Szczesny’s Misery Continues as He Concedes Three for U-21’s
Wojciech Szczesny was handed the chance to shine for the Arsenal Under-21 side last night but it was another difficult day for Polish goalkeeper as he conceded three goals against Liverpool at Anfield.
It has been a month to forget for the 22-year-old who first lost his place in goal, only to be replaced by another previously out of favour keeper in Lukasz Fabianski, and was then dropped from the squad again for the game against West Brom at the Hawthorns.
Wenger admitted that there was no injury to the young keeper and instead explained that Szczesny simply needed protecting.
"I rotate the goalkeepers on the bench because when they are two games on the bench then they work for two games, because when they sit always on the bench they lose fitness," Wenger told ESPN.
Having not been involved with the first team over the weekend, Szczesny instead travelled with the rest of the youth side to Liverpool on Monday where he would have been hoping to keep a clean sheet and make a big impact.
However, he could do little to prevent Liverpool securing a 3-2 win thanks to two goals from striker Adam Morgan and one from Hungarian forward Krisztian Adorjan.
Arsenal's young attacking talent did manage to show their quality with 17-year-old striker Chuba Akpom continuing his fine form with yet another goal, while Serge Gnabry, who has mentioned in the first team this season, was also on target.
There were some nine players in action for Arsenal who had played an integral part in the Under-19 side which finished fourth in the recent NextGen series.
Wenger has hinted that a number of the NextGen side will end up being promoted to the first team but it seems Szczesny will have to continue to work hard to push for a recall.
While the Pole was helpless to prevent all three Liverpool goals, he did produce a fine save from Morgan early in the game as he raced from goal to narrow the angle for the shot and managed to block the ball with his body.
Szczesny has made some high profile errors for Arsenal this season but has always maintained that he is happy to fight for his place.
Szczesny said: "I've always felt that I received great support from the manager and the fans and I am fully focused on getting back to my best."
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