Josh Kilmister is a big fan of our new goalkeeper. So much so, in fact, that he thinks Lukasz Fabianski might be one of the signings of the season
Opinions on Michel Vorm were split amongst Swans fans this past summer, with some saying he isn’t quite as good as his first couple of seasons in South-Wales would have had us believe. I’ll be the first to say that Vorm didn’t do us many favours last season at all. I can count on one hand the amount of times he kept us in a game, and more worryingly I would struggle to count the times he lost us games on two.
When we signed Fabianski on a free, people wondered if after being Arsenal’s second choice ‘keeper for so long he could actually be a solid, consistent goalkeeper in the Premier League. Fabianski pretty much won Arsenal their first piece of silverware in nine years last season, making two saves in the FA Cup Semi-Final penalty shoot-out against Wigan, and he also went on to start the final against Hull, winning the game 3-2 after extra time. He also managed to save World Cup winner Thomas Muller’s penalty in a Champions League tie against Bayern Munich, so the absence of Michel ‘The Penalty Killer’ Vorm isn’t too much of a problem for us.
So far this season, Fabianski has been outstanding between the posts this season, and that’s proven by his average match rating of 7.18/10. The 6’3” Pole has also been given two ‘man of the match’ awards by the football stats site, as well as being given ‘no significant weaknesses’. To put this in perspective, over the course of last season Vorm was given an average match rating of 6.50/10 with no ‘man of the match’ awards. (All statistics courtesy of WhoScored.com)
Don’t get me wrong, Vorm is a great goalkeeper. His shot stopping was second-to-none, and you’ll struggle to find a ‘keeper with better agility, but he wasn’t helping us. One thing Fabianski brings to our defence is confidence that when a ball comes into the box, it’s going to leave the box before going in the net. Vorm is three inches shorter than Fabianski and struggled with any sort of aerial threat, and it didn’t take long for teams to catch on to that. Vorm was often praised for his composure on the ball when needed, but in all honesty I think we’ve looked more comfortable in that aspect with Fabianski behind the defence.
Vorm will always be appreciated for what he gave us in our first few seasons in the league, but he just isn’t as good as the‘big Pole in our goal’, and he’s certainly not as good as Hugo Lloris. I hope for his sake that he gets given a chance at Spurs, but something tells me his chances are slim.
Getting Fabianski on a free transfer was a shrewd piece of business on our behalf, especially with Vorm being part of the deal to bring Gylfi Sigurdsson to The Liberty. For me, if Sigurdsson is being talked about as one of the signings of the season, then Fabianski has to be too.
Thanks to Josh for this excellent piece which I thoroughly agree with. I'm a big fan of Fabianski & I think he'll go on to be a big player for us. Give Josh a follow on Twitter @JoshKilmister