Wojciech Szczesny has now become the centre of attention following his Southampton howlers and smoking incident.
Despite his obvious let-down, Bob Wilson seems to be convinced that the Pole could still feature between the sticks for the Gunners on a regular basis. Speaking to Standard Sport, the Gunners legend cited his heroics at Upton Park to justify his assumption.
“Wojciech deserves to be the Arsenal’s first choice keeper at this time. What niggles me about this recent criticism after the Southampton game is that, if people go back four days to the West Ham game, his performance was so good he won us the three points.”
He came to the rescue of the 24-year-old for the second goal stating that he’s not to be blamed. However, he admitted that Szczesny could have done a little more about the opening goal.
“If you are looking for incidents to blame him, put the first goal at Southampton against him, but don’t start arguing with me about the second goal because it was not his fault. Any goalkeeper will tell you, lying on the floor with the opposition closing in on you, you make contact and you have no chance to get any leverage on it.”
The Scotsman was cynical of David Ospina and warned the selectors to be wary of the qualities of their shot-stoppers and advised not to fall for their respective World Cup displays.
“The people in the know should recognize who is the best goalkeeper there. Ospina looked pretty good at the World Cup and he looked fine in the Hull game. He made a couple of really good catches and made one save low down. But that is all he had to do. It wasn’t a serious test.”
He advised the Polish international not to lose focus and insisted that his confidence should never be on the wane.
“He seems to be a very confident, phlegmatic boy. A problem has cropped up here and he has to remain totally focused. Wojciech needs to keep his confidence high.”
Arsenal play host to Stoke City this weekend and it’s still uncertain if Wojciech Szczesny will get the nod ahead of David Ospina.