Did coaching problems and little chats do for Szcczesny?





By Eduardo

May 28 2013

When Arsene Wenger dropped Szczesny for the CL second leg in Munich and subsequent FAPL games many rejoiced in the belief that our manager had grown a pair and had become ruthless with our players. After all Szczesny was not alone in being dropped, the Captain Thomas Vermaelen was dropped too. But it seems we may be giving Wenger too much credit. A source close to the club told me that there was more to it than simply our manager deciding that Szczesny was in poor form. Indeed there were two factors, Fabianski’s contract offer and Szczesny unhappiness at his form and more importantly what Szczesny himself saw as the reasons for it.

Fab’s Contract

Firstly Fabianski who was just back from long term injury was offered a new two year contract but he was, and remains so, reluctant to sign any new deal, mainly due to his belief that he would merely be understudy to Szczesny and he would never get a fair go at becoming our first choice keeper.

He voiced these concerns to Wenger and the Bayern game was a good chance for Arsene to show Fabianski he would be given a fair chance. I’m told Fabianski was told that he was in for the Bayern game and only if he played well would he keep his place for the next FAPL game, otherwise Szczesny would be back in. Wenger was true to his word and Fabianski kept his place for the next four games till injury struck and Szczesny got back in. Now it will remain to be seen if, whoever are our goalie choices next season, this system continues to be used, and indeed if it is even a good system.

Should a player be under the pressure of knowing one bad game could see him dropped is it possible to get the best out of someone with that hanging over them.

Now to the second and more revealing info I recieved, it seems Szczesny may have upset Wenger, not with his up and down form, but for actually highlighting it to our manager, and the coaches, when he complained that he felt that the training sessions he was receiving were not tailored enough to his game specifically, and to correcting the faults in his game.

Little Chats with Mad Jens

It is claimed that when Jens Lehmann was here during the season as part of his coaching badges course he had told Szczesny that although the coaching the Arsenal keepers were getting was of a high standard in general terms, they were not player specific enough to really make our keepers the best they could be. Jens told Szczesny that he could become world class with the right coaching, and that this had to also include more work done as a defensive unit, and more use of video analysis needed to be done as a group on goals conceded.

Szczesny did not speak up at the time, but when Fabianski told him that he had found his rehab work with reserve/youth goalie coach Tony Roberts of great benefit as they had worked on specific faults in his game and on the mental side of the game too (preparation and dealing with mistakes etc) this convinced him to voice his concerns.

Change of Goalkeeper Coach

It has been mooted for a while that this summer will see some change to our goalkeeping coaching staff. Gerry Payton has been restricted in his role this season due to health issues, but the general system of coaching has remained the same. There has even been doubt cast over Payton staying. Preliminary talks have taken place with David Seaman as to his interest in taking up a goalkeeping coaching role, even on a part time basis, and Jens Lehmann has also been sounded out, but it seems Jens put forward a counter proposal and it is one that may suit all concerned. Jens does not merely want to be a Goalie Coach, he wants to be a Coach, and he has mentioned that he could do some keeper coaching as part of a wider coaching role.

Whatever does or does not happen on that front this summer, we can but hope that at the very least the coaching system our keepers use is upgraded so that they have a better chance to become the best they can be.

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