Originally Posted by
Master Splinter
Where does the myth that Jenkinson is guilty of error after error come from? It's a strange narrative that has built up around him and also Szczesny in particular and also Mertesacker, but that's mostly a media one. The fact that people who supposedly watch Arsenal on a regular basis perpetuate these myths is the oddest thing of all.
I'm not at all saying that Jenkinson is one of our brightest prospects or he fits like a glove into our passing game or that he doesn't have a lot to learn to become a much better player. But throughout his relatively small sample run of games in his Arsenal career so far, he's in fact been very steady and as a bonus, effective going forward too. I can recall a poor game when we were battered 8-2 at Old Trafford. But he'd barely played for us at all at that point and the whole team was atrocious so to use that against him is just ridiculous. He's made mistakes against Swansea and Chelsea in the League Cup, but other than that he's been solid and at times against really tough opposition in huge games. It's actually more of a surprise he played that well, considering his pedigree. And anyone bringing up a freak own goal in his first pre-season friendly appearance is again, being pathetic.
In his time here, I'd say Cazorla, Ozil, Ramsey, Wilshere and even the generally brilliant Koscielny have made more mistakes which have harmed us than Jenkinson.
I understand perfectly if you don't think he has a future at Arsenal or just don't feel he fits our style of play, but using nebulous negative evidence against a player is just disingenuous and more importantly, wrong.
It goes back to the weird fascination of some fans seemingly seeing the worst in all our players. Szczesny was one of the best keepers in the League last year (with the most clean sheets award to his name too which could be viewed as impressive) and was instrumental in rescuing us numerous times, but you'd think he was Robert Green such is the faint praise. De Gea, Cech, Lloris and even players like Begovic and Mignolet are apparently better just because. Not taking in to account that they have made far more mistakes over the last few years.