Goalkeeper Review - How badly do we need Cesar or Mignolet?

Wojciech Szczesny: C-

Record: 15 wins, 7 draws, 7 losses.

Avg. Goals conceded: 0.96

There’s a moment from The Simpsons when Homer learns that he’s defeated Barney Gumble to become an astronaut. After Barney somehow gets drunk on non-alcoholic wine, the head of NASA says, “Well, Homer, I guess that makes you winner by default.” So it stands with Szczesny: winner by default. After a tumultuous year that saw his father lash out at Arsene for rushing boyo back from injury too soon, our first-choice keeper did come back to mind the sticks well enough to help us win our final six games.

He handled being dropped after the 2-1 loss to Spurs with dignity and grace, but it’s still hard to see a dramatic improvement in his performance–not that players can suddenly go from good to great. He’s only 23, a veritable babe in the woods, especially for keepers. Then again, he’s made 108 appearances in three seasons, and at some point, we do need to see some improvement. Like Mannone, his contract runs out in June 2014, so the upcoming season is a make-or-break one for him. His whoscored.com rating of 6.79 feels a bit generous, although he did claim 11 clean sheets in the season. Where would he be without the improved defensive organization in front of him over the last six games of the season?

If he’s serious about laying claim to the starting spot, we need to see more desire, more focus, more performance. We need a keeper who will demand organization and tenacity from the players in front of him and who will lay into them when he gets hung out to dry, whether it’s a PK, a missed assignment, or a botched clearance. I’d even go so far as to say he needs to piss a few people off. When he does concede a goal, I want him to be too busy pointing out who did what wrong to bother fishing the ball out of the net. We need a keeper who demands perfection or something pretty darned close to it, someone whom everyone else is afraid to let down, and I’m not sure Szczesny is ready to claim that mantle. Maybe it’s from his age or callowness. Maybe it’s just not in him, period.

I started out thinking I’d end by recommending we try to bring in QPR’s Julio Cesar as someone aged and skilled enough to accept more of a mentor’s role to help bring Szczesny along. He’d perhaps be grateful to have been saved from the Champions League to accept a lesser role on the pitch. Now, however, I wonder if we need a more direct challenge to Szczesny, someone like Mignolet who can come in and do more than just jostle Woj from his complacent stupor (if that’s what it is…) and do one of two things: force/inspire the lanky Pole to become the keeper we’ve all been waiting for or replace him as that keeper.

I want to believe in Woj; I want him to be our keeper, but I want to go on more than faith and loyalty when I do this. Am I being harsh? Would we be better off with someone entirely new, or someone who can prod and support Woj?