Arsenal kept the wrong keeper

Goal-line technology is a wonderful thing when you are on the right end of it. Had Kevin Friend’s watch not vibrated last night you would have to believe he would have missed the goal and Swansea would be feeling very hard done by.

Someone who may feel hard done by is David Ospina – who was adamant he had kept the ball out – who has been bearing the brunt of Arsenal’s shock defeat, or at least what is left of the brunt after Arsène Wenger has absorbed the bulk of it.

It is harsh to place blame on David Ospina who overall hasn’t done much wrong since he came into the starting line up at Arsenal but then again, diving back into your goal when you’re standing on the line is pretty amateurish.

Arsenal have fallen short for a number of reasons this year and the goalkeeping department might not be one of the obvious areas for improvement as there haven’t been many high profile errors to speak of bar the Southampton game but it’s probably, paradoxically, the most glaring hole in our squad.

There has been a flurry of people betting on Arsenal putting in a bid for Petr Cech in the summer or, like me, using a Betfred promo code to bet Arsenal will be strengthening the goalkeeper department this summer.

Arsenal doesn’t have a reliable number one keeper and whilst we seem to have eradicated the type of fear we had when seeing Almunia and the nervous incarnation of Fabianski fighting for the gloves we’ve replaced it with “meh-ness”.

Wojciech Szczesny is clearly a talented individual with bags of potential but we’ve been saying that for 6 years. He seems quite immature at times and that is holding him back. We could wait for him to finally grow up but we have to ask ourselves how much being a starter at Arsenal is stopping him from growing up? Is he the sort of person who needs to be kicked into check, someone who needs life to knock him down a bit for him to realise he is holding himself back?

Arsenal want to win the Premier League title and based on their form this calendar year it’s hard to argue the don’t have the talent. They’ve proven they can win big games, they can mix it up and grind it out, they have goal threats all over the pitch and an improving defence with quality players ready to step up to start or play in rotation.

The missing ingredient isn’t a striker; we’re actually scoring plenty of goals. It isn’t a defensive midfielder; Coquelin has become the answer. It isn’t a central defender; we have two of the league’s best and Gabriel waiting to usurp one of them. The missing ingredient is a top class goalkeeper.

Last season we had a top class goalkeeper and I’m not talking about the joint golden glove winner. I mean Lukas Fabianski. He finally sorted out his confidence issues and overcame his self-imposed mental barriers to perform cup heroics and keep us in the hunt for, and win, our first silverware in 9 years.

This season he has been one of the top performing goalkeepers in the Premier League in what is an inferior defence. He has kept them in a lot of games and made others look respectable. Arsenal may not have tested him much, with most shots put straight at him, but he made the saves when called upon.

The trust mark of a top class keeper is making the only save you have to make. Much is made of outfield defensive errors that lead to goals but in circumstances like last night it would be wrong to blame the defence for being pulled away. Sure, Koscielny could have done better and was once again caught ball watching and not tracking the player but Gomis’ goal wasn’t one where you could hold your hands up and say “there’s nothing the keeper could have done”.

Ospina is a solid keeper but he isn’t commanding, he doesn’t strike fear into the opposition, and he isn’t making enough of the few shots he is being asked to deal with. He could have done so much more with Gomis’ shot. He barely had anything to do in the entire game and let in a goal that should have been a straightforward palm around the post.

Fabianski didn’t do anything special apart from that double save, which showed great agility, awareness and determination, but he kept a clean sheet. He made the saves he was expected to make. We should have kept Fabianski, we should have done more to convince him he would be number 1.

Arsenal needs a new goalkeeper. Ospina isn’t a title winning keeper and Szczesny isn’t reliable enough despite being talented enough. You want a mix of the two. You want Szczesny’s talent and physique being controlled by Ospina’s temperament and humility. You need a top class keeper to win the league, not a good one, or an "amazing on his day" one but a truly top class keeper.

Petr Cech is the bookies favourite but Mourinho isn’t a fool and he knows better than to hand Wenger players who will improve Arsenal. Cech could force a move and Mourinho might not have much say in the matter but if he isn’t available attentions need to be turned elsewhere.

Casillas is rumoured to be angling for a move to Arsenal and Begovic has been watched by Arsenal for a few seasons now and either would be a superb choice to be Arsenal’s number one.

If Fraser Forster wasn't injured for a year I would be banging the sign him drum. Arsenal's need for a top class keeper has never been greater and the scouts have their work cut out.

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