Arsenal at last feel Lukasz Fabianski will no longer cost them dear - 7M sport

Arsenal at last feel Lukasz Fabianski will no longer cost them dear



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Posted Saturday, October 30, 2010 by theguardian.com

Arsenal at last feel Lukasz Fabianski will no longer cost them dear
Lukasz Fabianski has looked assured for Arsenal this season and was outstanding in last week's 3-0 win at Manchester City.

According to the embellishment, which is typical of these tales, Lukasz Fabianski had a tear in his eye. We are not talking about the Arsenal goalkeeper's infamous Champions League night in Oporto, or the FA Cup semi-final horror show against Chelsea; rather an incident from his formative days as a Legia Warsaw player.

His team-mate could hardly believe his eyes. He was leaving the cinema with his young family when he spotted Fabianski in a nearby seat. He was alone. The film was Bambi.

Unfortunately for the goalkeeper, footballers rarely keep these things quiet and let them lie. The subsequent dressing-room inquest was relentless and unforgiving, yet Fabianski was unrepentant. Bambi is his favourite film. What was wrong with that? From then on, Fabianski became known as Bambi, not only to his Legia team-mates but also in sections of the Polish press.

The episode tells us two things about the man who is currently Arsenal's No1 and who hopes to remain as such when Manuel Almunia finally recovers from his elbow injury in one or two weeks' time. In a profession and, more specifically, a position in which brashness and even a little bit of madness is the norm, Fabianski is different. The 25-year-old is no Artur Boruc or Tomasz Kuszczak, his rivals for the Poland jersey, of Fiorentina and Manchester United respectively. He is quiet, shy and somewhat sensitive. He is simply a nice, down-to-earth bloke.

Secondly, Fabianski certainly has the courage of his convictions. His problems at Arsenal, whom he joined from Legia in the summer of 2007, have been linked to confidence and the difficulty of showing his quality when the pressure has been on. He has never truly, until perhaps now in these past five weeks, felt like the club's No1 and when sporadic opportunity knocked previously, he was overwhelmed.

"The confidence problem is a very interesting subject in top-level sport," said the Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, today. "You feel it goes quickly and comes back slowly. Of course, Fabianski's mistakes affected him."

It feels, however, as if Fabianski has turned a corner. Clanger-free in his six appearances this season, he was excellent in last weekend's pivotal 3-0 victory at Manchester City, winning plaudits, particularly from back home in Poland, where the media coverage was euphoric. "Fabianski is No1," the newspapers said. They even printed comments from Arsenal fan sites, which had saluted the death of 'Flappyhandski', another of the goalkeeper's unwanted soubriquets.

Fabianski is not the sort of player to make bold statements about what he intends to do but he has always believed in himself and felt that, given the right set of circumstances, he could establish himself as Arsenal's first-choice goalkeeper. Wenger will face a difficult decision when Almunia returns to fitness and he says it is a decision which cannot be hedged.

Turning up the heat further is the third-choice goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, another Pole from Legia, who emerged with honours from the midweek Carling Cup win at Newcastle United. The 20-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season but Wenger has offered him a new deal and is confident that he will sign.

"When everyone is available you have to make a choice because you cannot play in goal and feel that every mistake you make, you are out," Wenger said. "It is a little bit a special position on that front."

The Frenchman's words carry extra resonance as Arsenal prepare to welcome West Ham United and Robert Green, the goalkeeper who was dropped from the England team at the World Cup finals after his blunder in the opening match against the USA cost the team two points. Fabio Capello, the England manager, was criticised for going into the tournament without a clear No1.

Wenger, though, appeared in no mood to nail his colours to the mast just yet. "The question will certainly be raised in Fabianski's mind; 'Will I continue to play when Almunia is fit?' But at the moment, certainly, he feels that he will play in the next game at least," Wenger said. "Even if he doesn't feel the No1, he feels that he will play in the next game.

"Fabianski has always felt that if he could get a run of games, he could show how good he was. He is what I call a natural goalkeeper; the rhythm of the game runs though his body. And on the pitch, I tell you, he is louder than you think."

Wenger's search for a new David Seaman
Arsène Wenger has experimented with many goalkeepers since David Seaman left in 2003, not all of them particularly successful


Alex Manninger 1997-2002

Despite performing spot-kick heroics when Arsenal beat West Ham on penalties in an FA Cup quarter-final replay Seaman recovered from injury and regained his place in Arsenal's goal. Manninger left for Fiorentina


Stuart Taylor 1997-2005

After shaking off Wright and Manninger to become Arsenal's immediate successor to Seaman, the purchases of Lehmann and Almunia caused the Englishman to seek another club for first-team action


Richard Wright 2001-02

He made 22 appearances for Arsenal and won a league winner's medal in 2002 but his propensity for conceding penalties saw him slip down to third choice and then leave


Rami Shaaban 2002-04

Broke his leg at Old Trafford, which motivated Wenger to buy Jens Lehmann. The Swede's Arsenal career never really got started


Jens Lehmann 2003-08

Despite having made the most appearances of any Arsenal keeper since Seaman, Gunners fans were always wary of the German. His worst moment was the red card in the first half of the 2006 Champions League final against Barcelona


Manuel Almunia 2004-

The goalkeeper who pushed Lehmann from the top spot has fallen from grace since his first full season as the Gunners' No1. Now looks to be No2 behind Fabianski


Mart Poom 2005-07

Played third fiddle to Lehmann and Almunia for the most part and made only two appearances for the club


Vito Mannone 2006-

The Italian has become somewhat overlooked in the squad thanks to the rise of the talented 20-year-old Wojciech Szczensy. Mannone conceded four goals in four games when he stepped in to cover the injured Almunia last season


Lukasz Fabianski 2007-

He has struggled to win over the fans. Wenger maintains that he is a top-class keeper every day in training but the Pole has suffered a series of embarrassing mistakes and cost Arsenal several points. However he played well at Manchester City last Sunday

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