Arsene Wenger has backed Wojciech Szczesny after the the keeper apologised personally for the dressing room incident which saw him fined by the club this week.
The Arsenal manager was coy about whether or not the number 1 would return to the starting line-up against Stoke on Sunday, but after a week of heavy criticism seemed determined to take some of the pressure off the 24 year old.
“I like Wojciech as a person,” he said. “When he makes a mistake he stands up for it. He has contributed as well to the good image of Arsenal football club. He is a guy who learns from his mistake.
“I am happy with his development. Yes, he did apologise. He is a serious boy who works very hard. He made a mistake. He is not the first one and not the last one. Every club has its own internal discipline or rules. It doesn’t need to be public.”
“I’m against smoking but have grown up in a period where, to accomplish military service, you are paid by cigarettes.” You were encouraged. When I was a young boy I was surrounded by smokers. I smoked myself when I stopped playing and was a young coach. I was only alerted later. We know now it’s not good.”
Wenger was also asked about the comments of Szczesny’s father but dismissed them out of hand, saying, “I don’t listen to the fathers, mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers.”
We’ll see on Sunday if the apology is enough for him to keep his place or if David Ospina will remain in goal after his performance against Hull.
Good to hear
No public punishment? Shame, I was looking forward to seeing him in the stocks and throwing soft toys at him.
Outside of Szczesny being very good against West Ham and total shit against Southampton this whole thing seems very odd.
The only thing I give a rat’s arse about at this point is whoever we put between the sticks against the Orchs and going forward gives us the consistency of performance Szczesny gave at Upton Park.
nc.
Would you have said that Szczesny was very good against against West Ham had they scored in the stoppage time when he decided to come off his line and failed to punch the ball clear? He makes some great saves, alright. But he comes with a disclaimer of committing an odd mistake every single game. It might be kicking the ball casually at the strikers (Sturridge), an odd astray pass (Ibra), coming off the line carelessly are some that I remember off the top of my head. Now, these are all avoidable mistakes but the fact is, he has struggled… Read more »
I agree, some of the mistakes that Woj makes are totally avoidable. I also agree, he can be a world-class keeper which he is certainly not right now. However, the only way he’ll be world class is by playing more. I’m not saying play him through bad performances. If its really causing jitters in the defence for long, bench him. Usually its a few crazy moments, and he has improve his judgement and iron such problems out. The FA cup fixtures will surely be given to Ospina. The problem is that Ospina is 6′ tall. He’s a very solid keeper,… Read more »
Excellent comment. Also sending off against gala meant Martinez had to play away in what could have been an important match. Never mind the ones before
It’s only a mistake when it goes wrong. You may not have had confidence that he would clear that ball against West Ham, but he did. If you beat him with a stick for clearing the ball successfully then I will have an equally valid position if I beat you with a stick for not using the word antidisestablishmentarianism in your post. If you are saying that the goals against Southampton were due for a long, long time then you have also said, with the same phrase, that he did not make any mistakes that led to a goal for… Read more »
“I don’t listen to the fathers, mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers.”
My day has been made!
Wenger doesn’t always humour me, but every now and then he comes out with an absolute gem!
Here’s my favourite…
“I tried to watch the Tottenham match on television in my hotel yesterday, but I fell asleep.”
Or –
“See that Mrs Ferguson – UGGGGG-LY or wha?”*
* I may be paraphrasing
That was epic, no lie!!
I would have liked to at least see him hand over that 20K fine to the BFG in some kind of Instagram related manner.
I miss Podolski
Hmmmmm AW doing military service?
You can only hope that he wasn’t put in a forward observatory role… “I did not see ze column of Soviet tanks, General”
Or the engineers… “Pte Wenger, when will the bridge be ready?” “around two weeks. Then it will be like a new bridge”
etc etc and so on
Or rather: ‘When the bridge is done you will be the first to know’
‘I believe we already have enough quality guns and don’t need anymore’
General : How is everyone doing in the battlefield??
Arsene : “I don’t want to comment on individual soldiers”
‘Why did you lose that battle?!’
‘We fought a little bit with the handbrake’
Supoib.
“The bayonet still lacks a little bit the sharpness.”
We would have taken that hill with our tanks, but had our handbrakes on a bit.
Look, we didn’t win the battle because our guns were a little bit jaded.
He was assigned to a new detail when all the machine guns he fed got jammed.
Will you be replacing the dead and the wounded on the front lines Arsene?
It’s not like you can just walk into a shop and buy the new soldiers you want, it’s more complicated than that.
Superb! 🙂
Wenger was a smoker… He is still human!
Let’s focus on the three points and not get distracted.
COYG!!!
Here’s a video about him smoking:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leXRdq840T0
Does anybody know what his father said about it?
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jan/08/wojciech-szczesny-father-arsenal-per-mertesacker-rhinoceros
Thanking you, sir.
I just can’t click on that. I know that the actual article will fail to live up to the whole “per-mertesacker-rhinoceros” thing that the URL has going for it.
Fuck me.
Is this smoking thing still a story?
For a professional athlete in this day and age… Yes.
Less so for ‘keepers, where that whole “running around like a blue-arsed fly for 90 minutes” bit is not part of the game.
Steve Ogrizovic was a decent keeper well into his forties and his fingers were permanently yellow/brown from nicotine staining. Had to be a forty-a-day or more man to maintain that.
I can vouch for that, but even then you can kick the habit.
I would like to see Arsenal offering Szczesny some sort of help to give up rather than just fining him for doing it. I’m surprised we didn’t hear of such an offer, to be honest. Every other thing a footballer can do that is perceived as being wrong leads to counselling sessions (spitting, biting, racism, playing against or alongside John Terry-the-Cunt.)
The media is always going to run with a story like this about the Arsenal.
Ospina should still be given the go ahead in terms of who starts methinks..Solid performance for columbia in brazil plus there’s no signs of the Almunia syndrome..excuse the spelling of the surname please..
The problem with Szczesny is that he tends to become over-confident after a few good performances.
Yeah you nailed it man I can’t believe nobody has had the nerve to come out and say that yet. You should apply for a job on the club’s coaching staff for that is a truly revolutionary take on the Szczesny siruation.
And a puffed-up chest after one bad one 😉
oh my.
I think thats definitely the case. But also IMO he wants to be a bigger star in the team. For as good as he is, he’s hardly in the headlines as most writers thinks hes good, not great, and to be honest he is rarely performing at a top European level, except the odd game. I think he needs to grow up a bit and show more maturity. Think of Czech when he came, and courtios now, they were/are just about the art of keeping goal. I think Woj is a bit immature, and there a little bit of ‘spice… Read more »
I think Sczcesny will come good in the end. He needs to mature a bit and cut out some of his clowning around.
He’s got talent so shame if he did a Balotelli and wasted his opportunity.
I agree he should work on some of the lax moments. Thankfully so far he’s a far cry from that truly one-off specimen that is Balotelli.
Rather than Orcs, Can we start calling them St-ogres intstead?
Wenger shot down Szczesny’s dad like a champ.
What’s everyone’s problem with a confident goalkeeper anyway? It’s the one position on the pitch where every single one of your fuckups has a direct consequence and is scrutinised by all and sundry. Confidence is just what we should be wanting from him. Anything else and we’re sat here bemoaning his ‘mental fragility’.
David Seaman actually thought he’d be good on television, now that’s cocky.
its now up to shez to prove his worth his apology, he will need to be more commanding against stoke and the robot, need to stop them getting the ball into the box in the first instance. cut off the supply
As for the robot, an electro-magnetic impulse of Muto-esque proportions should do the trick 🙂
Let wenger release Le coq and jam his coq to the robot mechanics.
If you expect Szczesnny to stop them getting the ball into the box in the first place then Indian_Gooner is going to have a terrible time watching the game. 🙂
When Ospina goes full Almunia, he won’t smoke, he would rather do coke behind the Emirates while shooting at some sp#rs scum.
people like to blame our defense for szcz’s bad form which i think is bullshit. de gea has had to play behind a weak man united makeshift defensive, but nobody has to make excuses for him. he’s elevated his game and is putting in motm performances week in week out. give me a goaltender like de gea so i don’t have to listen to excuses for szcz’s fck ups.
Why weren’t you on here ranting about Szczesny’s “fuck ups” two weeks ago?
Wenger does not look a natural pulling on that fag… It’s best he gave up a long time ago.
Arsene is from that border region where one is a little bit not enough French to smoke like zee chimney, and not so much German to drink beer in litre-like doses.
Arsene on the sidelines with a prime bottle of cognac is fine with me.
He will smash crystal snifters when he gets angry.
He could be a brilliant keeper if he matures a bit. Though his learning is costing us now and maybe he should mature in some other club like Courtois. Unsure of Ospina as no1, seen too little of him this far. Martinez did a good job in the matches he played but needs some seasons on loan to reach top level.
I don’t even know why there is a problem unless you are media or someone who listens to them without much thought.
Szsc is still young. Keepers make mistakes which get amplified. Its how he responds that’s important.
He is still number one unless he repeats the errors continuously.
Not sure what the whole smoking issue is about. Blame it on Jack.:D
Last time Chesney was dropped he came back much better!
Army? No wonder he is with the GUNners 😉