Arsenal kick off their Champions League campaign this evening with a trip to Belgium to take on Standard Liège in the opening fixture of Group H. Arsène Wenger is without Manuel Aluminia and Łukasz Fabianski so one of Reserve goalkeepers Vito Mannone or Wojciech Szczęsny will make their European debut.
The two rookie stoppers only have a single top flight appearance each – but one of them will feature in the most prestigious club competition in the world. Mannone’s came during last seasons final Premier League fixture against Stoke City, while Szczęsny’s was as a 15-year-old for former employers Legia Warsaw. Wenger has already hinted that he will field Vito this evening but the exciting Wojciech surely deserves the opportunity more.
Over pre-season the imposing Pole showed he had developed from a promising boy into a dominant man. Superb saves during brief appearances on the Austrian tour earned Szczęsny his inclusion into Wenger’s squad for the new term where he will do battle with Mannone to be third choice. The Italian’s nightmare loan spell with Barnsley in 2006 has left concerns over whether Vito can handle the pressure of stepping up from Reserves level.
Szczęsny may not be as good at organising his defence and lacks a little in kicking ability, but in terms of agility, reflexes and size, the 19-year-old is the stand out option. His recent call up by Poland for the World Cup qualifiers is proof of how highly regarded he is and there is no doubt the coming years will see the monster ‘keeper grow into a real candidate for the number one jersey.
Wenger will probably over look Wojciech this evening – we’ll find out later if it was the correct decision.
Article By – J.Sanderson
nice article mate. do u think watt will get any playing time tonight??
I think Wenger’s already on record as saying Mannone will play.
I know hes a kid but I would certainly be much happier with Wojciech in goal than Mannone. Mannone just does not inspire confidence and I cant see what Wenger sees in him.
I couldn’t agree more. Mannone frightens the life out of me and looks a very ordinary keeper.
I have only seen both briefly but Szczesny looks to me to be far superior
Please irrespective of who keeps, let wilshere play today, he has an edge over Eboue or bertnder on the right, he drive into the opponents box and could cross better
Completely agree. Chesney is the man.
He was a little shaky in the last reserves game, though. Not sure if he’s ready to step up just yet.
Wojciech may be the better keeper but it has to go to vito.if Wojciech started it would destroy vitos confidence.
One thing that suprised me about Mannone is his height hes a massive guy on tv he looks short. Went to the emirates cup he looked massive.
Mannone for me is a quality goalkeeper i do like him alot and i think he could be a futuren number 1 italian goalkeeper.
But for me a goalkeeper needs to be at least 6ft 4/5 nowdays especially for arsenal who have got a short team. Szscensy reflexes are superb and his catching from crosses is impressive
Not as bad as McDermott in the U18 game.
Sorry but although his reflexes & shot stopping looked good, decision making (i.e.when to come out) was shocking…
Re: the reserves game, he looked confident to me and the rest will come with experience…
If he played in the WC qualifer then he is ready for Champions League matches. We will find out shortly if it was the right decision or not.
Mannone,on the verge of becoming the worst ever keeper to play for the Arsenal in a competitive game.I wonder what the Barnsley fans think of this after his laughable stint there.
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I really hate bobbygee
Aw come on, have you actually read bobbygee’s blog? it’s unintentional comic gold. Much like this match. No shit Chesney deserved the nod.
seems vito was good choice then!
Manonne was poor in the Standard Liege game.
Joseph what allot rubbish .Vito have no chance on the two goal .on this match you cannot tell if he was good or bad because of little thing he have to do.i still prefer chesney over him so
Agree with samuel BOBBY stop spamming all arsenal blog and return to your piss poor blog
did szczesny actually get named in the poland squad or was he just training with them while being part of u21 squad.
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JS Lee Nyugen suppose to be training with arsenal. Any news on him? Know he played for PSV and a vietnam club which has links with arsenall
Lee Nguyen is from Hoang Anh Gia Lai, I heard that he may play next reserve game because it is a part of his deal with HAGL and the deal between HAGL and Arsenal
John – Where did you heard about Lee Nyugen news? Is he really that good? I heard he is shit.
“John – Where did you heard about Lee Nyugen news? Is he really that good? I heard he is shit.”
Not being racist here but if he is vietnamese/thai/chinese/japanese/Korean and half decent he is well worth having for comercial reasons. Inamoto was shit for us on the pitch but we had a huge number of shirt sales in Japan and it grew the fanbase.
Many big clubs are searching for the next good East Asian player for this reason.
I agree with you Neal. That was acctually my first thought.
how do i get to see the reserves, under 18’s etc etc play? I wanna go to some of their games this season.
keep up the great work J
He played last season for danish rock bottom outfit Randers – he played in 22 matches last season with nothing to show for it. crap player only here cause of friendly relations with his vietnamiese club. Will only train with our B / youth squad.
I watched the game last night and think that Vito cant be judged on 1 game.imo he should be given a game against Wigan – just to see how he copes & what he’s made of. Wigan aren’t the same as last yr and Vito needs a run in the 1st team to get used to the pressure of playing in the EPL.
Vito should have saved the first goal. It was entirely Dudu’s fault but it was a piss shot. He stepped to the right just before the shot so he was very badly positioned. Dudu no. 1 to blame but thereafter Mannone and Diaby for not trying to block the shot.