Rating Arsenal’s Performances In The 2012/13 Season – The Goalkeepers

Arsenal blogger Gooner Daily looks over last season’s performances from the clubs three senior goalkeepers and gives each an overall season rating out of ten.

This season, Arsenal conceded 37 goals in the Premier League, 10 goals in the Champions League, seven goals in the Capital One Cup and five goals in the FA Cup. Unlike last season where the Gunners opened the floodgates with consummate ease, a more cautious approach was taken after the defense struggled badly against Tottenham. In a run of ten games after that defeat against Tottenham, the Gunners conceded only five goals winning eight games and drawing two.

Over the course of the season, Arsene Wenger used his available playing personnel in the goalkeeping department. Wojciech Szczesny has been synonymous with first-team football but an ankle injury in Autumn, coupled with Lukasz Fabianski being out of action as well, paved the way for Vito Mannone to come in but the Italian didn’t convince Wenger enough to command a first-team berth in the long-term. A dip in form from Szczesny in Spring saw a fit-again Fabianski take his spot but another injury allowed the younger Pole to reclaim his place for the final few games.

This article is focused on rating Arsenal’s performances in the 2012/13 season. This is the first installment of four posts and today’s post is entirely focused on Arsenal’s custodians between the sticks.

Wojciech Szczesny – 33 Apps, 13 Clean Sheets

With Manuel Almunia leaving the club when his contract expired, Wojciech Szczesny took over the No. 1 jersey in 2011 and great things were expected of the young Pole. He began the campaign with a clean sheet against Sunderland and an ankle injury halted his progress for a couple of weeks before he returned to the fold with a howler against Southampton.

Even after his errors coupled with fairly average performances from his deputy, Vito Mannone, Wenger returned Szczesny into the team and even used him in domestic cup fixtures, clearly showing that he had little or no faith in the Italian. This brought an air of complacency into Szczesny’s game which saw his form wane, much to his team’s detriment.

He got a wake up call when Wenger dropped him to the bench against Bayern Munich (away) and the fact that his father blasted the boss for his poor form didn’t help his cause. A rib injury to Fabianski allowed the younger Pole to return to first-team action and this saw a change in his fortunes as Szczesny kept clean sheets against Everton (home), Fulham (away), Queens Park Rangers (away) and Newcastle (away).

While he may want to forget his antics against Southampton (home) and Aston Villa (home), he can look back with pride when he reflects on his performance against Sunderland (away) as well those vital saves he made against Queens Park Rangers (away) and Wigan (home).

Szczesny is not a finished article but there’s certainly some room for improvement. A difficult campaign ended on a high note but it will be interest to see if he starts next season as our No.1.

Rating – 6/10

Lukasz Fabianski – Five Apps, Two Clean Sheets

Lukasz Fabianski has been a back up goalie for as long as he can remember. Since his arrival in 2007 despite being the best goalie in the Polish Ekstraklasa for two consecutive seasons in his time with Legia Warsaw, Fabianski has played second fiddle to Manuel Almunia and currently, his compatriot, Wojciech Szczesny. Like Abou Diaby, injuries have become part and parcel of Fabianski’s career with the Gunners and the meager five appearances he managed in the entire campaign is a testament of that.

However, the Pole was a breath of fresh air in his somewhat brief return to the squad. When I saw Fabianski step into the Allianz Arena with his teammates, I feared for the worst but the goalie was in imperious form, saving efforts from Toni Kroos and Arjen Robben despite being out of the game for over a year.

How’s that for your first performance in a year?

This was followed with another clean sheet against Swansea (away) and if Nacho Monreal had tracked Hal Robson-Kanu well in the thumping of already-relegated Reading, Fabianski would have had three clean sheets in a row. He went on to concede from a penalty against West Brom (away) and was rooted to the spot when Norwich’s Michael Turner headed the ball past him at the Emirates. He still went on to make a vital save in that game to keep Norwich at bay.

With his current contract said to be expiring next summer, Fabianski will have to review his future with the club. His cameo performances have shown that he can be a dependable goalkeeper but he needs to back it up with consistency and at least, staying fit to be available for selection.

Rating – 7/10

Vito Mannone – 13 Apps, Two Clean Sheets

Since arriving at Arsenal as far back as 2006, Vito Mannone has still failed to convince anybody that he has what it takes to be the custodian between the sticks for a top side like Arsenal. This season, injuries to Szczesny and Fabianski paved the way for the big Italian to stake his claim for a first-team berth and clean sheets against Stoke (away) and Liverpool (away) must have done wonders to his confidence.

He was wrongly benched for Szczesny against Southampton (home) and conceded from a penalty on his return to the first team when the Gunners played Montpellier (away). When he was tested against bigger opposition, he failed to impress as he was caught in No Man’s Land when he came to claim a cross against Manchester City (away), allowing Joleon Lescott to score into an un-guarded net.

His performance against Chelsea (home) didn’t inspire confidence in his back line and despite the fact that Thomas Vermaelen clumsiness played a role in both fouls that led to Chelsea’s goals, Mannone should have done better in both set pieces, as he failed to dominate his area in Fernando Torres’ goal and was caught out as Juan Mata’s free kick crept into his net.

While he could be blameless for all goals conceded against Schalke 04 in both legs, he gave his manager a cause for concern when he failed to deal with a cross against West Ham (away), allowing Andy Carroll to head the ball narrowly wide.

In my honest opinion, Mannone is a decent goalkeeper but I don’t feel that he has a long-term future with the club, and it would do him some good if he seeks a move elsewhere, where he doesn’t have to be under the radar all the time.

Rating – 6/10

So there you have it, the first of four posts focused on different playing positions in the team. My take on the defense comes up next.

This article was originally published on Gooner Daily – you can check out their Facebook page here.