Archive for July 27th, 2010

Ready Or Not: Wojciech Szczesny

925 comments July 27th, 2010

Hello and welcome to the latest offering in the Ready Or Not series, which has so far looked at Jay Emmanuel Thomas, Jack Wilshere, Henri Lansbury, and Jay Simpson. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so it seems this feature is going OK.

Today we look at Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Sczczesny – probably the most exciting talent at the club whose name I still can’t spell.  There’s been hype around him before – his loan spell at Brentford last season attracted plenty of attention – and the BBC produced this helpful little clip to familiarise the uninitiated with his acrobatic antics:

Not satisfied with that, I spoke to a load of Brentford fans from the Griffin Park Grapevine. Here we go:

How big an impact did Wojciech Szczesny make at Brentford?

Huge, he must have earnt us at least 10 points last season.
Massive. In my opinion, the best keeper i have seen play for Brentford FC since i’ve been going, 1973, so you can see he has made a huge impact.
Massive, one of the best keepers I’ve seen here, although the impact was probably exaggerated by the fact he replaced a donkey in goal.
As everyone says he had a massive impact on the team,and the thing that struck me was that he didn’t mind going to elbow merchants like MK Dons and Wycombe on cold December nights…in fact he seemed to relish the prospect.
Huge. He helped solidify a defence that was a bit wobbly to say the least. I think he was worth at least 9 points to us, possibly more.

What was his best moment at Brentford?

Very difficult to pick one there were so many.
You cannot single out one but the numerous saves he has made. When mere mortals wouldn’t have!
Too many to mention but the one that springs to mind is the acrobatic save he made at Norwich from a header, reflexes were incredible.
I can’t remember the opposition,but it was a home game not long after he joined us.Someone sent a fierce but wayward shot accross the box that deflected off a defender and was heading straight for the bottom corner at pace.Looked a certain goal…but not with Woj around!He somehow managed to throw himself across goal and claw the ball out…and keep hold of it so the onrushing forward didn’t have a sniff.When asked about it afterwards he said he had been “lucky”…refreshing attitude.
There’s a lot but I think Norwich (A) for me where he made two or three astonishing saves, which can be seen on that YouTube video.

What are his main strengths and weaknesses as a player?

Commands his his box very well and is a superb shot stopper. Doesn’t really have any weaknesses that I saw.
He’s quick on the ground, closing down the attacker, he has superb reflexes and i’d take Wojciech on a one on one every time against a forward!
Great reflexes, very commanding of his area. Weaknesses were his distribution.
Can be a bit hot-headed at times.Will have to watch his lip with Ref’s like Steve Bennett about.
Strengths: Reflexes; Command of the area and when one-on-one with a striker you always felt he could make the block. Weaknesses: He had one bad game for us, against MK Dons (H), where he mis-read a couple of high balls. I think his kicking probably needs work, although as one of my fellow GPGers noted it is unlikely he’s going to need to hoof the ball 50-60 yards to the ‘big fella up front’ when playing for Arsenal. In truth lack of experience is probably the main weakness.

What is his best position?

Err, scrap that.

Which top flight players does he remind you of?

Peter Schmeichel.
None, he is himself, a great prospect for a club like Arsenal.
Fabianski (Ed: I hope he’s joking)
Reminds me a bit of Seaman actually…before he turned into a liability.
Petr Cech.

Do you think he could be an Arsenal player?

Yes – I think he is better than the 3 clowns you already have.
He should be your No.1.
Only if he gets some more league one experience 😉 . In all seriousness I think he definitely will, goalkeepers are at a premium at the moment, especially at Arsenal.
He will be an Arsenal player I’m sure but don’t throw him in too early,let him get some experience elsewhere…but if it’s not at Brentford then please don’t loan him to anybody else in this league!
Yes. He probably needs a bit more experience though. Much as I’d love him to come back here for another season I think it might be better for his development if he were loaned either to a Championship team with a bit of a reputation for passing football or to Premiership ‘struggler’ like Blackpool. (Although being Blackpool’s keeper this season might be confidence shattering).

Thanks to BeeHomeSoon, WandererPaul, Westlad, Lostbee and Lokster for providing those answers.

Suffice to say, he sounds a bit awesome.  But it’s a big step up from League One to Champions League, and Wojciech is still only twenty.  When you answer the following poll, try to put out of your mind the fact that he looks almost certain to have a crack at the number one shirt eventually, and ask yourself this: is he ready now?

Is Wojciech ready?
Ready
Not

The answer could go some way to determining Arsene’s transfer policy this summer.


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