Categorized | Arsenal

Just what does Fabianski have to do to get a break from pundits?

Posted on 06 December 2010. Tags: , , ,

Written by: LadyArse on December 6, 2010.

I had a dream last night (you’ll have to bear with me, I don’t usually remember them but have been having some mighty strange ones lately) that we were playing Man U away. For some reason it wasn’t being shown on TV in its entirety anywhere. At half time the coverage began and the second half was just about to start. We were six nil up and I couldn’t believe it. Very quickly after the restart Man U got one back, but I wasn’t too worried. From what I’d heard we had played them off the park so it would only be a consolation. Then they got another, then another. These were some seriously freaky goals, I think Macheda shanked one in from around 45 yards.

In amongst all of this the ref was giving them everything, and I mean everything. Even when it was a stonewall penalty to us he was giving them free kicks higher on the half-way line. The referee was Mike Dean

Then the coverage started to have ad breaks. No one could explain this to me and my nerves were shot because every time the match came back Man U had managed to score another goal. Basically, in the second half we had turned into the footballing equivalent of shit on a stick.

At 5-6 the coverage went to a break but then didn’t come back. There was nothing on the radio, no Internet streams, no twitter coverage, nothing. It was hell.

That’s when I woke up.

What does this matter? Well, the above scenario, while farfetched, is actually quite possible given how we play. We create enough chances to score six or more in the first half of matches and then usually fail to turn up for the second half (at least at home anyway).

It also goes to show that we are thinking far too much about Man U when we have a match against Partizan up first.

Yes, I blame you twitterati for filling my head with such stuff that my slumber was contaminated with visions of Rooney, Macheda, and condom head himself.

ferguson and his condom head

well, doesn't it look like one to you?

I also blame Bacary Sagna for coming out with statements saying that our entire season depends on the next two matches and that he doesn’t want our season to be over in December for the shear panic that was wrought upon me in my dream – how would we cope with things if we lost this match from such a strong position, how would they pick themselves up etc etc:

“We do not want the season to be over at the end of December. We want to win these next matches and give even more power to the team”
.
I understand the need to take matches against Man U very seriously, but on the one hand it is ridiculous to say our season would be over simply by losing to Man U while we currently sit top of the league, and on the other, as Sairax pointed out, we are just as likely to beat United then lose the following week.   It also heaps untold pressure on the team, what if they do lose that match, what then? How do they approach the following matches if they think their season is over? I appreciate his sentiment, but it was a stupid thing to say.

Speaking of which, other stupid things people say is ‘Arsenal need  to buy a goalkeeper’. It is lazy punditry of the most annoying kind. It also shows you have not been watching this season when Fabianski has saved us more points that he has come close to costing us, and sits 6th with a shot percentage of 74 (our average last season was around 64) while Reina, that great Liverpool keeper who would save all our problems sits in 16th place. After a week in which we saw many blunders from Reina and Joe Hart, to hear pundit after pundit saying ‘if Arsenal could only get a goalkeeper’ drives me absolutely insane.

A friend, for reasons only known to themselves, was recently making their way through a lot of our defeats from recent years, and she commented to me how the one thing that stood out was that Almunia was always in goal. Apart from 45 minutes against Barcelona I can’t remember any other game in which the Spaniard won us the points. Sure, Fabianski has made more obvious mistakes, but this season he has saved us many, many points.

I just wonder what he has to do for people to get off his back and support him a little bit? To stay and fight like he has took magnificent mental strength, and when you see the overwhelming change of opinion towards Eboue when in the same sort of situation, I can’t help but wonder when Fab will gain the same sort of acceptance – as a player showing constant improvement and who is winning us points as I’ve said. You cannot say that of Eboue yet the crowd hold a special place for him.

Don’t say that’s because he’s the joker and the club mascot, people actually rate him as a footballer.

It’s bollocks, and I’m sick of hearing the ‘if Arsenal could only buy a keeper’ crap. The following matches are ones in which Fabianski has won us points-

Wolves away (three points)

Birmingham home (two points)

Everton away (two points)

Fulham home (two points)

Total = nine points.

Matches in which he has cost us points? None. That’s less that Reina, Van der Sar, Gomez, Robinson, Jaaskelainen, Schwarzer, and Cech, anyone of whom most of you would have taken ahead of Fabianski at the seasons start.

Just give the guy a break. Would you seriously rather have Almunia back in goal?

One of Paul Merson’s favourite lines is that you need a keeper that will save you ten points a season and Fabianski is likely to cost you that many. As you can see already, he has saved us nine, and we’re only in December.

I’m really not sure what else he can do.

He also made the Premier League team of the week AGAIN and since he claimed the number one spot at Arsenal he has been in the team of the week twice. Only Petr Cech can say that.

Team of the week goalkeepers since Fabianski became Arsenal’s number one:

Fabianksi 2

Ben Foster 1

Joe Hart 1

Jose Reina 1

Petr Cech 2

Tim Howard 1

I know people think I am a little too vigorous in my defence of him, but sometimes you have to be to counter-weight all the extreme negativity regarding his performance. People are constantly waiting to jump on him for every tiny mistake and in the meantime they are blind to what he is actually doing on the pitch.

Pah.

Other interesting stats I came across, which goes against everything pundits are also saying which indicates they think we are not worthy of being on top of the table, is the Opta rankings based on performances so far. What you can see is that not only do Arsenal deserve to be on top of the table, Man U and Chelsea are maybe fortunate to be where they are:

Team Goals Shots On Target Shot Accuracy Succ Passes
Arsenal 32 199 94 47% 6585
Aston Villa 17 156 64 41% 4015
Birmingham 16 124 56 45% 4165
Blackburn 18 126 50 40% 2724
Blackpool 23 163 65 40% 4884
Bolton 28 172 77 45% 3345
Chelsea 29 216 99 46% 6574
Everton 17 172 71 41% 4853
Fulham 15 162 60 37% 5267
Liverpool 17 160 71 44% 5099
Man City 20 134 64 48% 5987
Man United 35 177 84 47% 6432
Newcastle 23 141 64 45% 4782
Stoke City 19 155 60 39% 2577
Sunderland 19 159 54 34% 3727
Tottenham 23 194 82 42% 5144
West Brom 20 161 61 38% 4244
West Ham 14 158 59 37% 4170
Wigan 11 150 65 43% 4826
Wolves 17 133 60 45% 4404

That’s your lot for this blog. More later with an Arsenal news round-up and a first look at our match v Partizan.

arshenal tshirts

Arshenal

[ad#Google Adsense-2]

------------
If you’ve been having problems accessing this site on your work computer using the URLS globalgooners.com and gossip.globalgooners.com should sort that problem for you.

Get your free LadyArse app here for Android, BlackBerry and Windows phone [iPhone coming soon]

Get your free Arsenal wallpaper, Facebook covers and Twitter headers here

Share

About LadyArse

A blog about the Arsenal, some tshirts too
View all posts by LadyArse →

  • Barney Rogers

    This is the best, most factual and balanced blog I’ve read in a long time. Please keep it up and I’ll keep reading.

    • Anonymous

      Cheers :)

  • Joefish

    Didn’t he lose us points against Newcastle then? :)

  • Anonymous

    I don’t believe the defeat to Newcastle was Fabianski’s fault. We had more than enough chances to win that game which we failed to take. The defenders should have taken more of a role in dealing with Carroll.

    But even if you do say he cost us that game, the most we would have got without Carroll’s goal was a draw and one point, which still gives Fabianski a ‘balance’ of +8

  • Craigybaby2008

    brilliant artical mate, i cant agree with you more about fabianski, in my opion he has been exeptional this season and he’s getting better with every game, he’s taken a lot of crap and yes he has made some high profile mistakes which has had all of us seething, but 99% of those mistakes have come in times of extremely low confidence and constantly feeling under the microscope but look at the way he’s performing now he’s had a run of games, and you can see his confidence growing from game to game, i feel very happy the way its turned out and i feel confident when watching him play, i cant say that for almunia, may his good form continue!

  • Big Jim of N5

    Stop flapping at crosses like he did against Fulham?

    • Anonymous

      Seriously? He’s winning us games and that’s what you have to say? Look at Hart’s mistakes at the weekend, or Reina’s in the Europa League (or against us first match of the season).

      This is exactly the sort of thing I mean, other keepers do that sort of thing all the time and nothing gets said about it.

    • Manor House

      Against Fulham he was the last defender effectively, covering the ball which fell to the opposition player on the far post where we had no defender. He rushed out to put him off and his defenders cleared the ball off the line. Team defense! The kind of thing that builds reputations of other clubs in our case gets turned against us. We effectively have three new players to the back five in every match these days so of course we’ll look less together than other squads, but the reason we drop points is attitude when we are bossing a match. Not b/c of flapping at a few crosses. We are a team that gambles; for some it’s exciting. For playstation control freaks it’s too much to bear. Can’t please all supporters.

  • silentstan

    this blog is a oasis of sense in blog desert of tripe

    • Anonymous

      cheers :)

  • Sleepinggiant

    Ok Ladyase, we get it that you are a fan of Fabianski! My tuppence, for what it is worth is that while I agree that he has done well in his current spell, he has an awful lot to make up for. In fact, he has more than that. Quite simply, his performances UNTIL this run have marked him down as the worst player, in any position, at any club, that I have seen in almost 50 years as an Arsenal fan. On current form, I would have him ahead of Almunia, but, I repeat, until his recent spell, he was not just worse, he was immeasurably worse even than Almunia at his worst. With his countless (and I actually can’t count them there were so many) blunders, he was a bigger liability than Cygan, and, for those old enough to remember, worse than Gus Ceasar during George Graham’s early years. I had actually thought Robert Rosario, at Norwich, was the worst player I’d ever seen, but, until recently, Fabianski had taken the crown.

    So I agree, lets get behind him when he’s in our goals and I would love him to succeed. But he has an awful lot to make up for (and lets be honest, while some of his saves against Wolves in particular were brilliant, lets not go overboard about his performance v Fulham. If he hadnt pulled off those two saves, it would have been crimnal). And the question you, and every Arsenal fan should be asking is not is he a better bet than what we have, it is this: Is it acceptable for the most organically cash rich club in the world (yes, you read that correctly), to be taking a gamble on this man. We have some top players in some positions, but surely, with our vast wealth, the way to improve is to look at the more questionable players in the squad (Fab, Kos, Denilson etc), and to address how they can be replaced. Yes support every one of our players, but equallyu, lets not be blind to our weaknesses. And, for once and for all, lets acknowledge that, while buying a replacement is always a risk, it is now, finally, a much smaller risk for AFC to spend money than it is for any other club on earth.

    • Manor House

      I can respect your thought out reply, but you miss one point. That you are fixated on the past. That’s emotional and paranoid as much as evidence based. Why? B/c Fabianski is playing well at the moment so going forward, going forward, let’s get optimistic and encouraged. Surely any sports psychologist will tell you this latter perspective is more likely to encourage Fab to not return to old ways.

      • Sleepinggiant

        I dont know if I’m fixated with the past. Would you say Wayne Rooney is not a threat to us next Monday because hes currently playing like a cabbage, or would you draw on what you know of his previous form and worry that he is likely to recover his true self next week? You must understand that I dont want to think Fab is a poor keeper……its my opinion that, in general, he has shown himself to be one, and I’m worried that he, too, will revert to type.

        And I dont really buy this thing about what a sports psychologist would or wouldnt say. This is creeping into a lot of Arsenal blogs. If I think a player is poor, a forum like this is the place to say it. On the other hand, no fan should ever convey negativity to a player while hes on the pitch, and I would never consider anyone a true fan who boos or, perhaps worse, sarcastically applaudds one of his own players while at the stadium. However, this is the correct place to air ones concerns and its absolutely irrelevant to a players performance what I or anyone else says in here. And to be frank, if Lucas, or any other player, is so fundamentally weak as to be affected by words in a chat room, they have no place at a club like Arsenal, where someday they might have to save penalty in the last minute to win the champions league. Can we please have a moritoriumn on people who say that honestly expressing well grounded concerns about players is somehow not ‘getting behind the team’? Maybe under Stalin that was the case…………..

  • Richard Latimer

    Read this blog often amongst others but never commented before. I’m surprised nobody counts Man City as points won. If that Silva goal goes in early doors I think it’s an entirely different contest.

    That makes +11 points saved/won in my view.

  • Bobbyhey

    just love this blog, keep up the brilliant work.

  • http://cescisgod.blogspot.com/ JamrockRover

    I agree with you on Fabianski but I do think he cost us a point against Newcastle.

  • E9 Gunner

    This blog is positive and true. I think some fans are a bit harsh on Fabianski because of the mistakes he has made in the past, but I think its difficult for an second choice keeper to come in and play a bit-part role and expect to play consistently well when called upon. This is Fabianski’s first run of games playing week-in-week-out and also playing better than keepers we have been linked with and some of the EPL top keepers i.e Reina. At the same time Fabianski is learning gaining vital experience and could only get better. If he continues what he is doing or we win the title at the end of the season, i am sure many will claim (including pundits) that Fabianski is world class.

  • Anonymous

    LA. I’ll be happy with your dream score. Not sure my heart will though!

    Re the non flap Fab. Thanks for a great article. Personally I’m a bit worried that he may think the defence are setting him up. I mean it was his fault that Carroll was allowed an 8 yard unimpeded run…that our captain plays netball in the area…. that Kos and Squelch play Liverpool kiss…and as for letting Carew stand in front of him….
    9 goals he’s let in in the past 5 games. Imo not one his fault.

    • Anonymous

      Oh the second have was awful. I hate dreams like that that feel so real, unless they are good/fun. Being 6-0 up and watching it come back to 5-6 was not good nor fun :( Let’s just get the six and leave at that lol

  • Zman

    I understand he is our number one but your love for the pole makes me uncomfortable

    • Anonymous

      Why?

  • TrueGooner

    After watching Fabianski recent forms, I have concluded that the problems we have is not so much that our keepers are bad, but it’s the defensive mentality of the club. We don’t defend as a unit and this put our keepers under so much pressure that it requires them to make so many saves to win games. Most of the others team only need their keepers to make one save to rile them up. Another thing is we create so much chance and waste them, therefore not giving the other team’s keeper any worries. If we were deadly with all those chances we create, we would expose a lot of keepers. I believe it is important Arsene sort out the defensive problem to give his two young keepers a chance of being effective and greatness. I disagree with ladyarse about united being fortunate for where they are. For one fact despite there low form at the moment, how many games have they lost? Exactly. If they are not losing that much games on this form what happens when they regain form. Now can you actually watch an Arsenal game and say we deserve to be where we are at the moment? I don’t think so. United might be weak, but to say they are fortunate to be on the upper end of the table I disagree. Their mentality is why they are where they are.

  • Joppa

    …early days as far as Fabianski is concerned, but there is no way he is as good as you seem to make out week in week out at the moment. Over time possibly, we shall see. The saves he makes I would like to think most keepers would save. Give him a run in the team until the end of the season and then lets make decision on just how good he is – that would be fair on all.

    I thought Fabianski looked more assured against Fulham (apart from the one flap). If he can build on that and start to command the area then you may well be right but part of me thinks with the defence he has in front of him mistakes always likely to happen.

    Statistics tell us Denilson is a good player but my eyes tell me something quite different.

    • TrueGooner

      Even though your eyes tell u different, has Danielson cost us any game? My eyes and state has told me Cesc Fabregas has cost us games. What do your eyes see about this?

      • Joppa

        Does this even warrant a serious reply? If you are trying to tell me Denilson is more important to the team that Fabregas then I shall just have to laugh. Stats look good on paper, Fabregas looks good out on the pitch where it counts.

        • TrueGooner

          Yes it does, hasn’t Cesc never cost us games. Does he always looks good on the pitch? My answer is no. He might be our captain and best player, but that doesn’t means he hasn’t cost us games or hasn’t performed badly. He has on several occasions. Why I choose Cesc in my illustration is that so many of us Arsenal fans are quick to blame Danielson and Fabianski even if they are not the reason we lost a match or no matter how good they perform. A case in point is your comment about danielson. Even though he has been good this season, you chose to discredit his stats in your original post. He plays his position well and does it evertime he’s on the pitch. Its not his fault he’s light weight. Its your manager who bought him knowing real football is not allowed to be played in England. Point stop blaming players for the wrong reasons.

          • Joppa

            Sorry you are talking nonsense. Denilson gets a hard time because of the way he plays a lot of the time. Why would the Brazil national squad keep over looking him if he were as good as you make out? I agree with you on that it is Wenger who picks him – fair enough.

            You know my opinion is that Arsenal have far too many average players i.e. Almunia, Kos, Squill, Den, Bendtner. But yes it is the manager who picks them. As for the game not being able to be played in England – don’t talk tosh. The best players can play. The Lampards, Parkers, Essiens, Sholes, Gerrards etc seem to do ok.

          • TrueGooner

            There you go proving my point again. The players you name can you compare their height and weight with that of Danielson? The Lampards and Essien? These players has been playing professional longer than Danielson, whose first professional club is Arsenal. Do you know how many Brazillian players playing world wide that are better than Danielson and has never play for their national team? Why do you think the likes of Deco and possibly Eduardo and countless others had to change nationality to play on the world stage. Do you think making the brazilian squad is on being good alone. I guess by your reasoning Bobby Pires was never a good player then since Domenach never picked him. Now whose talking nonsense.

          • Joppa

            Why are we having this conversation about Denilson? At best he is average (playing in an average league I might add). I sat in the stand the other night and watched how he got dispossed and just casually jogged back into his own half whilst the opposition attacked. There was no awareness or urgency there what so ever and its not the first time I have seen that in him. Young or not the awareness is there – just look at Jack Wilshere at 18. I’m not having it that he is good enough for Arsenal – bollox is he. I am prepared to give Fabianski support because he is at least showing signs of developing. Denilson ffs.

    • Anonymous

      Steady on Joppa, give him a run in the team until the end of the season ! As AW is not going to buy a keeper and is intent on not giving Chesney a go I suppose he is going to be number one for the rest of the season. My fear is we won’t win anything with him and we’ll start next season with him as number one as well !

      • Joppa

        Hi Skid, only reason I say this is because I have seen small signs of improvement recently. Also you know for a fact Wenger will not buy a keeper and will only ever play Fabianski now. If Almunia is fit then he will be second choice – not Szczney.

        Of course I would rather have a top keeper in goal but we have what we have and that being the case I think Fabianski can have the benefit of the doubt. Put it this way people rave about Eboue who I think is a poor player. Fabianski has far more potential – albeit in a different position.

        It’s made easier for LA to say this because Arsenal are top of the league but I’m not fooled by our poor defence. I’m just hoping all the other teams are worse!!

        • Anonymous

          Every time I watch him whenever the ball goes near him I’ve got my heart in my mouth. I just feel he’s an accident waiting to happen ! The Fulham game where he had his flap, it didn’t cost us but on another day it might have. Even the games when he’s played well he’s prone to having a moment !

          I think to be the Arse number one you need to be special and he doesn’t even come close. I’ve always felt a bond with our keepers going back to Wilson, (not Barnet !) Rimmer, Woods, Jennings, Big John (who didn’t get the credit he deserves IMO) Seaman, even Jens, who was mental, the love was there, but LF no way, never going to happen !

          • http://twitter.com/jopparoad Joppa Road

            The two that stand out for me are Seaman and Jens – both quality. Lukic was the GK more often than not when I used to go as a teenager. I remember the chant “We all agree, Lukic is better than Seaman!”.

            Seaman was the best. No keeper in the EPL has been particulatly outstanding (neither has the EPL) so I agree with LA that its rather unfair to single out Fabianski. I mean what other keeper is particularly fantastic at the moment? The next few games will give us more of an insight into what Fabianski is made of.

          • Anonymous

            I was standing on the North Bank at Lukic’s last game, we knew Seaman was coming but I was gutted he was leaving. I remember he walked round the ground and threw his gloves into the crowd. It all worked out well in the end, but maybe it’s got something to do with being at Anfield in 89 and John being our keeper, but he’s a legend in my eyes ! One other thing with LF, I’m not sure if you’ve mentioned this in the past but I don’t think there’s one Prem club who would take him over their current number one !

  • Chir

    Your dreams LA…Lol! The funniest ever! If only the possibility of it happening wasn’t there.. Anyway great blog today. Don’t be too suprised if you see Mike Dean on the pitch. Afterall none of the stuff we’ve seen this season could have been predicted by any sane person. Oh and shame on Sagna and any other player who prioritized ManU over Partisan! Remember WestBrom?

    • Anonymous

      Apparently Howard Webb is the ref for the Man U game so we can rule my dreams out as having any sort of predictive qualities.

  • Anonymous

    It’s all about opinions, you think he’s good enough to be number one, I don’t ! If you read the papers, surf the net or watch the box 99% of the articles say we need to get ourselves a quality keeper and sort the defence out. Your support of LF is so over the top ! You can support your argument with as many stats as you like but would any of the so called big clubs give him the time of day, I don’t think so ! Would any Prem club swap their number one for him, I don’t think they would ! That says it all.

    • Anonymous

      Just give him a chance, he’s still young in GK terms. Think of Song when he was first in our team and how he got better with games (not this all new advanced Song). I’d just like his turnaround to be acknowledged and for people to stop being all over him for the slightest mistake and recognise the points he has already won us this season.

      • Anonymous

        I remember Merse in his early days was rumoured to be a target for Benfica and I thought he’s not good enough for us, flog him. I was wrong. The keeper position though is so vital and it just seems so obvious that we could do so much better. You know all the keepers we’ve been linked with and there all better than him ! Here’s another one who just came to mind who wouldn’t be expensive, Robinson, even with his Spuds background he would be an improvement !

    • Sammutuku2010

      if you can only point out to one Newcastle game (which i think should LF decided not to come out for the ball still Carrol could have scored, because he was unmarked) then he is doing great. get behind LF and he will be the goal keeper of the season. he has been more outstanding than those goalkeepers you want signed.

      • Anonymous

        If LF stays on his line, he picks the ball up ! That ball did not fly into the back of the net ! I’m guessing you have only ever seen highlights of games or you’ve only started supporting the Arsenal 5 minutes ago because he’s made plenty of errors. Go to you tube and look up the Porto game and while your at it what about Wigan !

        No team in the Prem would take him over their current number one. He’s a lightweight and not good enough to wear the shirt !

  • Anonymous

    Look, I get it, you don’t like him, don’t rate him, that’s fair enough. I don’t know what his price would be but I know it is increasing with every passing game and you cannot say that isn’t true

    • Anonymous

      If AL is valued at £1.5m in my opinion LF would be valued at £2.5m/£3m have no idea who would be interested though !

  • Robbie

    I agree with your views on fabianski, I believe he is a great keeper. I do however feel the need to point out that he did cost us the points against Newcastle and I dont believe he was the sole reason we beat Wolves, I’m pretty sure Chamakh scored the goals? Beside that, great blog!

  • Markb376

    Agree with your comments about Fabianski, I think everyone accepts he’s made mistakes in the past e.g Stoke last season, but since Almunia’s dodgy elbow when he got his chance, he’s looked a different keeper and grown in confidence from his run in the team, credit to him for that after the stick he’s taken in the past (including from me, I admit). I don’t think you can blame him for Carroll’s goal in the Newcastle game, he shouldn’t have been put in that position, and he put in a superb performance in the Wolves game. Simple fact is you can’t be a top class keeper without consistently playing at the top level and having confidence in your defence, one thing you can definitely say about Wenger is that he believes in people and gives them a chance to prove themselves, it can be frustrating at times but most of the time sooner or later he is proven right, how many managers do that without resorting to the cop out option ££££, not many ?
    If we had signed Given during the summer it would only have been a short term solution for a couple of seasons, also look at other supposedly top class keepers such as Hart who made some huge mistakes at the weekend, everyone makes a mistake at some point but with a keeper it tends to be a lot more costly. Fabianski is still young as a keeper (25) and can continue improving, he will also be increasingly pushed hard for no.1 status by Chessa so needs to keep proving himself. From his displays this season you can’t say he’s cost us points, the thing which has and will cost us points too often this season is our defensive problems at CB and LB and Song not sitting in the DM role (apparently with the approval of Wenger ?), which goes back to my point about the keeper having confidence in his defence, we badly miss TV5.

    • Anonymous

      You make some valid points but I disagree with you about LF not costing us against Newcastle. Yes one of the defenders should have been picking him up but they are equally to blame in my book. He was never getting to Carroll and if you look at it again, he runs out, stops, and then goes for a standing jump. The ball never flew in the back of the net, he made it easy for Carroll. His decision making on crosses is poor.

Categories

The LadyArse Team on Twitter