Arsenal Transfer Rumors, News: Could David Ospina Regain Starting Spot After Petr Cech's Woeful Debut?
Another start to the season. Another year to start worrying about goaltending for Arsenal.
For years, the entire universe worried about Arsene Wenger's uninspiring trust in young Wojciech Szczesny between the pipes. For years, the 25-year-old looked promising, but always offered his fair share of howlers. Often it was a lack of focus or miscommunication with his backline that cost the keeper.
Ultimately Wenger seemed to believe that affording him a solid backup last summer would give him the competition necessary to push himself to the next level. David Ospina, the man purchased to provide that competition, wound up taking over the starting role and the Polish keeper was sent packing this summer.
Ospina looked like the main man for a bit, but he found himself a backup when Petr Cech was purchased this summer. The Czech legend was seen as a huge upgrade and a likely reason that Arsenal would go to the next level.
One game in and the question beckons -- will Ospina regain the reigns by season's end?
Cech earned himself the nickname "Wojciech Szczesny in a hat" after what was undeniably a poor performance for Arsenal in the 2-0 loss against West Ham United. It was a home opener. West Ham is not one of the top teams in the league. Cech was once an elite keeper. This was a slam dunk.
Until it wasn't.
To be fair, Arsenal's offense was rather woeful, The team produced a fair share of shots, but rarely looked overly dangerous.
On the other side of the pitch, Cech made two grave errors that sunk Arsenal.
On the opening goal, a nice dead ball play, he was overly aggressive at trying to punch a ball he never got to. He was, as they call it, caught in no man's land. Had he stayed in net, he would have likely been forced into a big save, but has a better chance at making it.
The second goal however was the truly moment of ridicule. Cech had a clear look at the shot and yet he lunged the wrong way, putting himself out of position when it caught him on the near post. Yet again a display of a keeper playing the shot aggressively instead of playing positional keeping.
This is really where the curiosity lies. Cech is a fine positional keeper, his netminding succeeding because of his ability to read plays and set himself up to succeed. Jumping and lunging at balls early is not his style and certainly is worrisome.
He of course failed to get minutes in 2014-15 because Thibaut Courtois took over the reigns at Chelsea. That might be detracting from his match-readiness.
The other more worrying issue is his age. At 33, he should still be a strong keeper. However, this age is also the time when keepers can either continue playing well or start to decline.
If Cech is on the decline, then it might be the moment where David Ospina steps in and retakes the reigns. He is only 26 and is thus entering his prime. He is more of a reflex keeper, using his athleticism to get behind shots. That means that he usually stays on his line and waits for the shot. The opening goal does not go in if Ospina is net and the second is probably stopped by most average goalies on a mediocre day.
It is only one game and time will tell what happens with the Arsenal situation from here on out. One thing is certain -- there is still a goaltending controversy at the Emirates Stadium.
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