that's enough for any keeper to succeed at a club like United or Arsenal where they get relatively few saves to make but are expected to use their feet a lot.
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Do you not think some of the back passes he had to deal with were a bit bollixed?. It did'nt exactly help is kicking although he looked nervous at the start but came through well for me
 
Jopub said:
Do you not think some of the back passes he had to deal with were a bit bollixed?. It did'nt exactly help is kicking although he looked nervous at the start but came through well for me
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Some of the back passes were poor but he made a hash of a few clearances under no pressure at all. Could have been nerves though. You'd need to watch him over a few games to see if his ability with his feet is fundamentally flawed, as it is with our own PIG.

Besides, top class keepers should be able to deal with poor back passes, as VdS did several times last night. The real nightmare with a keeper who can't kick is the extra split second it takes defenders to think about making sure their back pass is perfect. That can feck up your whole defence.
 
Jopub said:
Well if there was one good thing to come out of last night he was it

Apart from his nervous and poor kicking (down more often to the poor back passes he had to deal with ) the lad was excellent. He definitely exuded a sense of calmness and composure on such a big stage and one could feel he had a personality to impose upon proceeedings. Well done him

Frankly if it were me I'd put him in every game from now on


...but Wenger will probably drop him
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his father had a massive ego (in a healthy sense). you cannot be a good keeper if don't have bollocks to command your back line.
 
Huge wraps on this guy. And whilst Fabianski has come a LONG way this season there's really no chance he'll keep his spot against Szczesny in the long run... The boy's going to be a star!
 
Sunny Jim said:
I've heard that Almunia was avaiable for that game? true?
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He was 'injured' apparently. I doubt we'll ever see him again, Fabianski has gone way ahead of him and this Szczesny should be played ahead of him no matter what.
 
December_16 said:
It's only one game lads, and it's his debut, so adrenalin might play a part. If he can keeps this up for a bit, then the gooners might have a little hope. Foster, Kuszczak, etc. all had brilliant games for us in the past.
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Wasn't really his first team debut, but certainly his first game against a big (one of the biggest) side(s).

Everything we've seen from this guy suggests to us he's going to be a special player for us. Thank feck he signed a new contract, with Wilshere, Ramsay and Szczesny we should have three top class players to build a side around.
 
towcester_red said:
Looked good in terms of shot stopping, why cant he kick the ball more than 30 yards though???
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Not sure why he was like that this game. I've seen him punch it to the halfway-line before... His kicking is usually pretty good.
 
Looked better then Flapianksi and Clown. Expected him to struggle to be honest but was surprised at how calm he looked.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
A competent shot-stopper but dodgy with the ball at his feet. I'm not sure that's enough for any keeper to succeed at a club like United or Arsenal where they get relatively few saves to make but are expected to use their feet a lot.
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I agree that kicking is very important, the most important attribute I think. I don't understand why you want Lloris though because his kicking is not good.
 
cesc's_mullet said:
Everything we've seen from this guy suggests to us he's going to be a special player for us. Thank feck he signed a new contract, with Wilshere, Ramsay and Szczesny we should have three top class players to build a side around.
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Way too early for that, even for a prediction/silver lining kinda thing. For a goalkeeper at a top club, sometimes all it takes is one (disastrous) accident for things to collapse. Other than abilities, mentality plays a huge part in it. That's why Barthez, Howard, et al. couldn't be a fixture in our team for years and years, even though they're not short in abilities. Here's hoping our new Danish will not fall into that category, and obviously you'll hope neither will your younger PIG. Time will tell.
 
A couple of years ago he broke both his arms while lifting weights
 
Tomorrow I will try to learn how to kick the ball past the half way line... :) Apologies for my distribution and the result at old trafford.

From his twitter, seems a good down to earth guy.
 
Good read here about Szczęsny.

Inside the weird world of Arsenal's new No1, Wojciech Szczesny

From Brentford on loan last year to facing Barcelona this month, the 20-year-old Pole has had a rapid rise to the top

Wojciech Szczesny agrees. You don't have to be crazy to be a goalkeeper but it helps and it is not difficult to see where he gets it from. His father, Maciej, was a Poland goalkeeper who won the domestic title with four different clubs and Szczesny, the coming star at Arsenal, has a favourite story from his playing days.

"My dad got sent off for punching Roberto Mancini in the face," he says. "It was in the European Cup-Winners' Cup quarter-final in 1991 and if you look on YouTube you will have confirmation. It's a very clear punch. He just went straight through him. I can't wait to play against Mancini now. Maybe he will remember."

Sampdoria had just scored an 89th-minute goal through Gianluca Vialli in the second leg against Legia Warsaw but needed more to avoid elimination. Szczesny Sr grabbed the ball and Mancini, now the Manchester City manager, wanted it back. "The question for my dad was: 'Do you want to play in the final?'" Szczesny says. "But obviously being a nutter … it was: 'No.' Bang, he punched him. It was the last minute and he was suspended for the semi-final, which Legia lost to Manchester United. He wasn't very happy. I just hope that Mancini still remembers it."

Szczesny's focus is trained on making a different kind of impression at the business end of the season, having completed a whirlwind rise to prominence. This time last year he was playing in front of 6,000 fans at Brentford, during a loan spell at the League One club, and by the end of September he had grown utterly exasperated at his lack of opportunity at Arsenal. But now, Lukasz Fabianski's season-ending shoulder surgery coupled with Manuel Almunia's problems with form and fitness have seen Arsène Wenger install him as the No1.

Szczesny is 20. He has played in 11 first-team matches for the club (conceding five goals) and yet, rather abruptly, the quest for the Premier League title has come to rest, in part, on his 6ft 5in frame. He is also looking towards the Champions League last-16 tie against Barcelona plus the Carling Cup final with Birmingham City, which he hopes to start despite Wenger's policy of fielding the back-up goalkeeper in the latter competition. Szczesny has played in all bar one of the ties thus far.

Then, there is his country. Poland co-host the European Championship next year and Szczesny wants his No1 status at Arsenal to be reflected at international level. Although he has only one cap, he stands to win another against Norway next week, having been called up for the first time this season by the coach, Franciszek Smuda .

There is something about Poland and goalkeepers. The name of Jan Tomaszewski will always resonate with England fans but it is the depth and quality of the modern vintage that is remarkable. It was said that Poland's best three players in their Euro 2008 squad were goalkeepers – Artur Boruc, Tomasz Kuszczak and Fabianski – while the lesser-known but well-regarded Przemyslaw Tyton and Grzegorz Sandomierski have emerged more recently. "Don't forget we have Jerzy Dudek at Real Madrid as well," Szczesny says.

Eccentricity runs through them in varying degrees. "Boruc is nuts," Szczesny says, with a smile. "He is a very good friend of mine and so I'm sure he wouldn't mind me saying he's a nutter. He really is crazy. And he's brave. I mean, some of the stuff he did when he played for Celtic, blessing himself in front of the Rangers fans … how brave is that?"

Boruc is currently out of the Poland reckoning on disciplinary grounds, having got drunk on the team flight back from the USA friendly in October. With Kuszczak struggling for regular football at Manchester United so not in Smuda's plans and Fabianski injured, Szczesny senses an opportunity. "It looked like Fabianski was going to be the No1 but he has got injured," he says. "I like to believe that whoever wins the competition for Arsenal will be the No1 in the national team.

"It's unbelievable that the Euros are in Poland. The national stadium that has just been built in Warsaw is five minutes from my house. I live on the 10th floor so I can see the stadium from my window. For every player, the national team is a priority and it would be a dream to play at the Euros. My debut against Canada was one of the proudest moments of my life."

Szczesny oozes confidence. When he was thrust into his Premier League debut at Manchester United in December, his assurance was startling. He jokes on his must-follow Twitter page, 53szczesny53, that he is a "big head" but it is not true. He is far too ready to laugh at himself for that. Take the saga of the pink shirt. For reasons that are unknown to him, Arsenal's kit suppliers have included a particularly garish goalkeeping number, which Szczesny has been forced to wear. He said that he was disappointed that the Leeds United fans did not give him more stick over it during the FA Cup tie last month. His elevation has come at a sartorial cost.

"It's embarrassing," he says. "I mean, you just wouldn't see David Seaman or Jens Lehmann wearing a pink shirt, would you? I think Lehmann would have burned it. I consider myself a very confident person but I don't actually think I am big-headed because my confidence doesn't affect me … just yet. Obviously, though, because of some of the things that I've said about myself recently, the boys try to take the mickey."

Chief among those things was his outburst to a Polish newspaper after he was not included in the squad for the Carling Cup tie at Tottenham Hotspur in September. He poured out his frustrations, saying that Wenger "seems to forget he has a goalkeeper named Wojciech Szczesny" and muttering darkly about his need to play or else. "It was a big blow, I am not going to lie to you and I was very disappointed," he says. "I am ambitious and I want to be No1. I came out with a few things that I shouldn't have said but I have learned from that. Maybe I was too honest. Funnily enough, I have been in the squad for every game since, although I know it's a coincidence because Man Utd [Almunia] got injured."

If Brentford to Barcelona feels like an improbable journey, then consider the fact that football was not even Szczesny's first sport. "I'm a little embarrassed to talk about it now but the very first sport that I did, if you can call it sport, was ballroom dancing," he says. "I was aged seven to nine or 10. I was tall and so I think I was a little bit stiff but I was getting the movements and everything."

Szczesny was also an athlete – he excelled at the javelin – but football gradually took over. He was spotted by Legia and he blossomed under the tutelage of the legendary goalkeeping coach Krzysztof Dowhan, who had worked with his father. Szczesny made his Legia debut at 15.

His path to the top at Arsenal was interrupted by a grisly accident in November 2008 when, working with a heavy weight at the club's gym, he lost his balance and felt the bar crash down on to his forearms. They were both fractured. "You could see my initials … W here and S there," he says. "Put it this way, my arms weren't straight."

Metal plates were inserted into each arm and he was ruled out for five months. The scars offer a permanent reminder. "I say that one is from the war and the other is from a shark bite," he says. Physical discomfort is the goalkeeper's default setting. "I have always said that to be diving around for two hours every day and to get hit and to be in pain every day, you have to be a little bit mad," Szczesny says. "That is what we do, so we are crazy."

Yet the rewards make it worthwhile. "The Premier League is the priority and we fancy our chances of catching Man United," Szczesny says. "Then, there is the Barcelona game, which is a bit surreal for me. They are probably the best side in Europe but we believe that we can get something out of it. We are a much better team than we were last year. Every single player is a year older and a year better. We are a bunch of confident guys and this year, there is no psychological barrier."

Szczesny's name is virtually impossible for an Englishman to pronounce. He does not care, as long as it is on everyone's lips

Inside the weird world of Arsenal's new No1, Wojciech Szczesny | Football | The Guardian.
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A post match interview after the Barcelona game. Doesn't come across as a gimp or anything like what has been posted on here about him. Still, he's definitely a self-assured person.



BTW, is it me or does he have a Londoner's accent coming through?
 
Decent lad, and a good prospect.
 
cesc's_mullet said:
A post match interview after the Barcelona game. Doesn't come across as a gimp or anything like what has been posted on here about him. Still, he's definitely a self-assured person.



BTW, is it me or does he have a Londoner's accent coming through?
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He moved to London when he was 15, some things are just easy to learn. Even Londoner's accent.

Decent lad, seems to be down to earth.

I think that he has advantage comparing to other Polish goalkeepers because he came to Arsenal as a teenager. Fabiański moved abroad when he was 22, Dudek 23, Boruc 25. Kuszczak was 19 when he moved to Germany, but later in his career he decided to be second choice goalkeeper. But that's not a subject for this discussion.

I like him, but I imagine I may hate him one day, not because of his good performances as Arsenal goalie, but something that Polish media do every time when a Polish footballer becomes famous and plays for a good team. I really know what wank.fest means. Unfortunately, our shite position in football makes it.
 
Szczesny's name is virtually impossible for an Englishman to pronounce. He does not care, as long as it is on everyone's lips.
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Weird - because I think Szczesny, as in ''Shesny'', isn't ''virtually impossible'' to pronounce. It's the way it's spelled, not pronounced.

He's impressed so far - not just on Wednesday, but I thought he was good against us in his first match at Old Trafford. Judging by his interview, he seems a decent lad too.
 
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