Quote:
Originally Posted by TheDaddy
Reina is avaliable and despite his clanger is still the best in the division imo, Given is quality and is going to be avaliable on the cheap soon, both better options than Szczesny.
In other news some sort of illness has spread through the Arsenal changing room following todays debacle, Szczesny is the only one not worried by the outbreak though, he can't catch anything... 
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My whole point is that with a good enough defence you can get by with an average keeper. The defence should shield the keeper as much as possible.
---------- Post added at 23:12 ---------- Previous post was at 23:09 ----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by Damien
Given isn't a better option than Szczesny. He suffers from the same problem Almunia had, that he is a great shot stopper but has weaknesses in dealing with crosses and set-pieces. Commanding his area and settling the defense. Buying him would get a whole lot of nothing. Szczesny is much better at crosses and set-pieces and can command his area. Since he became no 1 the defense has been a lot less jittery (today excluded).
Reina is better but I would rather we stuck with Szczesney, he isn't at all bad and is very young. Yeah, he will make slightly more mistakes than an experienced keeper but he is already a decent keeper and will only get better. Might as well let him get the experience and we have a top keeper for the next 10, 15 years!
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And it's not just the size. Compare our two keepers and the effect they have on their defences. Camp is barely 6ft and about 10 stone wet yet commands his area, organises his defence and comes off his line to catch and punch. Smith is about 6'4 and 14 stone and whilst he sits there like a lemon on the line, and is a good shot stopper, does not do any of that. The only real change in our defence from first coming up to the last two seasons is the keeper (we had Gunter at the end of the first season), and look what a difference it made. But we had decent centre backs. Arsenal don't.