Just Arsenal News

It has been a testing time for everybody concerned with Arsenal Football Club this season, but the players made sure that it finished with a bang by beating Newcastle United at St. James’ Park yesterday. You could see the elation and relief on the faces of the Gunners and the Gooners who had traveled to see the game, but we really must do better next season.

From the position that Arsenal were in at the beginning of March, it has been a remarkable achievement. Morale was at rock bottom after a Champions League humbling by Bayern Munich and we were seven points adrift of the spuds after losing at White Hart Lane. We had also just been knocked out of the FA cup by Blackburn Rovers, so Wenger and the players did brilliantly to come back from that. .......Read the full article here

The latest rumour in the Arsenal goalkeeper situation by SS

There is an Arsenal transfer rumour going around that Arsene Wenger could be ready to make a surprise bid for Reading’s Alex McCarthy who has earned his first ever call up to the England squad this week. McCarthy would not become the top goalkeeper at the club but would instead be used as emergency cover and loaned out to other clubs with a recall option, similar to the arrangement Fulham have with David Stockdale.

Wenger is expecting Lukasz Fabianski and Vito Mannone to leave the club this summer and he has even been looking for somebody to possibly replace the current keeper Wojciech Szczesny, according to media speculation. .......Read the full article here

A lot of Arsenal fans have been buoyed by the recent performances of Wojciech Szczesny in the Gunners goal and convinced that Arsene Wenger no longer has to sign a new keeper in the summer transfer market. The Polish international is still only 23-years old and is showing again the talent and potential that made us believe we had a world class player on our hands.

The thing is though, and Wenger has realised this, that Szczesny needs the competition. The manager previously tried to encourage Szczesny by telling him that he was the number one and the young keeper got complacent, maybe even arrogant. He has reacted well to being dropped in favour of Fabianski, but he clearly needs strong competition to bring the best out of him. .......Read the full article here

It is being reported in Portugal today that Arsenal have had a bid of 10 Million Euros rejected for Sporting Lisbon Keeper Rui Patricio. The bid is worth around 8 Million Pounds and was rejected immediately but Sporting have told Arsenal the player will be available if the price is right, apparently.

It is a shock to me that Arsenal are actually going through with the reports that they are to buy a new goalkeeper this summer. Wojciech Szczesny has been the first choice keeper for over two years now and he has performed well overall. He has made a few mistakes here and there but every player does that, it will be interesting to see what does happen to the Polish international if Patricio is brought in. .......Read the full article here

There have been hundreds of Arsenal transfer rumours linking the Gunners with every available keeper in Europe ever since Arsene Wenger first dropped Wojciech Szczesny for the Champions League game in Munich, with most Arsenal fans expecting Wenger to bring in an older more experienced keeper to keep the Pole on his toes.

Despite all these rumours, no-one has mentioned the Australian Mark Schwarzer, who was famously the centre of a tug of war between Arsenal and Fulham back when Mark Hughes was their manager. Wenger is obviously an admirer of the 40 year-old and would surely consider bringing him in, especially if Lukasz Fabianski doesn’t sign a new contract this summer. .......Read the full article here

A Defence To Rely On? That Doesn’t Sound Like Arsenal… by DG

In recent years, Arsenal’s defence has become somewhat of a stereotype to beat us with. Since the glory days of Adams, Dixon and co have passed, we have struggled to put together a truly dependable and cohesive back line that could be depended on week in week out. In recent years, scoring goals has simply not been an issue, but keeping the opposition out certainly has been. Gone were the days that our back line would strike fear in to the heart of opposition strikers. In were the days of Eboue, Sylvestre, Squillaci and Djourou. .......Read the full article here

Now this is a very interesting conundrum for Arsene Wenger as he ponders who to put in the Arsenal goal for next Tuesday’s game against Wigan. Wojciech Szczesny was dropped for the Champions League game away at Bayern Munich after some inconsistent performances and was swiftly replaced by Lukasz Fabianski who went on to perform well in five wins in a row (conceding just three goals) before being cruelly injured against Norwich.

Now the 27 year-old is back fit and ready and expects his place back from his younger compatriot. He said yesterday on Arsenal.com: I’m hoping that it’s going to go my way,” .......Read the full article here

So in the end, as our goalkeeping seer Wojciech Szczesny predicted, the Spuds didn’t have the quality to overcome a Chelsea side at Stamford Bridge for the first time in 23 years – although a few Arsenal hearts must have been beating extra fast when Bale, who had been kept quiet for most of the match, lined up to take that edge-of-the-box free kick deep into injury time. But there was to be no late Bale-Out on this occasion.

The result puts Arsenal’s fate back into our own hands with only two games remaining, but realistically rules out any chance of snatching third spot, barring a Chelsea collapse. .......Read the full article here

The Polish keeper Lukasz Fabianski was plunged back into the Arsenal side in the impossible-looking away game at Bayern Munich but managed to come back with a clean sheet and it looked like he had cemented his big chance to replace thev out-of-form Wojciech Szczesny for the rest of the season.

But as usual he got an injury and Wenger had to choice but to reinstate Szczesny in the first team, and he has also seemed to come into some good form when called upon. Now that Fabianski has returned to fitness he is fully expectingv Wenger to drop Chezzy back to the bench. He said today: “I’m hoping that it’s going to go my way,” .......Read the full article here

All of the Arsenal fans love Wojciech Szczesny and most of us think he has the abilty and potential to be one of the best keepers in the world. Up until a few weeks ago, though, his future at Arsenal looked uncertain after his form tailed off dramatically in a season to forget for the Polish international.

It looked like Arsene Wenger would have to spend at least £10 million of his summer transfer budget on a new number one and there was speculation that Szczesny would leave the club after seven years. Since then, though, he has done everything right, starting with completely distancing himself from his father’s comments about Arsenal and the French manager. .......Read the full article here

It is an often used adage in the world of football that goalkeepers have to be a little bit crazy, and the Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczesny can certainly tick that box on his c.v. You have to love him, though, because he often comes out with things that most other players would not dream of saying, whether they think it or not.

Another reason we Gooners like the Polish international is because he really feels for the club. He joined the club as a boy and has been a Gunner for seven years now, often declaring that he would like to stay at Arsenal for the whole of his career. He backed Arsene Wenger and the club ahead of his own father recently, after Szczesny senior cticised them when the keeper was dropped. .......Read the full article here

This is exactly the kind of headache that Arsene Wenger would like to have in every position as he now has to decide whether to keep Wojciech Szczesny in between the sticks now that his compatriot Lukasz Fabianski is fit enough to be reinstated in the Arsenal starting XI.

In the run up to the QPR game, Wenger said of Fabianski: “He is still unavailable. From next week onwards, he should be alright.” which suggest he will be available for the next game against Wigan, which is still 8 days away. .......Read the full article here