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Petr Cech, a name which has become a synonym to Premier League’s Goalkeeping, a legend in a true sense. But sadly we’re seeing the last of the humble shot-stopper as he has decided to hang his gloves at the end of the season. But being honest, Cech was past his peak when he arrived at Arsenal, and by the end of the last season, it was evident that he was no more the man to be trusted between the sticks. With that started the search of a goalkeeper who can fill his big boots, as the second choice keeper, David Ospina also was never considered being of the required quality.
Surprising, there weren’t many names which came up during the recruitment pursuit for the goalkeeping position, as compared to the other positions which usually sees Arsenal linked with numerous names. But one name which came up early and strong was Bayer Leverkusen’s Bernd Leno, someone who’s a contrast to Cech in both, physicality and playing style. While Cech was this tall, athletic, agile and physically strong keeper, Leno wasn’t the tallest keeper you would come across nor did he looked like a bulky beast. Even on the playing style side, Leno is this modern day goalkeeper who understood his duties were more than just safeguarding the goal post and Petr Cech is a yesterday’s No-nonsense Keeper. Bluntly, Leno is good with his feet while Cech just isn’t. And with Unai Emery replacing Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, it also meant a change of system at the Emirates, Emery wanted to play from the back, which means he needed his defense to be passing sensible to build an attack from the back instead of just clearing the ball from danger. Such a system wanted a goalkeeper who knew how to pass the ball under pressure from the strikers and other attacking players.
While Leno's arrival was met with an overall positive reaction, but he still had his doubters, and they weren't few. Whether one accepts or not, but Leno's transfer fee too played a part in him being judged with unconvinced eyes, because the premier league was seeing the bix clubs going in and smashing transfer records to buy in one of the most highly rated goalkeeping talents in Alison Becker and Kepa Arrizibalaga, both of whom came in with a price tag of over 70 million euros. And there was a less hyped German's third or even fourth choice keeper in Bernd Leno, which cost less than one-third of Kepa and Allison's individual transfer fee. All this makes up for a feeling of inferiority, one may look at those big numbers and feel that World class quality can't come for as cheap as 20m.
While Petr Cech did start off as Arsenal No.1 man between the sticks, but his inability to adapt to Emery's system was quite evident inspite of his obvious efforts. But his improved shot-stopping helped him keep his place in the team until he got injured midway through a match against Crystal Palace. And in came Arsenal's new boy, Bernd Leno, now it wasn't like he took these league by storm but he put in decent performances to start off. Now, Leno's shot-stopping ability or his reflexes has never been in question, infact he was known for it. Though his decision making and composure when dealing with crosses hasn't impressed even his admirers. And his demons came back to haunt him in an important match against Liverpool where he made some smart saves but his error against an incoming cross gifter Liverpool a goal. He did a similar mistake against Southampton, but this time it cost Arsenal the match and their winning streak as he comes out of his post to deal with a looping cross coming in the box and completely missed it which set free Charlie Austin to bang in the winning goal and seal the match for the Saints and end Arsenal's 22 matches unbeaten winning run.
And with these couple of mistakes, Arsenal's hope of bringing back the glory days in the goal post seemed to be dying as Leno increasing looked like another mediocre keeper to dawn an Arsenal shirt. But he wasn't to be, and he proved it with some terrific performances against Southampton and Tottenham Hotspurs.
While he almost saved the match for the Gunners against Southampton. His heroic double save against arch-rivals Tottenham would be one to remember for long. It seems like Leno is, at last, finding his feet in the Premier League because at the start of the season he looked like a player struggling with the physicality of the premier league, something he admitted himself in his interview.
While Leno still has a lot of aspects to improve on, ranging from his handling of crosses to his distributions up front. But if Arsenal ever got close to restoring the golden days of David Seaman and Jens Lehmann, then it's now, and it's because of Leno, The Flying Leno.
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| Cech, A Legend |
Surprising, there weren’t many names which came up during the recruitment pursuit for the goalkeeping position, as compared to the other positions which usually sees Arsenal linked with numerous names. But one name which came up early and strong was Bayer Leverkusen’s Bernd Leno, someone who’s a contrast to Cech in both, physicality and playing style. While Cech was this tall, athletic, agile and physically strong keeper, Leno wasn’t the tallest keeper you would come across nor did he looked like a bulky beast. Even on the playing style side, Leno is this modern day goalkeeper who understood his duties were more than just safeguarding the goal post and Petr Cech is a yesterday’s No-nonsense Keeper. Bluntly, Leno is good with his feet while Cech just isn’t. And with Unai Emery replacing Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, it also meant a change of system at the Emirates, Emery wanted to play from the back, which means he needed his defense to be passing sensible to build an attack from the back instead of just clearing the ball from danger. Such a system wanted a goalkeeper who knew how to pass the ball under pressure from the strikers and other attacking players.
 |
| Bernd Leno arrived at the Emirates from Bundesliga outfit Bayer Leverkusen |
While Leno's arrival was met with an overall positive reaction, but he still had his doubters, and they weren't few. Whether one accepts or not, but Leno's transfer fee too played a part in him being judged with unconvinced eyes, because the premier league was seeing the bix clubs going in and smashing transfer records to buy in one of the most highly rated goalkeeping talents in Alison Becker and Kepa Arrizibalaga, both of whom came in with a price tag of over 70 million euros. And there was a less hyped German's third or even fourth choice keeper in Bernd Leno, which cost less than one-third of Kepa and Allison's individual transfer fee. All this makes up for a feeling of inferiority, one may look at those big numbers and feel that World class quality can't come for as cheap as 20m.
 |
| Leno has grown into the season |
While Petr Cech did start off as Arsenal No.1 man between the sticks, but his inability to adapt to Emery's system was quite evident inspite of his obvious efforts. But his improved shot-stopping helped him keep his place in the team until he got injured midway through a match against Crystal Palace. And in came Arsenal's new boy, Bernd Leno, now it wasn't like he took these league by storm but he put in decent performances to start off. Now, Leno's shot-stopping ability or his reflexes has never been in question, infact he was known for it. Though his decision making and composure when dealing with crosses hasn't impressed even his admirers. And his demons came back to haunt him in an important match against Liverpool where he made some smart saves but his error against an incoming cross gifter Liverpool a goal. He did a similar mistake against Southampton, but this time it cost Arsenal the match and their winning streak as he comes out of his post to deal with a looping cross coming in the box and completely missed it which set free Charlie Austin to bang in the winning goal and seal the match for the Saints and end Arsenal's 22 matches unbeaten winning run.
 |
| Leno's miracle save against arch-rivals Tottenham |
And with these couple of mistakes, Arsenal's hope of bringing back the glory days in the goal post seemed to be dying as Leno increasing looked like another mediocre keeper to dawn an Arsenal shirt. But he wasn't to be, and he proved it with some terrific performances against Southampton and Tottenham Hotspurs.
 |
| Can he be the next Lehmann? |
While he almost saved the match for the Gunners against Southampton. His heroic double save against arch-rivals Tottenham would be one to remember for long. It seems like Leno is, at last, finding his feet in the Premier League because at the start of the season he looked like a player struggling with the physicality of the premier league, something he admitted himself in his interview.
While Leno still has a lot of aspects to improve on, ranging from his handling of crosses to his distributions up front. But if Arsenal ever got close to restoring the golden days of David Seaman and Jens Lehmann, then it's now, and it's because of Leno, The Flying Leno.
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