Catching up with Wojciech Szczesny: The answer to Arsenal's goalkeeping problems?

speeds · Mar 11, 2010

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulfletcher/2010/03/the_answer_to_arsenals_goalkee.html#198750

I am sitting in the passenger seat of a left-hand drive Audi on a sunny if blustery Friday lunchtime in late February.

It is parked in the potholed car park of Brentford's training ground in west London. Off in the distance I can see trainees chasing after footballs that seem to be dancing across the lush turf of their own volition. Inside the vehicle, the 19-year-old Pole sat next to me is demonstrating the extraordinary power of his stereo.

Wojciech Szczesny is tall, self-confident, outspoken and engaging. It is also possible he is the long-term solution to what is widely perceived to be Arsenal's goalkeeping problem.

At present, Manuel Almunia and Lukasz Fabianski are taking turns between the sticks for the Gunners, but neither man has looked assured. Fabianski, for example, was at fault for both goals as Arsenal were beaten 2-1 by Porto in the first leg of the Champions League last-16 tie. Almunia will get the chance to keep the Portuguese side at bay on Wednesday as Arsenal target a place in the quarter-finals.

So where does Szczesny fit in? Well, he is currently on loan at Brentford until the end of the season after joining the Gunners as a 16-year-old in 2006. The former Legia Warsaw player has been earning rave reviews for his performances in League One and is showing the kind of promise that convinced Arsene Wenger to bring him to England.

In January this year, Wenger said of Szczesny: "We have identified Wojciech as a future great, great goalkeeper. I really believe in him that he will one day be Arsenal's number one. He has all the qualities you want from a goalkeeper."

Szczesny hopes to fulfil Wenger's prediction sooner rather than later.

"When I return to Arsenal I want to be fighting to be first choice," said the teenager, who says he will stick with his number 53 shirt until the number one becomes his. "You have to believe you are good enough to take someone's place and I want to take that of whoever is number one at Arsenal."

Ironically, that could be fellow Pole Fabianski, who also made the move from Legia to Arsenal, albeit in 2007, after Szczesny was already at the Emirates. In fact, it was Szczesny who helped his compatriot adjust to his new surroundings and overcome the language barrier.

Speaking to Szczesny, it appears he would have no qualms about relegating Fabianski down the pecking order at Arsenal, and I have no doubt that the youngster has the mental attributes to reach the very top in a position that leaves a player more exposed than any of his team-mates.

It strikes me that Szczesny is the type of person who thrives on adversity, the sort of sportsman who finds it difficult to raise himself for a meaningless friendly but who will perform at his very best if his ability is being questioned.

"I don't want people to say that I am all right or average," added Szczesny. "I want people to say I am the best and they love me, or the worst and they hate me."

It is with obvious satisfaction that he describes a game against Gillingham during which the opposition fans were subjecting him to abuse.

"I love pressure and I absolutely love getting stick from fans," he said. "The Gillingham supporters were giving it to me but we were winning and that made me feel so nice."

I am told that Szczesny, who usurped the competent Lewis Price at Griffin Park, made a sensational start to his Brentford career, an opinion that the keeper himself shared when explaining that he felt unbeatable during his first seven or eight performances.

Brentford were struggling near the relegation zone when they initially signed Szczesny on a short-term deal in late November. They have conceded 10 goals in the 13 games the keeper has played since then, moving up the table and away from danger in the process.

However, when I met up with Szczesny prior to their match at Leeds, he was far from satisfied with his most recent performances, arguing he had become "too casual".

"Being at Brentford has been a tough lesson," he told me. "Staying focused for the full 90 minutes is difficult but it is something I have to learn. I don't think I would be doing that playing for Arsenal reserves.

"As a person, I am over-confident and I have always been like that. But as a goalkeeper that is very important because if you make a mistake and stop believing in yourself then you are really going to be weak."

Szczesny trains with Arsenal during the early part of the week if Brentford do not have a match on Tuesday or Wednesday evening, receiving feedback from the Gunners training staff on his development. But if he feels in need of some extra advice or wise council then he usually calls up his dad.

That's because Maciej Szczesny is a former Poland international keeper, now a prominent football pundit on television. In fact, the younger Szczesny reckons his old man is so outspoken that he often takes stick back home for what his father has said.

Szczesny returns to Warsaw as often as he can, too, staying in his flat that overlooks the plot for the redeveloped national stadium - being built for Euro 2012 - while he visits friends and, in particular, his girlfriend. His car is littered with used plane tickets.

Szczesny, labelled the new Iker Casillas back in his homeland, made his full debut for Poland last year in a friendly against Canada, while his solitary first-team appearance for the Gunners came in a Carling Cup tie against West Brom earlier this season.

On the back seat of his car, next to an empty Curly-Wurly wrapper, is a copy of the DVD of the match against the Baggies, and it is obvious that Szczesny is disappointed he did not have more opportunities to press his claims.

A nasty gym accident in November 2008 didn't help. He broke both arms and now sports a thin six-inch scar up each forearm.

But he is now fully focused on becoming the Arsenal number one. He trained with Bolton before opting to join the Gunners and talks in hellish terms about the twice daily training sessions he was put through with Wanderers. Arriving at Arsenal, he told me, was like arriving in a different world.

There is a refreshing honesty to Szczesny, who lives in an age of dull media platitudes but who clearly has plenty of opinions and is not afraid to share them.

I finish by asking him where he sees himself in a year. The answer is direct and honest: If he is not challenging for the first-team jersey at Arsenal then he will look to go out on loan again, hopefully with a Premier League club but if not then a Championship one.

After he had driven off and I climbed on my bike for the long ride home, it occurred to me that I had not asked him whether he thought he could become as good as Casillas, so I texted him the question.

Later that afternoon, he replied: "Unfortunately I do not know the answer to that question but if you ask me whether I believe it then surely the answer is 'yes'."
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Colonel Ronan · Mar 11, 2010

[video=youtube;mOY63kPwFYo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOY63kPwFYo[/video]

Colonel Ronan · Mar 11, 2010

That was a great read, seems like a good guy.

speeds · Mar 11, 2010

No mention of Don Vito, though. Our Italian just signed a new contract. Where does he fit in?

Colonel Ronan · Mar 11, 2010

speeds said: ↑

No mention of Don Vito, though. Our Italian just signed a new contract. Where does he fit in?
Click to expand...

He's random but I'd still put him above Fabianski.

Colonel Ronan · Dec 14, 2010

Funny bump.

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