Tony Cascarino, who continues to be paid as a ‘football expert’, has picked out Bernd Leno as a major week spot for Arsenal despite the keeper being ranked as one of the best in the Premier League in his first season in England.
I don’t know why people continue to pay Tony Cascarino to talk about football when, no matter who he is speaking about, he talks out his arse.
Speaking on the arseiest of all radio stations, Talksport, Cascarino said, “The one position I’m a little bit concerned about with Arsenal, and it worried me watching them last season, is the keeper.
“Last season, he was punching balls that were quite easily catchable and I was thinking, ‘Wow, you’ve got to be better than that, you’ve got to be more commanding’.”
According to the CIES Football Observatory, Bernd Leno (£22.5m) was outperformed in the Premier League in the last six months by four goalkeepers – Manchester City’s Ederson (£36m), Liverpool’s Alisson (£56.25m), Everton’s Jordan Pickford (£25.65m), and West Ham’s Lukasz Fabianski (by 0.01 points).
The fact that Cascarino has picked out Arsenal’s goalkeeper as the ‘one position I’m a little bit concerned about’ tells you all you really need to know about his Arsenal insight. Everybody who has watched the club for more than five minutes knows the real problems lies at centreback.
Still, comments like the ones from Cascarino, which are unfounded and plain stupid, help put pressure on players like Leno, leading some fans to be harsher with him than they otherwise would be.
In short, what pundits say in the press matters. You and I might know not to pay too much attention but the same can’t be said for everyone.