Bernd Leno has just finished training in strong swirling winds, the enemy, he says, of the goalkeeper.But a new enemy lurks in the wings, namely the notion, advanced by Mikel Arteta, that ’keepers should be rotated like any outfield player and even substituted during games. This is a philosophy that Fulham’s No 1 vehemently disagrees with. The Arsenal manager sparked intense debate after dropping Aaron Ramsdale for last Sunday’s game at Goodison and starting David Raya, signed this summer, instead.
Yeah - the article says that he claims he was told by the GK coach he had to leave the club, and it wasn’t about performance. The spin the article puts on it seems to be that there was a secret hidden agenda against Leno.
Yes, it’s possible that Arteta and the club did it for the wrong reasons, but I’m inclined to believe it was driven by either (or worse, both of) his attitude and his playstyle. Again, don’t know if it’s just spin from the editor, but Leno calls out the substitution idea because a keeper isn’t in the flow of the game, but then goes on about how playing a second keeper outside the league is bad because players don’t build a relationship with the keeper.
How the fuck is the second keeper meant to learn?