Is there really a clear winner on who should be our starting goalkeeper? I believe both have a very good reason to be our number one, but at this current time the role has been given back to Areola by Graham Potter.
The Case for Alphonse Areola
If you’re looking at the background of both players, you would want to guess at Areola being our stable number one. He’s younger, has a longer future at the club and when we brought him in, the ambition was he’d eventually become our starting goalkeeper.
But since his first injury which gave Fabianski a second chance, he hasn’t really put a foot wrong and we are still here three years on questioning who our best number one is. Whenever someone is reading out the lineup to me on a matchday I never feel gutted or concerned when either starts. I pretty much have the same reaction to both.
The Footwork Debate
The only question mark I have when Fabianski starts is what he can do when the ball is at his feet. We have played out more from the back this season and I do believe Areola wins that battle. That being said, earlier this season when we were away to Newcastle, Fabianski made Cruyff turns in his own box, under pressure, look easy.
Comparing the Stats
This season when you compare both of them stats wise, they have played the same amount of Premier League games but it is Areola that has conceded more. The Frenchman has conceded 26 whilst the Polishman has only conceded 20. Fabianski also has one extra clean sheet as he has kept three. It is true that you cannot always look at goals conceded to compare goalkeepers as it is not always their fault when the ball hits the net, but looking at this you would be wanting Fabianski to start between the sticks.
Defensive Instability and Communication
One area that I do not believe they have had enough credit is every game they have played in they have had a different back three or five in front of them. With the amount of injuries we have had, especially defensively, we have had many different players in different positions. For anyone it must be hard but especially goalkeepers as they need to have perfect communication with the ones in front of them. When you’re always changing who these players are, it is always going to be harder to keep that communication, especially when you have players for example Coufal playing in front of you and he is not a known centre back.
The Concern Over Availability
So I believe we need to give more credit to both Fabianski and Areola this season. My one concern when I think about who should be starting is if both goalkeepers are fit and in contention to start. It seems like over the last season and a half, there have been many changes because of their injury records instead of tactical rotations. Neither have had any severely long absences but they are very prone to picking up injuries and going forward, we need at least one of them to be fit for 95% of the season.
Last season when Areola was given the number one spot under David Moyes he still missed seven Premier League games through injury. I am very happy with the two goalkeepers we have for now but whoever we next buy to be our starter, I just hope we can rely on them to feature in more games continuously.
European Roles and Job Satisfaction
Whilst writing this, it occurred to me which goalkeeper has had the better spell at the club and which one would be the happiest. Now whilst rarely starting a Premier League game back in the 2022/23 season, Alphonse Areola was our starter in the European Conference League and was starting in the final in our biggest games in years.
Now it is known that your second goalkeeper starts in cup games but when you get to the final or even semi finals, it isn’t uncommon to see your starter go back in goal. But we never switched, it was always Areola’s job to start for us. This was then the same the year after in the Europa League when Fabianski was our second goalkeeper and he was our starter in Europe.
So in my opinion if I was the goalkeeper at the club in our Conference winning campaign, I would have happily sat on the bench every Premier League game if it meant I started in every Conference League game, but without context no goalkeeper would want this.
Conclusion: A Luxury of Choice
All in all I think my starting goalkeeper for the future is Alfonse Areola, he was brought in to be our number one and he’s not done much wrong to lose that platform. But as a number two, there are not many better than Lucasz Fabianski and I think we are lucky that we have two great goalkeepers at the club that are continuously pushing each other to be better.
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