Manuel Almunia is a ‘fan’ favourite at Arsenal and he is a true gentleman. He has had a lot of unfair and unsubstantiated negative press recently. I will try to keep this as short and succinct as possible but I have to give you a little insight into how the English media works.

Do you know that Manuel Almunia was being touted as a possible England goalkeeper just three years ago? The press kept spinning this story back then even though they knew there wasn’t a chance in hell for it to happen. In England, the press can make or break you (if you let them). The press is very powerful just ask Gordon Brown. In the run up to the last election you would have been forgiven if you assumed Gordon Brown was Hitler’s No 2 because of the way he vilified in the press. Every so often the sport press need a sensational negative or positive (rarely) story to move their papers.

Enter Arsenal FC. Arsenal are a very easy target for the English press for the following reasons; A very successful French manager with a sizeable contingent of fellow countrymen as players (We all know there is no love lost between the English and the French) and Lack of English players in the Arsenal team (Mr Wenger has said in the past that he doesn’t look at passports and has so far refused to pay over the odds for any average overhyped English 'talent'). The press have ended the Arsenal careers of quite a few players, the most notable being Senderos. What was his crime? Drogba scored against Arsenal every time Senderos played.

Manuel Almunia was derided and ridiculed throughout last season, the same continued throughout the close season and the story isn’t any different in the early stages of this campaign. In Arsenal's first game of the season against Liverpool, Almunia was blamed for conceding a goal at his near post. Show me that keeper who hasn’t plus David Ngog’s shot was a brilliant one. How ironic that in the same match Pepe Reina, who was touted by the same press as a possible replacement for Almunia made a big howler that you wouldn’t expect to see happen in a Sunday league game.

Manuel Almunia may make the odd technical error (again show me a keeper who doesn’t) but I can authoritatively say that in his Arsenal career, he has never made a blunder/ howler. Many Arsenal 'fans' have heard the story about Almunia so many times that they have started to believe it is as gospel. You can’t blame them, after all what choice have you got when big media continues to force feed you with the same false and recycled lies. I think this was a tactic that was once used on Prisoners of War.

On many Arsenal blogs and forums I read these days many ‘fans’ have concluded that Almunia cost Arsenal at least 15 points last season. This can’t be any further from the truth. Of the top of my head I remember two incidents last season when Almunia gave Arsenal points; The penalty save against West Ham at Upton Park and a wonder save from a Ryan Babel effort against Liverpool. In these 2 games he saved us 4 points. I can also remember 1 technical error from him last season against Birmingham where you can say he cost us 2 points.

On his touted replacements, Pepe Reina has made a blunder; Joe Hart has made an even bigger one. I wonder why Schwarzer who became Chilavert overnight has been stuck with clubs in mid table obscurity for the better part of his career. If he was such a wonderful goalkeeper why haven’t the likes of Inter, Real, Bayern or Manchester Utd come calling for his services?

Pardon me for going on and on. The main aim of this thread is to create a blog that follows Almunia throughout the season and details his performance as honestly as possible, recording any exceptional saves, howlers or technical errors he has made.

So far so good;

V Liverpool: Good performance. He couldn’t have done anything about the goal. Mr Wenger came out this week and explained that before a keeper makes a mistake, about 5 mistakes would have been made leading up to the keeper making this mistake. This game showed how true this is because it was an error by the Arsenal players plus some shoddy defending that led to the Liverpool goal.

V Blackpool: Good performance. Not called upon too many times. Clean sheet

V Blackburn: Assured performance. He could have done nothing about the goal. Shoddy defending.

V Bolton: Good performance. He did well to push Lee wide after another defensive error. He could do nothing about the goal though.

V Braga: Good performance. He didn’t have much to do but dealt with crosses and set pieces very well when called upon. Clean sheet.

V Sunderland: Good performance. He did well to get of his marks quickly in a potential one on one situation when a Sunderland man lost his marker. He could do nothing about the goal.

I agree with you Papilo. I have always maintained Almunia is not the cause of our defensive wahala. It is however the other way round. He is rather a victim of it. So far so good, he has benefited from the solid performance in front of him. And I hope this is now the new norm.
COYG!!!

Shouldn't these "chronicles" be an appendage of the arsenal thread?

Glad to see that there are some people who don't just swallow the English media's garbagge without thinking for themselves. Almunia is a decent keeper, he may not be exceptional like Cech or VDS but he is not responsible for us not winning the PL last season as he is being made out to be.
I used to believe Fabianski was better (I still believe he has better reflexes) but Manny Almunia deserves the number 1 position at Arsenal, to survive such an onslaught and not allow his head drop is very commendable.

The media/pundits says garbage most of the time.
We all have eyes and a brain and know the rules of the game.
So, please explain to me how a Pundit is better than I am?
I can't rememeber who right now?but after Joe Cole was sent off against Arsenal,
the Pundit on Sky said:with David Ngog striking for 'Pool, Arsenal defenders can ease off.
A minute into the second half, David Ngog scores!

Just to make this thread complete I will also add the performances of our other goalkeepers when they get a game

Fabianski V Tottenham: Good performance. Did not have much to do. Maybe could have done better with the goal but he must be given credit for even getting a hand on the ball in a one on one situation where the keeper was let down again by some poor defending. I have noticed already people blaming him for the goal but a better striker wouldnt have even given him the chance to lay a finger on the ball. Van der Sar let 2 goals in through his hands earlier this season against Fulham I can t remember anyone in the press blaming him for that.

On this chronicles of AM, i cant blame him for our trophyless seasons, i will put the blame on the defenders.
But i dont know i hv a kinda believe that we are winning trophy(ies) this season.Imagine the games since August and now going to end of sept.
i can see great improvement and efficiency in our defence.The team is really determined.
I know it is just the beginning like some foes we say but May looks promising to me.

While I think the criticsm of MA has been very harsh. Its pretty much what is expected when you're a keeper at a big club. MA is obviously a good goalie but he is not a great one. And scapegoating will happen when your club havent won anything in 5 years.

Clubs like Arsenal shouldnt really need a great one like Cech,Casillas,Buffon but they should have a solid and reliable one like a VDS, you might not expect him to make all the great saves but you dont want him costing you points or being shaky and knocking the confidence of your defense.

So far it doesnt look like his confidence has been affected but I think Arsenal will need him to really step it up this year.

I remember how we struggling with keepers before going with VDS who we should have gone for anyways. all the Taibis,Bosnich,Carroll,Barthez. Good lord, Thank God for VDS.

The criticism is not that Alumnia is a bad keep but that is just a good one.

An exceptional keeper will give you a few extra points like Hart did at WHL and more importantly calm down the back four.

I like Alumnia as a person and want him as our backup keeper but I still say bringing in a world class keeper will give us more points and make the defenders play better.

Having said that I will give a mention to Alumnia's heroics against Barca at the Emirates.

To me his greatest weakness is decision making on when to leave his line and when not to, I have seen me run off his line like a nutter when it is not needed.

@ Vieira

Joe Hart at WHL? really. What about Joe Hart at home to Blackburn; he runs 30 yards off his line, tells his defender to leave the ball, misses the ball, falls over like a mug and gifts the opponent a goal. That is far from an exceptional keeper, that looks more like Mickey Mouse. I am not sure that as a defender I would listen to whatever instructions he barks for another 10 matches or so. Speaking of biased press, because Hart is one of theirs, most people who are not proper footballing people do not even know he made this blunder becuase it was kept hush hush by big media. Imagine if Almunia made such a mistake, it would still be running in the news today. Again I ask one person to prove me wrong that Almunia has never made a blunder/ howler in an Arsenal jersey, maybe technical errors but never a blunder a la Joe Hart/ Pepe Reina. Imagine big media are calling the Spuds goal aginst Arsenal yesterday a blunder/ howler. I am not even sure if people understand anymore what a blunder is?

@ Mr T_A

You think VDS doesnt 'cost you points'. The two goals you conceded against Fulham early this season went through his hands. The first goal I may accept but the second one was a tame header into the ground and then through his hands. I am not blaming VDS, all I am trying to point out is that goalkeepers are not brick walls.

Almunia is a disgrace. What do you except from a goalkeeper who became first choice at age 30.

He cant man the post for any top European club but since Arsenal is a small club without history he can get away with it.

Almunia can not stand close to Michael Rensing who was sent away at Bayern not even Thomas Kraft

Out of 20 EPL keepers, Almunia would struggle to make top 10

Cech, VDS, Reina, Hart, Given, Jaaskelainen, Friedel, Sorensen, Howard are wayyy better

Very few Arsenal players can hope to play for top clubs Maybe Arshavin, Fab and a few others

What a useless club

dayokanu:



Very few Arsenal players can hope to play for top clubs Maybe Arshavin, Fab and a few others

The phrases highlighted above shows you were not properly co-ordinated when typing this
We could blame it on early morning booze.

HNIC:

The phrases highlighted above shows you were not properly co-ordinated when typing this
We could blame it on early morning booze.

DK's brain has seen better days. . .

Wenger - Don't blame Fabianski for Keane goal

Lukasz Fabianski was not at fault for Robbie Keane’s equaliser during the Carling Cup tie against Tottenham, according to Arsène Wenger.

The Polish keeper has come in for criticism from sections of the media after getting hand to Keane’s shot but failing to divert the ball away from danger.

Arsenal went on to win the tie 4-1 after extra time and Wenger was quick to defend Fabianski for his performance on Tuesday night.

“You can't blame him for that goal because he touched it and when a goalkeeper touches the ball you always think he should stop it,” said Wenger

“But if he dives and doesn't touch it nobody speaks about it.

“First of all, the goal was offside and apart from that I think he had a sound game.”

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-don-t-blame-fabianski-for-keane-goal

Waiting for updates

Vieira:


To me his greatest weakness is decision making on when to leave his line and when not to, I have seen me run off his line like a nutter when it is not needed.

Any comments now?

Almunia is trying to too hard to please his critics.

This desperation will often lead to mistakes like today!

@OP,
where are you now?The game yesterday certainly flushes this thread down the toilet.Almunia is not consistent enough to be considered decent.I cannot believe anybody can start a piece in defence of that piece of garbage masking as your 1st choice.,and people would gladly follow.Yes VDS has had his errors but not on the scale of your Aluminium.He is a clanger waiting to happen.I mean VDS is cannot be used anywhere near your goalie as a barometer for comparison,because they are Miles apart.What a shocker of a goal to concede. .

V West Bromwich Albion: Mixed game. Got down well to stop Osazes shot in the first half. Poor defending left him one on one with Osaze and he had no choice but to rush off his line resulting in a penalty. Got down well to save the penalty albeit a poor one. Very good first half. In the second half was let down by his defence once again. Anyone remember the Blackburn game? WBA's first goal was exactly the same! halfhearted defending by Sagna on the right this time, ball watching by the defenders in the box and an easy tap in for Osaze. Could have done better for the second goal but once again let down by the defence. How was a WBA player in such an advanced position to have a free pot shot at our keeper so soon after conceding. You are forced to ask why wasnt our keeper protected. Could do nothing about the third goal. Made the right decision to stay on his feet because if he had gone down and missed the ball, he would have got a second yellow card (sent off), conceded a second penalty and erased any hopes of a comeback. Again very very poor defending by the Arsenal.

It is always easy to highlight an error by a goalkeeper but Arsenal's defence made four major mistakes against WBA. Some myopic people will look back to this game and say Almunia cost Arsenal the game but that is so far from the truth. Poor defending and not the keeper cost Arsenal the game.

I do not look to apportion blame as everyone has a bad day in the office. I am only highlighting the mistakes made by the defence to point out that Almunia did not cost us the game.

@OP
I do not agree with your analysis of MA's display yesterday.He parried in a weak shot into the net for the second goal and would not have conceded a third had he been bold enough to dive.Kindly watch the replay and you would notice that the WBA man slowed down in anticipation of a dive.Even when he got to the ball,Almunia did not attempt a dive.
Anyways,Arsenal's loss will always be my gain but i advise you to look for a replacement ASAP.

The defenders were shitty against WBA but Almunias errors also were glaring for all to see.

@ aieromon

We are all entitled to our opinions but the good thing is that only one man's opinion matters and that is monsieur Wenger.

@ Tkb

You have said it all, the defenders were shitty i.e were culpable in all 3 goals and the penalty conceded but yet in the same sentence you point out Almunia's errors were glaring. why call Almunia by name but not the defenders that werent up to par? double standards?

and Wengers opinion is that he needs a better keeper.

If you cannot see exactly what is wrong with Alumnia then there is no point to this thread.

Vieira:

and Wengers opinion is that he needs a better keeper.

If you cannot see exactly what is wrong with Alumnia then there is no point to this thread.

If you do not understand what an opinion is, then I suggest you check a dictionary, the Merriam Webster online dictionary is a very good one if you care to know. You cannot form opinions for others and please leave it to Monsieur Wenger to decide if he needs a keeper. If you had a bloody clue about football, you,ll be the manager of Arsenal and Arsene would be the one posting useless comments on Nairaland. Some of you guys that claim to be supporters and fans are nothing as such but are mainly frustrated people in life that need an outlet to vent their frustrations. It is plain to see that is the case as you guys are never able to form any opinions by yourselves but just jump on the bandwagon. You can never see anything good come out of the club you purpotedly support and just critisize, critisize and critisize. It was Bendtner, Theo, Silvestre, Denilson now its Almunia.

I delibrately made this thread a stand alone one instead of a appendage of the Arsenal one so as to reduce the number of vermin like yourself that come visiting. It is not your place to tell me if there is a point to the thread.

Pappilo

Great job and good analysis, Almunia had a mixed game yesterday, he could have saved us on 1 occasion though and was mostly responsible for the 2nd goal. He can be forgiven for this since he's done well so far and to help his confidence but another performance like this and I believe one of Mannone or Szczesny should get an opportunity to stake a claim (Fabianski is out of the picture IMO)

@OP,

What is the work of a Goalkeeper then If all the blame is on the defence.

If a defence is going to be perfect then teams dont need a keeper

Summary Almunia Sucks

dayokanu:

@OP,
What is the work of a Goalkeeper then If all the blame is on the defence.
If a defence is going to be perfect then teams dont need a keeper
Summary Almunia Sucks

Still wondering why anybody is putting up any defence for a goalkeeper like Almunia.Seriously.My lady woulda chested that shot that led to West Brom's second goal. Now it's the defence everybody's is blaming.
Delusion at it's height.Peacockism in full effect.

Wenger - The team had no electricity

"West Brom played very well but it is the usual defending we get when we play. We made really basic errors defensively if you analyse any of the goals. I just feel that from back to forward we were flat and poor.

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-the-team-had-no-electricity

Wenger - Almunia not the only one at fault

"For what happened, everybody will criticise Almunia but if we are 0-0 at half time it is because of Almunia," said Wenger.

"Overall I believe that, defensively, everybody made individual mistakes.

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-almunia-not-the-only-one-at-fault