Watching the match today, I paid particular attention to Given, because of the transfer rumours and Almunia looked his equal. We have had a couple of clean sheets lately, and they came against pretty good teams, not it wasn't Chelsea or ManU, but it wasn't WBA either. Almunia seems calm at the back and has a good feel for when to come off the line and when to stay back. Given seems just the kinda of fireball that Lehmann was, and that appears to ultimately have been Lehmann's undoing. Almunia got a vital touch on a shot Amenobia (sp?) mid-way throught the first period after Campbell had been beaten in a one on one situation. While I was always a Rustu fan (not to bring that up again), I do not know of anyone on the market that we could get in January that would be a big enough up-grade to justify not spending on a field player, particularly a defender. Arsene knows. He has found talent in people that others did not see, maybe Almunia has that potential to be a Toure like find.
Interesting point. Remember Liverpools winning goal? The thing is, Almunia with his speed and quick reaction would have got to that one. He is also dealing with crosses fairly well. At the mo he's my fav Arsenal goalie, funny how Arsene always seems to know better.
He's had at least one (seemingly) avoidable drop in every match I've seen him play in. He's starting to grow on me but that is a worrisome trait.
Lehmann also had an incredible run being the rear guard for Arsenal's unbeaten streak. Its what people have the biggest problem distinguishing, a team's success from a keepers' success. While the two certainly are not mutually exclusive, they also are not directly connected. If Almunia faces no shots, and gets a clean sheet one game, faces one shot, conceeds the goal the next game (thus a 0.50 GAA) while a keeper like Given who has to deal with Titus Bramble in front of him faces 7 shots one game and allows one goal while facing 10 the next game and again allowing one goal (thus a 1.00 GAA) does it mean Almunia is a better keeper? I'd think not. Almunia may be the answer, I honestly don't know. I tend to doubt it, but I'e been wrong before. Almunia's propencity for spilling the ball, as fox point alluded to, is quite troublesome to say the very least. I'd think that with Parma's financial status and troubles in Serie A this may finally be the year that Frey moves. I can't imagine that wouldn't spark Wegner's interest. As for this year? Apparently Almunia will be given the chance to prove himself. Arsenal showed the ability to pull off an unimaginable run of form with Lehmann between the pipes, and I'd rate Almunia's shot stopping a notch above, so I see no reason they can't do the same now. Wegner knows this has been a year of progress. The defense finally needs to sort itself out against set pieces. I'd be more suprised then not if Lauren is starting at RB to open next season. Cesc has established himself as a complement to Viera but must be protected from overuse at such an age. Flamini has showed the ability to contribute to the middle of the pitch. Edu and Gilberto's prolonged injury woes have significantly hurt the team. Bergkamp's seemingly immune body is begining to show signs of age. Reyes is experiencing the problems adapting to the Premiership that some expected. Viera and Campbell haven't been in top form. Pires has been erratic and hasn't contributed the amount fans are accustom to (although his poaching is still top rate). The list goes on and on if you'd like. Arsenal just simply doesn't have the squad depth this season, and I'd imagine Wegner knows it. But he also knows next year, with a more developed keeper and a year under the belts of RVP, Flamini, Cesc, and Reyes the team will be able to challenge more effectively. That is why he sacraficed Lehmann IMO.
It seems unfair to compare Lehmann's performances playing behind Cygan to Almunia's results playing with Sol back in the lineup.
Righty BillyHo - my thoughts on your comments. Nothing personal. Honest! Statements like that will only serve to put you in the kangeroo court matey Granted he does seem to be a lot better than that game against Everton in the League Cup, but lets be honest - he couldnt really get any worse. Expectations were so low that any improvement and he starts to look decent. ALso to be fair he hasnt really had much to do the last couple games, and it appears we have reverted to Man Marking for corners, so any conclussions about clean sheets and Alumini are potentially mere coincidence... HAvent seen it yet to be honest but was it one of those leaps across goal type saves? Did he only have to do this because he was in the wrong place in the first place? Or was it a genuinely good touch? Not when it comes to keepers he doesn't...and besides Alumini is already what, 27? While I agree that Alumini is better than he was a month or 2 ago he is by no means a great keeper, and personally, im still a little uncomfortable with him. In my opinion they should either put Lehmann back in, or give Taylor a serious go, or recall (god the name - mind suddenly gone blank - bugger). Out on lone, recently got accused of rape....nope its gone. Well him!
Okily - on the face of it thats great buuuuut. Portsmouth 1-0 The turned up and marked all our forwards and midfielders out of the game. They worked hard no doubt but this strategy was probably designed to get a draw out of the game. Every time they gained posetion and tried to catch us on the break they found their forward wings empty for the pass and Arsenal dutifuly regained the ball. Only our defenders were free to make serious runs and unfortunatly for Portsmouth Sol hit a belter. It is my understanding Alumini didnt have much to do here Fulham 2-0 I was at this game and Fulham really rolled over for us. That I can recall (and remember this was a boxing day game so my head was hardly clear) I think I saw 2 shots at goal from them and Alumini only had to make one save that I can recall. Hell *I* could keep a clean sheet for Arsenal if all I had to do was make one save Newcastle 1-0 Havent seen it - cant comment. Lets not get carried away here. Not only has he not had much to do, but Vierra, Toure and Cambell are doing good things aswell which is probably making Alumini look better than he actually is. Maybe as time goes on confidence will grow and he will turn out to be really good....who knows. To be honest though, im not really sure where this desire to keep clean sheets comes from. Rosenburg we conceded 1, but does it really matter when youve scored 5. Brazil ship plenty when they play, but they score plenty to. The team that scores the most goals wins... The only thing I would say in defense of Alumini is he has yet to make some of the high-profile game costing mistakes Lehmann has. However he hasnt had the opportunity to yet really. Until he has taken us through a 51 game unbeaten streak, or cost us the champions league, I think its a little unfair to be drawing comparisons
Almunia is a quality keeper... Sebastian Frey does Zero for me.. he flops at balls and is definitely not the answer.. i imagine you think we have a big transfer kitty.. why change what is not broke?
I heard somewhere that Wenger has a "War Chest" of some £50mil should he need it. I dont know how true that is, nor if he would ever consider even comming close to spending that kinda cash - but dayum!
Exactly... Speaking of shot to save ratio's. Can anyone recall who was in goal for Villa at our last match. He shipped 3 but he musta made at least 2 or 3 thousand saves that game. Was unbelievable!
Just on today's date, he looked his equal. The shot he did save, he was well off his line, about halfway between the 6 yard box and the penalty area. He is 27 which is about a comparable age to a 20 year old field player. At 27, he could have another 10 years and may just now be getting the feel he needs. He comes out on crosses much better than Lehmann did, and that was an area we were particularly weak in. Seaman got just killed for the goal he let in again Brazil in WC02, the goal today was a much softer goal, there was little power on the shot and frankly a taller keeper would have gotten a hand on it.
BigSoccer's favorite subject a few months ago was the same when people compared Howard's form with Rio out to Carroll's with Rio back in...
that was Stefan Postma, that dude was en fuego. As soon as Sorensen got healthy again he was back on the bench. Doesn't seem like he has a future there. I still think if Norwich gets relegated that Robert Green should be a transfer target in the summer.
Well we have 3 decent keepers who can cut it in the Premier League with Stuart Taylor in the fray, and on top of that Graham Stack coming back next summer. We've been far too hasty in the past signing backup/keepers "for the future" (Richard Wright, Rami Shaaban, Guillaume Warmuz), so I trust Arsene should he not change anything in the goalkeeping department. Jens doesn't have a lot of time left but Taylor and Stack and Almunia all do, perhaps in the summer 1-2 of those 4 will leave and Wenger will make a high-profile (or "hidden gem") signing, although his vision for goalkeepers (so far) by no means rivals his ability to find underrated outfield players.
The problem with Almunia is simple: he lacks confidence. He is definetely a better shot stopper than Lehmann, but everytime he plays like a youth-player nervously making his debut. Just like Stuart Taylor. Fox point fury was spot-on: in every match, he will make a spill or questionable decision that with a better opponent and less luck would have resulted in a goal. His gloves seems to be made of Telfon and he lacks the confidence to catch the ball when he needs to. He is definetely improving, but until he stops making mistakes the jury is out for him.
Richard Wright was a great keeper. He led us to the FA cup final in '02, and helped us parttly to the league. Shabaan was also decent too until he got injured
why do you say he lacks confidence ? He seems quick off his line when needed, comes for crosses, and although he punches, which I dont always agree with, he has got a very good punch, his shot stopping is good, and his distribution is very quick. For a young ish keeper coming from a country with a different style of football (less crosses) replacing an established big(ish) name in a TOP team after making a couple of howlers early on, he now looks pretty confident to me. Lets spend the money on a central defender
Ok in defense of myself as I write this, I have not read the entire Jens article -I read the title and figured that is all I needed to see (could he be more conceited and does he think that saying all this in the press will endear him to Wenger?). I am not a Jens basher and I have supported keeping him. With that being said, here are my points: I maybe a bit jaded because I watched the Untouchables DVD last night and was able to review most of the goals that were scored against us again from last season. Jens (even last year) was suspect at corners and crosses. He made some good saves, but honestly watching him I think now more than ever that the defense made him look way better than he actually may be. With Sol(and Vieira and Gilberto and Edu) being out for a good portion of matches, the defense/mid was a bit ragged and unorganized so it is probably unfair to judge him to harshly for some of his performances this season. However I think Phishy is the one that pointed out that Lehman never makes the big save(and in the past I have defended Jens on this point)-and that is true. Most of the commentary about the keepers from the DVD last night was more complimentary about Stacks contributions in the Carling Cup, etc. Any time Jens would make the "big" save, he would most likely send it into the path of the opposing team or mess something up later in the same match. There are not many times I can think of where anyone can honestly say "Jens kept us in the match". Given the injuries that we have had to deal with this season, I think a dip in form is inevitible for every player. However, I never thought it would uncover the weaknesses of the keeper like we have seen this season. I think that Alumina is performing well for now, but is he the future in the Arsenal goal? I doubt it. Who is? That is the big question. I think how he performs today with some inexperience in front of him will show more of what kind of keeper he is and what he is capable of.