Can we go back to 2011?

2011 might not have been great, but the start to 2012 has been dismal. Whilst most people see the New Year as a fresh start, Arsenal began the year looking fatigued and tired, and in serious need of refreshment.

Hopefully that refreshment will come in the form of a couple of new players, and some enthusiasm and encouraging performances from players in the FA Cup. Despite playing well in the first half against Fulham, the busy Christmas period took its’ toll on the team and they lost all control on the game.

Some of the fundamental mistakes that we hadn’t been making in recent weeks returned at Craven Cottage. The injuries and the red card didn’t help the situation at the back, but both goals that we conceded were avoidable, and came from individual errors. What also made the match immensely frustrating was that the last results of 2011 had all gone in our favour, and a win at Fulham would have put some pressure on those above us, and kept us in the top four. 2011 ended so well, and now at the start 2012, that feels wasted.

The first half at Fulham was good, and we restricted the hosts’ opportunities well. Had we shown more confidence in front of goal, the match could and should have been out of sight for Fulham at half time. Gervinho was a main culprit, but we still should have had a penalty when Senderos tripped him. In a traditionally difficult period of the season when results really are everything, we haven’t been helped by the lack of penalty decisions going our way. In the last five league games, we arguably should have had five penalties that weren’t given. Obviously there are no guarantees that the penalties would have been scored, but they’d have given us a much better chance of winning the games that we dropped points in. It seems that all of our bad luck with refereeing for the season has come at the same time, and at a bad time. Hopefully it’ll balance out later in the season.

Before a match, looking at who the referee is can generally give you a good or bad feeling about the upcoming game, and when seeing Lee Probert was officiating the Fulham match, I didn’t think we’d suffer from dodgy decisions. However there were minor and major ones during the whole game. How Riise swinging himself round Djourou’s legs, and pushing Walcott into the advertising boards aren’t fouls I’m not quite sure. Robin van Persie was also subjected to some strong challenges, and you couldn’t help but feel Neil Warnock’s comments about him at the weekend were in the back of the referee’s mind. Djourou’s first yellow card was justified as he was late and caught Dembele, however Murphy committed a similar, if not worse, foul on Djourou in the second half that didn’t earn a caution. All fans just want consistency. That made the second yellow that Djourou received very frustrating as there was minimal contact with Zamora, and nowhere near enough to pull him down. Djourou wasn’t completely innocent though as he should have been aware that Zamora might fall and should have made sure he didn’t leave himself vulnerable to a situation where the referee could send him off.

Overall, Djourou didn’t have a great match, as it’s clear he isn’t comfortable at full back. However he’s played there enough in recent weeks to be able to do a better job. His positioning might not have always been perfect, but Francis Coquelin put in a fantastic amount of effort as a make shift left back, and someone with the same energy would have been helpful on the right. When Djourou had gone off, I’m still wondering why Sebastien Squillaci came on. He’s out of form and has barely kicked a ball this season, so why not bring on Ignasi Miquel who would have been slightly more tuned in to the pace of the game. Miquel could have gone to the left and the quicker Coquelin could have gone to the right to deal with the dangerous Karim Frei.

Squillaci’s header for Fulham’s winning goal was bizarre to say the least. Surely the basics of defending say head the ball away from your goal, or out of play, and not across the goal. Squillaci chose to head it straight across the goal to claim a good assist for Zamora. It’s very easy to blame him because frankly he hasn’t been very good since we signed him, but in fairness to the Frenchman, he was thrust into a pressured situation for his first league appearance of the season, and had to play in an unfamiliar position. Although when we’re in a serious need of points to get into the top four, there isn’t time to be sympathetic.

The Fulham equaliser also came from an individual error. Wojciech Szczesny has generally been excellent this season, and has put a firm end to all questions about Arsenal needing a new goalkeeper, however he showed he’s still young and learning his trade when he was caught out from a corner. Had that been Almunia, Fabianski or Mannone, fans might have been calling for an immediate replacement, however there is a sense with Szczesny that the mistake was an isolated incident. The Pole hasn’t made the number of mistakes that the other three have, and has the confidence to get over it. While one mistake leads to another for other players, we’ve seen that Szczesny improves following them. You only have to look at his form since the Carling Cup final to know that. Hopefully the same will happen again. In the context of the Fulham match though, his eagerness to come out of goal cost us.

As much as individual errors and refereeing mistakes contributed to the defeat, the bigger problem was how the team, and particularly the midfield, faded massively in the second half. Fulham did improve after the break, but we allowed them the possession to do so, and couldn’t keep it ourselves when Fulham attacks did break down. Arteta and Ramsey both looked knackered, and when they did have the ball, they weren’t able to ping it forward into space for the quicker players to run onto, as they weren’t making themselves available for that type of pass. It would have released pressure and made us dangerous on the counter attack.

Of the quicker players, Walcott in particular had a poor game. He missed the Wolves game because of a virus, and he could still have been feeling the effects in the QPR and Fulham games. If he was struggling, why was he risked in both games when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is waiting in reserve? Rosicky would have been more effective coming on in the centre to replace the tiring players in there, and bringing Oxlade-Chamberlain on would have meant we’d have had the option of pace on the counter attack.

I thought Laurent Kosicelny and Per Mertesacker both played well, and both did their best to hold the lead that Koscielny gave to us. Even though both looked fatigued, they dealt with Fulham’s forwards well. The only time Zamora was given any real space in the box was when he scored at the end, although that was when he was in an area that the inexperienced full-back Coquelin should have been covering, and he only received the ball from Squillaci’s poor header.

The defeat means we haven’t come out of the Christmas period as well as it looked like we would do at the end of 2011. If this is what the rest of 2012 is going to be like, is it too late to go back to 2011?

There is cause for optimism though. The players will have had a full week without a game before we face Leeds in the FA Cup on Monday, and then don’t play for another six days before Swansea, so hopefully they’ll regain some fitness. There will inevitably be some changes for the Leeds match as well, meaning we should be refreshed for Swansea.

The team selection for Leeds will be interesting as there is scope for changes in most areas of the pitch, and it’ll be anyone’s guess as to who lines up at full back. With Sagna supposedly nearing a return, I doubt Arsene Wenger will make a big signing at full back, so we’ll probably see two from Yennaris, Coquelin and Miquel filling those berths against Leeds. Hopefully it’ll be a chance for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to show he’s worth trusting in the Premier League. Yossi Benayoun, Tomas Rosicky and Andrey Arshavin should also all be in contention for starts.

Whilst there is a need for changes, we must take the match seriously. The replay against Leeds in the third round last year added to the fixture congestion, and as we play Manchester United in January, we need the tie dealt with, and our name in the fourth round.

This post has mostly been doom and gloom, but there is one name that makes me want to stay in 2012, and should get all Arsenal fans excited for the first two months of the year, even if not in terms of his current footballing ability, but just as an icon who we want to see in red and white again. Thierry Henry. Enough said. Bring on the next two months Gooners!

Source: Sam Limbert, ESPN Soccernet on 5 Jan 12

Arsenal thrived against United as the pressure was off, says Szczesny

Wojciech Szczesny has suggested that Arsenal's home victory over Manchester United was underpinned by a sense of liberation following the virtual collapse of their Premier League title hopes.

The 1-0 win on Sunday was a welcome tonic in the wake of the team's recent slump, which has seen them drift from contenders to rank outsiders, but it also raised the question as to how they could beat the league leaders yet slip up at home to other teams.

Szczesny admitted that pressure has been a factor. Arsenal were under suffocating amounts of it as they toiled through March and April, with their championship hopes all but extinguished by the defeat at Bolton Wanderers on the Sunday before last.

Against United, though, there seemed to be greater freedom and enjoyment about their football and the Polish goalkeeper accepted that the challenge now is to reproduce that form when it matters the most. The 21-year-old also had no doubts that his team-mates would be able to do so next season.

"We played with the handbrake off [against United] because there was less pressure on us," Szczesny said. "We really enjoyed our game and that made a difference. Also, we defended very, very solidly at the back, which wasn't the case in the last few weeks."

It was put to Szczesny that Arsenal could not rely on playing without pressure situations if they want to win trophies. "Of course," he replied. "That's why next season we have to prove we can step up. We believe we are good enough to make that extra step to win the league."

Arsenal have now beaten Chelsea, Barcelona and United at home this season but have dropped points against a clutch of lower-ranked teams. Prior to United's visit they had drawn the previous three home league fixtures – against Sunderland, Blackburn Rovers and Liverpool.

The Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, has complained that those teams and plenty of others had "only defended", which led to his side's frustration, yet it is incumbent on the Gunners to break down such opponents when the pressure is on. Wenger has conceded that his team "maybe lack a bit of maturity under pressure".

"We all take individual responsibilities for our mistakes," Szczesny added, "and everyone has played their part in this season's disappointments. We just have to take it as a team. You can't blame the boss because he stood by the team all season and supported us.

"There's a lot of frustration because we work hard and do our best, and it's frustrating not to be on the side that wins the championship. But we have showed we have the quality and now it's a matter of can we step up next season?

"Manchester United have been more consistent and they didn't drop silly points like we did in the last couple of weeks. Realistically the championship chances were already over before the United game, but we wanted to play for pride and show we are good enough to challenge them."

Wenger's starting line-up for the game – average age 23 years 296 days – was the youngest to play for anyone in the Premier League this season, and there was encouragement in how Aaron Ramsey stepped in for the injured Cesc Fábregas to pair up with Jack Wilshere in front of Alex Song in a slightly remodelled midfield formation.

If it offered a glimpse as to how they might cope in the event of Fábregas leaving for Barcelona this summer, although that prospect is surely not one to be embraced as they would carry even less experience without their Catalan captain.

Bacary Sagna, the defender, said that he would understand it if Fábregas wanted to win trophies with another club, after nearly six seasons without one at Arsenal, but Szczesny disagreed. "I wouldn't understand leaving Arsenal," he said, "because I believe being at this club is the best thing in the world. So, no, I wouldn't understand leaving."

As for Wenger being pressed upstairs into an administrative role, or out of the club, Szczesny was derisive. "It's ridiculous," the Pole added. "He's the best manager in the world so I don't understand why anyone would want him to leave. Let's be patient and show next year we are good enough to win the league."

Source: David Hytner, The Guardian on 2 May 11

Inside the weird world of Arsenal's new No 1, Wojciech Szczesny

From Brentford on loan last year to facing Barcelona this month, the 20-year-old Pole has had a rapid rise to the top

Wojciech Szczesny agrees. You don't have to be crazy to be a goalkeeper but it helps and it is not difficult to see where he gets it from. His father, Maciej, was a Poland goalkeeper who won the domestic title with four different clubs and Szczesny, the coming star at Arsenal, has a favourite story from his playing days.

"My dad got sent off for punching Roberto Mancini in the face," he says. "It was in the European Cup-Winners' Cup quarter-final in 1991 and if you look on YouTube you will have confirmation. It's a very clear punch. He just went straight through him. I can't wait to play against Mancini now. Maybe he will remember."

Sampdoria had just scored an 89th-minute goal through Gianluca Vialli in the second leg against Legia Warsaw but needed more to avoid elimination. Szczesny Sr grabbed the ball and Mancini, now the Manchester City manager, wanted it back. "The question for my dad was: 'Do you want to play in the final?'" Szczesny says. "But obviously being a nutter … it was: 'No.' Bang, he punched him. It was the last minute and he was suspended for the semi-final, which Legia lost to Manchester United. He wasn't very happy. I just hope that Mancini still remembers it."

Szczesny's focus is trained on making a different kind of impression at the business end of the season, having completed a whirlwind rise to prominence. This time last year he was playing in front of 6,000 fans at Brentford, during a loan spell at the League One club, and by the end of September he had grown utterly exasperated at his lack of opportunity at Arsenal. But now, Lukasz Fabianski's season-ending shoulder surgery coupled with Manuel Almunia's problems with form and fitness have seen Arsène Wenger install him as the No1.

Szczesny is 20. He has played in 11 first-team matches for the club (conceding five goals) and yet, rather abruptly, the quest for the Premier League title has come to rest, in part, on his 6ft 5in frame. He is also looking towards the Champions League last-16 tie against Barcelona plus the Carling Cup final with Birmingham City, which he hopes to start despite Wenger's policy of fielding the back-up goalkeeper in the latter competition. Szczesny has played in all bar one of the ties thus far.

Then, there is his country. Poland co-host the European Championship next year and Szczesny wants his No1 status at Arsenal to be reflected at international level. Although he has only one cap, he stands to win another against Norway next week, having been called up for the first time this season by the coach, Franciszek Smuda.

There is something about Poland and goalkeepers. The name of Jan Tomaszewski will always resonate with England fans but it is the depth and quality of the modern vintage that is remarkable. It was said that Poland's best three players in their Euro 2008 squad were goalkeepers – Artur Boruc, Tomasz Kuszczak and Fabianski – while the lesser-known but well-regarded Przemyslaw Tyton and Grzegorz Sandomierski have emerged more recently. "Don't forget we have Jerzy Dudek at Real Madrid as well," Szczesny says.

Eccentricity runs through them in varying degrees. "Boruc is nuts," Szczesny says, with a smile. "He is a very good friend of mine and so I'm sure he wouldn't mind me saying he's a nutter. He really is crazy. And he's brave. I mean, some of the stuff he did when he played for Celtic, blessing himself in front of the Rangers fans … how brave is that?"

Boruc is currently out of the Poland reckoning on disciplinary grounds, having got drunk on the team flight back from the USA friendly in October. With Kuszczak struggling for regular football at Manchester United so not in Smuda's plans and Fabianski injured, Szczesny senses an opportunity. "It looked like Fabianski was going to be the No1 but he has got injured," he says. "I like to believe that whoever wins the competition for Arsenal will be the No1 in the national team.

"It's unbelievable that the Euros are in Poland. The national stadium that has just been built in Warsaw is five minutes from my house. I live on the 10th floor so I can see the stadium from my window. For every player, the national team is a priority and it would be a dream to play at the Euros. My debut against Canada was one of the proudest moments of my life."

Szczesny oozes confidence. When he was thrust into his Premier League debut at Manchester United in December, his assurance was startling. He jokes on his must-follow Twitter page, 53szczesny53, that he is a "big head" but it is not true. He is far too ready to laugh at himself for that. Take the saga of the pink shirt. For reasons that are unknown to him, Arsenal's kit suppliers have included a particularly garish goalkeeping number, which Szczesny has been forced to wear. He said that he was disappointed that the Leeds United fans did not give him more stick over it during the FA Cup tie last month. His elevation has come at a sartorial cost.

"It's embarrassing," he says. "I mean, you just wouldn't see David Seaman or Jens Lehmann wearing a pink shirt, would you? I think Lehmann would have burned it. I consider myself a very confident person but I don't actually think I am big-headed because my confidence doesn't affect me … just yet. Obviously, though, because of some of the things that I've said about myself recently, the boys try to take the mickey."

Chief among those things was his outburst to a Polish newspaper after he was not included in the squad for the Carling Cup tie at Tottenham Hotspur in September. He poured out his frustrations, saying that Wenger "seems to forget he has a goalkeeper named Wojciech Szczesny" and muttering darkly about his need to play or else. "It was a big blow, I am not going to lie to you and I was very disappointed," he says. "I am ambitious and I want to be No1. I came out with a few things that I shouldn't have said but I have learned from that. Maybe I was too honest. Funnily enough, I have been in the squad for every game since, although I know it's a coincidence because Manu [Almunia] got injured."

If Brentford to Barcelona feels like an improbable journey, then consider the fact that football was not even Szczesny's first sport. "I'm a little embarrassed to talk about it now but the very first sport that I did, if you can call it sport, was ballroom dancing," he says. "I was aged seven to nine or 10. I was tall and so I think I was a little bit stiff but I was getting the movements and everything."

Szczesny was also an athlete – he excelled at the javelin – but football gradually took over. He was spotted by Legia and he blossomed under the tutelage of the legendary goalkeeping coach Krzysztof Dowhan, who had worked with his father. Szczesny made his Legia debut at 15.

His path to the top at Arsenal was interrupted by a grisly accident in November 2008 when, working with a heavy weight at the club's gym, he lost his balance and felt the bar crash down on to his forearms. They were both fractured. "You could see my initials … W here and S there," he says. "Put it this way, my arms weren't straight."

Metal plates were inserted into each arm and he was ruled out for five months. The scars offer a permanent reminder. "I say that one is from the war and the other is from a shark bite," he says. Physical discomfort is the goalkeeper's default setting. "I have always said that to be diving around for two hours every day and to get hit and to be in pain every day, you have to be a little bit mad," Szczesny says. "That is what we do, so we are crazy."

Yet the rewards make it worthwhile. "The Premier League is the priority and we fancy our chances of catching Man United," Szczesny says. "Then, there is the Barcelona game, which is a bit surreal for me. They are probably the best side in Europe but we believe that we can get something out of it. We are a much better team than we were last year. Every single player is a year older and a year better. We are a bunch of confident guys and this year, there is no psychological barrier."

Szczesny's name is virtually impossible for an Englishman to pronounce. He does not care, as long as it is on everyone's lips.

Source: David Hytner, The Guardian on 4 Feb 11

Wojciech Szczesny determined to hold on to Arsenal place

Wojciech Szczesny emerged from Arsenal's damaging defeat at Manchester United to declare his intention to seize the unexpected chance handed to him by Arsène Wenger.

The 20-year-old leapt to the head of Wenger's goalkeeping queue at Old Trafford last night when he was handed the starting spot against Manchester United because of concern over Lukasz Fabianski's hip problem. It was a remarkable show of faith in the youngster, who had previously played only three Carling Cup games for the club.

The Pole is determined not to slip quietly back into the shadows. "I am a reserve goalkeeper at the moment so I need to take every chance I get and this was a massive chance for me," he said. "I felt that for my debut I did well enough. Unfortunately it wasn't enough for us to get any points but this is my big chance and I need to take it."

"It was a disappointing result, but we won't get too down. We are still very confident. We believe if we recover on Saturday and put in the right performance against Stoke we could easily get three points and be back in the title race straight away. That is what the manager told us afterwards; he just tried to get us to focus on the match on Saturday. This game is gone. The team performance was quite good, but we just didn't get as much luck as United."

Arsenal have gone six games without a win against United and on 27 December face Chelsea who have defeated them for the past five games in succession. The appearances of Cesc Fábregas, who has been out with a hamstring problem, and Robin van Persie as second-half substitutes offer much hope for optimism, although what is more open to question is whether they are capable of producing the blanket defensive performance that secured United their win last night.

Not that Szczesny views last night's opponents as superior. Far from it. "We are still confident we are the top side in the Premier League," he said. "Manchester United are beatable. Everyone is. The Premier League is very tight this year. They do have a solid back four, I will admit that, but they are beatable."

Andrey Arshavin believes Arsenal must quickly forget about their defeat and focus on getting back to the top of the table with victory over Stoke. "There is no time to be melancholy or sad. We need to forget this defeat and start thinking about the next match," the Russian said. "We need to prepare properly for each opponent. The championship is very interesting this year and nothing has been lost yet."

Arshavin feels the Gunners were "unfortunate" not to come away from Old Trafford with a positive result.

"We didn't deserve defeat. The match was a battle," he said on his official website. "Both teams fought for the result and unfortunately we lost. I think Manchester United had more luck than us during the game, but we were not able to create anything special near their goal. We didn't play for a draw. We simply acted responsibly in defence and looked for our chances to attack."

"If it wasn't for a fortunate bounce at the end of the first half, we would have gone in at 0-0 and the second half would have been easier."

Source: Press Association, The Guardian on 14 Dec 10

Wojciech Szczesny shows Arsène Wenger puts the future before present

The 20-year-old Polish goalkeeper makes an impressive Premier League debut in demanding circumstances

Arsenal did their best to prove Sir Alex Ferguson right last night. Marouane Chamakh, Andrey Arshavin, Gaël Clichy and Alex Song were all booked for fouls on Manchester United players to whom they had just lost the ball, backing up Ferguson's pre-match claim that this is a more physical side than Arsène Wenger has sent out for some years.

Perhaps that combativeness helped keep them in the contest against a United side themselves clearly prioritising the need to establish physical supremacy. When the fog of disappointment clears after a night of hectic football, Wenger may be pleased with the spirit shown by his players but not with their accuracy, which fell below the standard he imposes and which he blamed, with some justification, on an unhelpful pitch.

But what a night on which to make your Premier League debut. It is some time since Wenger nominated Wojciech Szczesny as a definite future No1 goalkeeper for his club and last night, with only three League Cup appearances for Arsenal and 28 matches on loan at Brentford last season to his credit, the 20-year-old Pole was invited to defend Arsenal's lead in the championship table in front of a full house at Old Trafford.

Szczesny certainly has the breeding. His father, Maciej, was Poland's goalkeeper and Wojciech made his senior international debut last year, displacing Tomasz Kuszczak, who was in his usual place on Manchester United's bench last night. Three inches over six feet tall and powerfully built, the debutant began the match as if trying to pay homage to the wholly inaccurate caricature of a Polish goalkeeper created by Brian Clough when he described Jan Tomaszewski as a "clown" on television during England's celebrated and fruitless siege of the Polish goal at Wembley in 1973.

Under the eyes of 26 of the 33 Chilean miners whose miraculous rescue was followed around the world, as well as those of David Beckham, Szczesny's first touch, after a mere 15 seconds, was a hesitant throw-out to Sébastien Squillaci, followed by a poor kick when the ball was rolled back to him. Two minutes later there was a weak clearance under no pressure which gave possession back to United. Eventually he began to rebuild his confidence with a series of simple catches from crosses and free-kicks by Nani and shots from Wayne Rooney, but the home team's approach was abundantly clear: fire on sight.

United had already given Arsenal both barrels in the build-up. One trigger was pulled by Patrice Evra, who remarked in an interview with a French television channel that Wenger's team played very pretty football but, given their recent aversion to actually winning things, can be seen as nothing more than a glorified school of excellence. The finger on the other trigger was that of Ferguson, who used his programme notes to suffocate the north London club with bonhomie by praising Wenger's recent acceptance of the tradition of reciprocal post-match fraternisation with the opposing manager.

Evra's comments were surely calculated to cause affront at the Emirates but the full-back was doing no more than voicing the thoughts of a large proportion of Arsenal's fans in the five years since the team snatched the FA Cup from Ferguson's men. It is always mildly astonishing to find an Arsenal fan who thinks it is time for a change of manager but such encounters have long since become commonplace.

This was the 15th time Wenger has taken a side to Old Trafford for a league match since arriving at Highbury in October 1996. United have won eight of those games to Arsenal's three but the London club never scored more than one goal in a league match on United's ground and last night they were able to cause Edwin van der Sar only the most minimal inconvenience, in the shape of a fine fingertip save from Samir Nasri's shot 10 minutes into the second half, even though they enjoyed the bulk of the possession.

Given the recent uncertain form of the make-do partnership of Squillaci and Laurent Koscielny in the centre of Arsenal's defence, there was some amazement at Wenger's readiness to give an opportunity to an untried goalkeeper in a match of such significance to both sides. But neither the young Pole nor his defenders deserved censure for the instinctive header from a deflected cross for United's goal.

Szczesny ended the half with a nervously mis-hit clearance but Arsenal came out after the interval pressing so hard that they exposed their goalkeeper to a series of rapid counterattacks. From one such raid, in the 54th minute, the goalkeeper saved them going further behind with a reflexive effort to block Anderson's shot from point-blank range, and there was a fine save from Rooney's attempted chip four minutes from time.

"Every good goalkeeper begins at 18 or 19," Wenger said in explanation of the decision to pick Szczesny. Look at Van der Sar, he said, now 40 years old, but he remembered seeing him when the Dutchman was a teenager. Once again Wenger has an eye on the future – at the expense, some will continue to suggest, of the present. So Evra, too, can feel that his point was proved.

Source: Richard Williams, The Guardian on 14 Dec 10

Wenger hails Szczesny after solid display

Arsène Wenger has praised Wojciech Szczesny's display against Manchester United on Monday night.

The 20-year-old keeper was thrust into the spotlight at Old Trafford after Lukasz Fabianski suffered a hip injury and the young Pole's performance was a ray of light on a gloomy night for Wenger's side.

Szczesny was not at fault for Park Ji-Sung's headed winner in the first half and he showed his quality with fine stops from Anderson and Wayne Rooney after the break, while his handling was impeccable throughout.

"Overall that was a good performance from Wojciech," said Wenger after the game.

"[He looked a bit nervous] in his kicking in the first half but overall with his hands he didn’t make any mistakes."

"In this job you don’t look at the size of the game. When you have the quality, you play. Every big goalkeeper has started at 18 or 19 years of age."

"For example you had [Man United keeper Edwin] van der Sar, I saw him when he was 18 and he played in big games."

Source: Chris Harris, Arsenal.com on 14 Dec 10

Wojciech Szczesny pens new long-term contract

Arsenal Football Club is delighted to announce that Wojciech Szczesny has signed a new long-term contract with the Club.

Having joined Arsenal as a scholar in the summer of 2006, the Polish youngster made his debut in the 2-0 Carling Cup Third Round win over West Bromwich Albion in 2009 and has impressed with his performances.

The 20-year old, 6ft 5in stopper gained valuable first-team experience last season when he spent a highly successful loan spell at League One side Brentford, making 28 appearances for the Bees and keeping an impressive ten clean sheets during several man-of-the-match performances.

Wojciech got another taste of first-team action for Arsenal in this year's Carling Cup, when he made a string of fines saves during an eye-catching performance in the Club's 4-0 victory at Newcastle United. The Pole has also been a regular fixture on the Arsenal bench this season during Manuel Almunia's enforced absence through injury.

The son of former Polish international goalkeeper Maciej Szczesny, Wojciech followed in his father's footsteps when he made his senior international debut for Poland in a 1-0 friendly win over Canada in November 2009. He is also a regular for the Polish Under-21 side for whom he has six international caps.

Arsène Wenger said: "We are delighted to secure the long-term future of Wojciech, who we regard as a very important part of our Club's future. We have all seen his huge potential, both in training and in the matches that he has played for us, so we look forward to seeing him develop further in the coming years."

Wojciech Szczesny added: "It's a great feeling to sign a new contract with Arsenal and I'm so pleased. The negotiations happened very quickly and it was easy. I'm now looking forward to continuing the hard work on the training pitch and doing my best whenever I have the opportunity to play in the Arsenal first-team.

"I would just like to thank everyone that has helped me get this far, especially Liam Brady, Roy Massey and all his staff at the Hale End Academy. Also Neil Banfield, Steve Bould, all the backroom staff, Arsène Wenger, everyone at Brentford that helped me kick-on last season and all my team-mates here at Arsenal and, of course, my family."

Everyone at Arsenal Football Club is looking forward to Wojciech's continued contribution in the forthcoming years.

Source: Arsenal.com on 11 Nov 10