Post Match Arsenal 4 Leicester 2

[Jeff]

it is very difficult to remember mistakes by him that led directly to a goal.

Two particularly high profile ones...


His own goal against Spurs in 2021 that led to them equalising, before we collapsed. Three points from that game would have seen us finish fourth.

His mistake against Bournemouth the year before, that led to them equalising. The next goal was Schmeichel's fault too. Again we collapsed. Three points in that game would have put us ahead of Man U going into the final game - so maybe things would have turned out differently.


I'm not blaming Schmeichel for us missing out on the top four though. You can find bad misses by strikers that could have had the same impact. It's just unfortunate that Schmeichel's mistakes came at a crucial time in the season, and possibly cost us three points each time.

 

[Miles Away]

Schmeichel and nearly every other keeper in the league would have been beaten by 5 out of the 6 we have conceded. If I were you, I'd watch that Arsenal first goal again.

It was a ridiculous goal. Full of skill and intent. Nothing Ward could do.

He does look a bit slower than Kasper, and it may be he’s easily beaten from distance, but it’s a bit early to tell.

His error at the weekend was catastrophic in a lot of different ways.

 

[Brown Nose]

It was a ridiculous goal. Full of skill and intent. Nothing Ward could do.

He does look a bit slower than Kasper, and it may be he’s easily beaten from distance, but it’s a bit early to tell.

His error at the weekend was catastrophic in a lot of different ways.

The main reason I was okay with Schmeichel going was that he was slowing down. Keepers don't just go from fantastic to shite, it happens over a period of years.

Schmeichel was making fewer excellent saves. He could still produce them, but they interspersed with conceding goals I don't think he would have a couple of years before.

I watched Lloris yesterday and he's exactly the same. Still good and sometimes excellent but he's not as good as often any more.

Ward is never at the level of making top class saves consistently. He'll pull one out now and then as every keeper will. But he'll cost us points because he's error prone and doesn't make enough good saves.

I don't know the Bournemouth keeper but every other PL side has a better one than we do now.

 

[City Fan]

The main reason I was okay with Schmeichel going was that he was slowing down. Keepers don't just go from fantastic to shite, it happens over a period of years.

Schmeichel was making fewer excellent saves. He could still produce them, but they interspersed with conceding goals I don't think he would have a couple of years before.

I watched Lloris yesterday and he's exactly the same. Still good and sometimes excellent but he's not as good as often any more.

Ward is never at the level of making top class saves consistently. He'll pull one out now and then as every keeper will. But he'll cost us points because he's error prone and doesn't make enough good saves.

I don't know the Bournemouth keeper but every other PL side has a better one than we do now.

Agreed. Danny Ward wouldn’t be a number one for any other club in the Premier League.

Coupled with Amartey, who also wouldn’t make any other starting 11, it’s no wonder we’re a defensive shambles at the back.

 

[popillius]

The main reason I was okay with Schmeichel going was that he was slowing down. Keepers don't just go from fantastic to shite, it happens over a period of years.

Schmeichel was making fewer excellent saves. He could still produce them, but they interspersed with conceding goals I don't think he would have a couple of years before.

I watched Lloris yesterday and he's exactly the same. Still good and sometimes excellent but he's not as good as often any more.

Ward is never at the level of making top class saves consistently. He'll pull one out now and then as every keeper will. But he'll cost us points because he's error prone and doesn't make enough good saves.

I don't know the Bournemouth keeper but every other PL side has a better one than we do now.

Except you have no idea at all whether this is the case or not. Not a single inkling of one. You may think this, but that doesn't make it a provable fact.

Like I say, he's made one error so far that was piss poor. Along with about 6 other PL goalkeepers over the last 2 games.

 

[Brown Nose]

Except you have no idea at all whether this is the case or not. Not a single inkling of one. You may think this, but that doesn't make it a provable fact.

Like I say, he's made one error so far that was piss poor. Along with about 6 other PL goalkeepers over the last 2 games.

Thank you so much for correcting me once again. I'm trying not to have an opinion on anything that you don't like but I'm clearly still learning.

 

[TornadoShaunUK]

I don't think Ward is that bad, it's early days and the 3-1 was the sort of massive clanger you rarely saw from Schmeichel tbf but over all I thought he did fairly well, he made some pretty big saves in the game and his distrbution seemed a bit better than Schmeichel too. I think he needs to be more commanding of his area for sure.

Let's not forget we also saw supposedly the best keeper in the league in De Gea drop two even worse clangers in the same game.

One thing I'm certainly getting ****ing fed up of is Brendan Rodgers and his one dimensional 3-5-2 ****ing wing backs plus Daniel Amartey horse shit. How about 4-4-2, with Nacho and Vardy being left up at corners like the good old days. He creates more problems than he solves flicking on these set pieces at the near post...

 

[camberwell fox]

Thank you so much for correcting me once again. I'm trying not to have an opinion on anything that you don't like but I'm clearly still learning.

Well done, learning should never cease, even when the teacher is a ****.

 

[Miles Away]

Right...so here is the list:

E. Martinez
J. Pickford
A. Ramsdale
R. Sanchez
N. Pope
Ederson
M. Travers
G. Bazunu
I. Meslier
J. Sa
M. Rodak
D. Raya
D. de Gea
D. Henderson
L. Fabianski
E. Mendy
H. Lloris
Alisson
S. Johnstone

I think it's too early to say they are ALL better than Ward. Certainly quite a few are.

 

[M17TT C]

The thing for Ward with me is his age and experience to date.

He's played less first teams games than Iversen despite being at least 5 years old, maybe 7 without checking.

At his age, is he really going to improve that much?

Keepers do come into their best years later than outfield players but I don't see much difference in ability between Ward and Iversen.

The big difference is though that Iversen has massive scope to improve whereas Ward has possibly reached his ceiling already.

One more clanger from Ward and Iversen has to come in for a try.

Otherwise we've got a very highly rated goalkeeper sitting on the bench watching someone drop clangers all the time wondering what has to happen for him to have a chance.

Hopefully Ward recovers from the error but I feel such a basic error, less than 2 games into his opportunity, is going to shatter his confidence and also that of the outfield players too.

 

[jb5000]

He's played less first teams games than Iversen despite being at least 5 years old, maybe 7 without checking.

...checks...

He's 4 years older than Iversen

 

[fox58]

Brendon is blaming Fofana for being too deep and getting in Ward’s way

 

[M17TT C]

...checks...

He's 4 years older than Iversen

Wow, honestly thought Iversen was a lot younger than 25!

He really needs game time to improve at that age and given he wants to replace Kasper as Denmarks no 1, he won't be happy to sit on the bench too long either.

 

[Jeff]

He really needs game time to improve at that age

He's played way more games than Ward in the last few seasons.
I expected him to start the season for us, particularly as Ward wasn't involved in the pre-season games.

Unlike Schmeichel though, Ward shouldn't be undroppable, so if he doesn't cut out mistakes like Saturday's he should be dropped.

Iversen should be very pissed off if he doesn't at least play in the Stockport game.

 

[jb5000]

Wow, honestly thought Iversen was a lot younger than 25!

He really needs game time to improve at that age and given he wants to replace Kasper as Denmarks no 1, he won't be happy to sit on the bench too long either.

Could be. But could it not also be that the arguments about Ward's career to date can be applied to Iversen too?

 

[popillius]

Thank you so much for correcting me once again. I'm trying not to have an opinion on anything that you don't like but I'm clearly still learning.

Well, perhaps phrasing it as such might help.

D-
Keep trying.

 

[M17TT C]

Could be. But could it not also be that the arguments about Ward's career to date can be applied to Iversen too?

Ward appears to have been happy to play second fiddle for most of his career.

29 years old and less than 50 league starts doesn't show as someone who has pushed to be given an opportunity.

Sure he might have some medals to his name, but how many did he actually play a part in earning?

Iversen has pushed for loan moves to show his worth and I fully expect he will do the same if he hasn't had a chance by January.

 

[popillius]

Well done, learning should never cease, even when the teacher is a ****.

The teacher being a **** is a given in this circumstance. The student being stupid enough to make the same mistake time and time and time again however is ****ing daft.

 

[SilverFox]

I've answered some of this in the message I've just posted above, but to the point in bold - that's because Kasper wouldn't be getting beaten by some of those efforts.

Maybe I'm being harsh on Ward for Arsenal's 4th and Brentford's equaliser. I think Kasper may have got to Arsenal's 4th. I think he would've at least dived for Brentford's equaliser...

For Arsenal's 1st, Ward was effectively lobbed in a crowded penalty area from about 10 yards out. No way he should've been as far off his line as he was. I don't feel like you'd see Schmeichel caught like that.

For Brentford's 2nd, it's not so much that Ward was beaten, it was that he was rooted to the spot and wouldn't have even been near it if it was 2 yards further inside the post.

It's the reactions and agility that concern me more than the goals conceded.

Ward might not be an awful keeper, but anyone who thinks we've not significantly downgraded is kidding themselves - otherwise Ward would've been playing more before now. He simply will not make the key saves Kasper has been capable of making.

We have indisputably downgraded. Ward didn’t push Kasper for his spot in all the time he was here. The reason for that is blindingly obviously. He isn’t as good. Why we let Kasper leave for a snip at this stage in the window is utterly beyond me. Something at LCFC is very wrong indeed.

 

[popillius]

We have indisputably downgraded. Ward didn’t push Kasper for his spot in all the time he was here. The reason for that is blindingly obviously. He isn’t as good. Why we let Kasper leave for a snip at this stage in the window is utterly beyond me. Something at LCFC is very wrong indeed.

We needed high wages off the bill and quickly. Nobody wanted any of our dross so we had to look to get money shifted off the books elsewhere. The manager considered he had two keepers both of whom were capable of stepping up and, at present, there is no real evidence that either of them are unable to do that. Add to that Kasper’s desire to leave and the story is a fairly simple one.

Nothing is wrong. It all makes sense really. The manager may have made a mistake in trusting the keepers he has and time will tell. If it ends up costing us 3 or 4 places then I am sure it will be dealt with either in January or at the end of the season when the club, hopefully because of what it is doing now, will be in a better financial position.

I am astounded by so many people willing to put on their tin foil hats and swallow up a conspiracy theory about how we are in desperate trouble as a club and that something rotten is going on…. It’s just rubbish. We have invested heavily in infrastructure and will continue to do so, we are being careful to make sure we don’t end up falling foul of FFP and we have a squad perfectly strong enough to finish in the top 10. They may not do that this year but clubs go through peaks and troughs; that is natural. It doesn’t mean that we will suddenly implode.

People need to calm the **** down, stop throwing their toys out of the pram and have some patience before assessing the season ahead as a disaster that will almost certainly see us in a relegation fight. If we are still looking like conceding every 5 minutes in a few games time and if results look to be nose diving consistently then I’m sure changes will happen at management level.