DROP ALMUNIA

As we're unlikely to see terraces again at football, this is the virtual equivalent where you can chat to your hearts content about all football matters and, obviously, Arsenal in particular. This forum encourages all Gooners to visit and contribute so please keep it respectful, clean and topical.
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wlchuccc
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Post by wlchuccc »

mrgnu1958 wrote:Could Seaman come out of retirement?






Yes...im drunk :oops:
You are not, Seaman could still be a better keeper :wink:

Almunia makes Gome look a world-class keeper :cry:

mrgnu1958
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Post by mrgnu1958 »

Last time that happened it shot up into me eye :shock:

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TeeCee
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Post by TeeCee »

Let's be honest, Almunia has shown for the last few seasons that he is an average keeper who makes some decent saves but has several 'headless chicken' moments during a season and those moments usually cost us goals. The best teams have all had top keepers and to be honest, it even showed for United - Van der Sar quite probably would have saved AA's shot, Foster seemed to get his hands to it but didn't. Keepers make a difference.

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bergkamp10
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Post by bergkamp10 »

digger wrote:
greengooner wrote:he is not shit he is just average, an average goalie being played in the first team when he is clearly not up to it, same with eboue, diaby and denilson song, need i go on.
you're right.... Almunia will never make amazing saves, will always make silly mistakes, because he's an average keeper. He'd do well for West Ham, Fulham, Blackburn.. .clubs of that ilk, but not good enough for a side which should be looking to win the CL, League and FA Cup every season.

Saying that, second goal was nothing to do with him.
Nowt wrong with that comment, I am just so extremely pi***ed off, baecause we were saying in the pub before the match, we would probaly do well and some mistake from Gallas(wrong here)Alunia, Clicy would sadly let us down.

I my mind, and I basically said the same crap two years ago, we need to have 1/2 world class players, doesn't matter where they play for GOD SAKE !! Just to take the game over when we fall behaind or hit the panic button. We are close but NOT close enough.

I am more impressed this season, and all the hard work in training will be undone unless we add some addtional muscle and cunning...

8) :?

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goonersid
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Post by goonersid »

I think the time is up for Almunia and would put buying a goalkeeper as our no1 priority. It won't happen however as AW has 100% confidence in Al and whats more worrying is the fact that he feels the same about Fabianski.
Almunia seems to suffer from "big stage fright" ie he can't cope in the pressure if big games, his catalogue or errors in utd games alone are proof of this.
1. wandering off in the 2-2 draw two seasons ago leaving utd to tap into an empty goal
2. Picking up a backpass in the 2-1 victory last season(he got away with that one)
3. His awful performance in the 2nd leg of clge semi -final
4. Last nights penalty (what was going through his mind)
Add to this his clge final disaster,
his performance the qtr final against the pool qwhen he kicked a ball into touch that was going out for a goal kick, which led to the corner from which Hyppia scored.
His shocking display in the 4-4 with tha spuds, and many more to countless to recall.
And you can see why he is not a player who fills me with confidence going into a big game

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GunnerDude
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Post by GunnerDude »

It was evident from his performances in pre-season he was going to have a shoking season.

He was decent last year in the light of our bad defence but now we seem to have a stable defence he turns into a liability. :banghead:

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Bring Back Pires
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Post by Bring Back Pires »

goonersid wrote: 3. His awful performance in the 2nd leg of clge semi -final
I'm not a massive fan of Almunia's, but I certainly wouldn't blame him for any of the goals in the aforementioned fixture. Care to elaborate?

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goonersid
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Post by goonersid »

Bring Back Pires wrote:
goonersid wrote: 3. His awful performance in the 2nd leg of clge semi -final
I'm not a massive fan of Almunia's, but I certainly wouldn't blame him for any of the goals in the aforementioned fixture. Care to elaborate?
Beaten from 40 yards!!!!!!!! at his near post.

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Bring Back Pires
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Post by Bring Back Pires »

goonersid wrote:
Bring Back Pires wrote:
goonersid wrote: 3. His awful performance in the 2nd leg of clge semi -final
I'm not a massive fan of Almunia's, but I certainly wouldn't blame him for any of the goals in the aforementioned fixture. Care to elaborate?
Beaten from 40 yards!!!!!!!! at his near post.
I'm fairly sure that a) he's beaten many 'keepers from that distance, and b) it made little impact on the overall outcome.

I can think of many instances in which Almunia can be criticised, but this isn't one of them.

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GunnerDude
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Post by GunnerDude »

Bring Back Pires wrote:
goonersid wrote:
Bring Back Pires wrote:
goonersid wrote: 3. His awful performance in the 2nd leg of clge semi -final
I'm not a massive fan of Almunia's, but I certainly wouldn't blame him for any of the goals in the aforementioned fixture. Care to elaborate?
Beaten from 40 yards!!!!!!!! at his near post.
I'm fairly sure that a) he's beaten many 'keepers from that distance, and b) it made little impact on the overall outcome.

I can think of many instances in which Almunia can be criticised, but this isn't one of them.
Ronaldo had never scored a 40yrd freekick until then and before that the farthest he had scored from was against Porto and that was open play.

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g88ner
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Post by g88ner »

goonersid wrote:I think the time is up for Almunia and would put buying a goalkeeper as our no1 priority. It won't happen however as AW has 100% confidence in Al and whats more worrying is the fact that he feels the same about Fabianski.
Wenger isn't stupid. You say he's 100% confident in Almunia, but what do you expect him to say???

I'm sure he's fully aware of Almunia's limitations and his post match interview hinted that he's hardly 100% confident in the bloke...

"Football is unpredictable. I believe in this team we lack some calmness, maturity and experience when we were in moments where we were not under panic at all. We assessed wrongly two situations. The first one, Rooney was no danger to score, there was no need to panic. And on the second one as well. There was not one player of Man United around our players. So it’s lack of communication and still little bit I feel in these situations that we might be lacking a little bit of experience."

Now, considering it was 32 years old Almunia at the heart of the "panic, lack of communication, lack of calmness, maturity and experience" that Wenger speaks of, I think you have to accept that Wenger is aware of his players limitations, and when he says he's 100% confident in him, it's just talk.... and that's fair enough.

But, it will always come back to the fact that the standard of 'keeping in world football in generally pretty shite, and like it or not, Almunia is probably the best we can get! - if not, I'm sure Wenger would LOVE a new 'keeper because he's a handicap on his side, and an accident waiting to happen. But you can't pluck world class 'keepers out of thin air!!

I'd love us to find a new Seaman, but outside of Buffon, Casillas and co. (who are untouchable) how many 'keepers are world class??? :? - and you know people are clutching at straws when they're suggesting Jaskelienan, James, Frey and Hart! :oops: (it'll be Robert Green next! :roll: )
Last edited by g88ner on Sun Aug 30, 2009 11:30 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Chippy
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Post by Chippy »

We could have got Given last season. Friedel would also be better.

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g88ner
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Post by g88ner »

Chippy wrote:We could have got Given last season. Friedel would also be better.
I don't get the hype about Friedel either. He makes mistakes, and from what I've seen, he just isn't that great. And if he was, why did no top club want him when Villa signed him on a free from Blackburn?? and why didn't he hold out for a Champions League club?? :?

I genuinely think it's a case of the grass being greener on the other side, whereby people name these 'keepers to replace Almunia, even though they're probably not any better! - and if we did have Jaskelianen, Green, Friedel, James, Frey or Hart in goal, we'd STILL be moaning because they're not world class either!

Given, from what I've seen, is a quality 'keeper, but are you sure we could have signed him last season?? after all, Man City would surely have gazumped any offer we made?

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Kiki
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Post by Kiki »

g88ner wrote:
augie wrote:I think they may have you on that lehman comment g88ner :lol: I loved mad jens as a keeper and would have him in the team ahead of the spanish waiter every day of the week and twice on a sunday 8) To be honest if we are going to accept almunia's fcuk ups are going to happen as long as he is number 1 then why not play a young keeper like joe hart or whoever ? Almunia is 32 or 33 years old now so lets face it he aint going to get any better so personally I would be more willing to accept a young keepers fcuk ups as part of his development towards being a top keeper than to accept fcuk ups from a keeper that will never ever be anywhere near top quality.

By the way in case I forget......almunia for england :wink: :lol: :tricolour:
Ah, they haven't got me on the Lehmann comment, mate... :lol: "shite" was clearly an exageration but when it comes to Lehmann, I think many people think with their heart and not their heads. Lehmann has become overrated due to his popularity and the team he was in... I genuinely don't believe he was ever that great. :wink: :lol:

Anyway, you say you'd be happier with a young 'keeper who makes mistakes as part of a learning curve, but the abuse Flapianski gets on here suggest that's not the case! - Flappy may well become a very good 'keeper, but people would not accept his inclusion ahead of Almunia yet... that's for sure! :lol:

Almunia is generally a decent 'keeper who fucks up from time to time... it's a case of the grass being greener on the other side, whereby people suggest other average keepers even though I doubt we could do much better than Manuel! (sad but true, in my opinion! :( )
I dont think you'd play with Club's like Arsenal, AC Milan, Borussia Dormund Stuttgart unless you were World Class.

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g88ner
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Post by g88ner »

Kiki wrote: I dont think you'd play with Club's like Arsenal, AC Milan, Borussia Dormund Stuttgart unless you were World Class.
AC Milan??? - he played 5 games mate! :?

As for Stuttgart and Dortmund... I'm really not sure playing for them makes you world class. After all, Almunia plays for Arsenal (which is a MUCH higher standard) and is he WORLD CLASS???

But then again, if by definition you think Almunia and any Dortmund/Stuttgart 'keeper are world class, then Lehmann is definately world class, too.

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