Klaus wrote:

Wilson wrote:

He got lucky today. Another foot and he'd be getting hell. Useful reminder that he's not as sure as Leno.

Two dodgy situations stood out to me against Liverpool. The fist one is the kick that hit Firminho and then the post. He got extremely lucky there, it would have been a humiliating goal to concede. But it was also Martinez's poor clearance when he got chased by Mané that led to Liverpool's goal. Mané almost got the ball there, and the clearance barely made it to Liverpool's midfielders who sent the ball straight back and then they scored.

He did a ton of good and we wouldn't have won without him, but there were definitely shaky moments. A timely reminder for him that he has to be quicker with his feet. One of the most impressive things about Leno this season is how good he's been at passing through pressure.

He teed spurs up with a goal by passing it straight to them. But they fluffed the chance so it went unnoticed.

I'd say his kicking is head and shoulders above Leno. I notice it whole game most of his kicks found our players. Of course it's alot riskier to aim kicks directly to specific players and get intercepted rather than just aimless long punts up the field.

Anyway

Totally agree that Leno's distribution outside of short passing is probably his biggest developmental area. Its been natural to Martinez.

Great shot of an incredible save, Rohit.

That save is up there with Lehmann Vs Solskjaer.

But not Lehmann vs Raul

invisibleman18 wrote:

That save is up there with Lehmann Vs Solskjaer.

invisibleman18 wrote:

That save is up there with Lehmann Vs Solskjaer.

Last second of the game too. Its truly remarkable

Don’t think it was going in, but decent save.

Yea did not look on target. Really did look like he was flying, though. Can't believe he's playing this well, honestly.

If Martinez keeps this up Leno is really struggling to get his place back.

IMO it's now Martinez' position to lose.

Same, I saw him earlier on in the season in a cup game and didn't really think much of him. There has been a lot of talk about how good our GK coach is and you do wonder if training with him day in day out has really improved his game? Can a GK coach bring out such a dramatic improvement in such a short space of time? Martinez is 27 and has had a fair few loans, maybe he just needed to be given a chance?

For years we had Gerry Peyton and you constantly heard bad things about him, Lehmann was alright under him but the keepers after weren't. But then there's an argument that maybe those guys just weren't very good anyway but you could argue Szczesny & Fabianski have improved after leaving us. Yet funnily enough Martinez spoke highly of working with Gerry Peyton. Then again he spoke well of Emery as well when he left....

Pleasantly surprised by his ability. Why would we have avkeeper like this in house and persist with the Ospinas and Cechs?

I think we should sell him. I love his box presence, his kicking style is cool as fuck, and he's been making ridiculous top-drawer saves, but there's a huge risk that this is the absolute top of his game and that there will be a reversion to his baseline at some point. There's also a huge risk that this the highest value he will ever have.

Leno was magnificent this season. Martinez has made errors and has conceded goals, including losing goals. Leno is a proven, top class keeper with pedigree, with a slight kicking limitation in the medium to long range, and perhaps as a flap or two (Martinez certainly has that in his locker, although we aren't seeing it). Leno has the better shot stopping record over years of top flight football.

If Arteta believes Martinez can keep this up for another 5 or 6 years, then I'll trust him, but otherwise, we should be extracting maximum value from this goofy ass squad. It's much worse than signing Auba 6 months after Laca to have two high-value players who literally cannot play together.

Coombs wrote:

I think we should sell him. I love his box presence, his kicking style is cool as fuck, and he's been making ridiculous top-drawer saves, but there's a huge risk that this is the absolute top of his game and that there will be a reversion to his baseline at some point. There's also a huge risk that this the highest value he will ever have.

Leno was magnificent this season. Martinez has made errors and has conceded goals, including losing goals. Leno is a proven, top class keeper with pedigree, with a slight kicking limitation in the medium to long range, and perhaps as a flap or two (Martinez certainly has that in his locker, although we aren't seeing it). Leno has the better shot stopping record over years of top flight football.

If Arteta believes Martinez can keep this up for another 5 or 6 years, then I'll trust him, but otherwise, we should be extracting maximum value from this goofy ass squad. It's much worse than signing Auba 6 months after Laca to have two high-value players who literally cannot play together.

Agreed - particularly with reduced revenues post COVID.  I'd expect one or other to be sold sooner rather than later - Leno may have the better market value.

Which one of the two will be the more reliable when the team becomes less porous and the goalie is called upon less frequently? Right now we have the defensive stats of a bottom half team. Who will be the guy you want when we have the defensive stats of a top 6 team?

He’s god tier.

Such a presence, confidence and agility. His kicking is good too.

Love Leno too but my sense is he’ll want a move in a year or so so it may be worth cashing in on him at that stage.

flobaba wrote:

Pleasantly surprised by his ability. Why would we have avkeeper like this in house and persist with the Ospinas and Cechs?

Yeah, and Cech was really really bad. One of the worst keepers to have don our shirt.

Keepers come good with a run of games. People who judge them over sporadic one off games are unfair because they wouldn't have known the defence and structure when thrown into random games.

I think Martinez is a more commanding keeper than Leno. His handling abilities is top notch. More often than not he catches shots rather than parry it. It's incredible how he caught Mahrez shot yesterday.

We have 2 really good keepers at the top of their game. Lets enjoy it, we will have no problem in this department for the next decade at least.

I would keep him til December. Who knows what Maupay did to Leno physically and psychologically