2010 was a very mixed year for Lukasz Fabianski. After some high-profile errors in the second half of last season, his ability as a goalkeeper was called into question, but he managed to turn it around after injury to Manuel Almunia saw him thrust back into the limelight. Prior to his season-ending injury this January, he had established himself as Arsenal's no.1 with several top-class displays, demonstrating why Arsene Wenger had brought him to the club in the first place.
His shot-stopping is among the best in the league and he has directly earned Arsenal several points with some fantastic reflex saves, perhaps the most obvious example being his stoppage time save in the 2-0 away win over Wolves in November. Unlike Arsenal's other two first-team keepers, Fabianski's distribution is one of his strong points and he has put it to good use, being one of only 6 Premier League keepers to have directly assisted a goal this season. However his command of the 6 yard box and ability to deal with aerial balls remains slightly suspect, although to his credit he has clearly worked on these weaknesses.
Here are his season highlights:
Season stats:
-20 games
-22 goals against
-5 clean sheets
-42 saves
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Mean Lean · 731 weeks ago
Fabianski was superb for us from the start of the season until his injury. Did he make more mistakes than his rivals? van Der Sar, Cech and co? I don't think so.
He was rightly number one at the time and I am so proud of his improvement. Great at the reflex save and his decision making had improved massively due to consistent game time.
Szczsney and Fabianski will have a good pre season fight out for the number one shirt I reckon.
BackwardsGooner 61p · 731 weeks ago
I think Fabianski cut down on the number of "obvious" errors he made, but I feel there's still room for improvement in his command of the box. He's looked more responsible this season, but quite a few times we conceded goals from set pieces where perhaps he should have made more of an effort to claim for it. This does though have to be taken into context, the centre back pairing ahead of him was usually Squillaci and Koscielny and he was therefore missing the calming presence of Djourou (who we've seen has a very positive effect on the goals conceded column).
At this moment I'm leaning towards Szczesny as no.1, although if Fabianski continues to improve at this rate then he could very well retain the spot.
Guest · 731 weeks ago
BackwardsGooner 61p · 731 weeks ago
elkanofan · 729 weeks ago