DROP ALMUNIA

wlchuccc · Post by **wlchuccc** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 4:29 pm

Bergkamp-Genius wrote:
OneBardGooner wrote:
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.
After he fucked up and gave away the pen - His decision making went to (even more) shit - and so the second goal was all to do with him...Because there were no manure players near him and he should have come for the ball.....

You can't blame him for the second goal, the ball is going straight to one of his own players, no attackers any where near him, he didn't need to come for the ball. It's OK in hindsight saying he should have this and should have that, but how at the time was he supposed to know one of his own players was so incompetent that he was going to almost impossibly put the ball in the back of his own net while under no pressure, the sad thing is had Diaby been in the exact same position in the oppositions box he would have probabaly put that wide.
If people are going to chastise Almunia stick with actual errors he has made rather than looking to blame him for every error made by others within 20 yards of his goal.

I don't blame him for the 2nd goal, but this shows his limitation. He never comes out for the ball which he should easily collect. He always hesitates to come out for some through balls. I remember an incident yesterday, Gallas was blocking Rooney (I think) and allowed him to get the ball. He hesitates a bit at the beginning, he always doesn't know when to come out and when not to come out

Post by **I Hate Hleb** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 4:33 pm

Sorry BG. I generally agree with a lot of what you write but this time I think you're wrong. Alumina should have come for the cross which, by the time Diaby got his head to it, was 7 yards from his goal, having come from 30 plus yards out!! He didn't even have the excuse that he would have been blocked/running into opposition bodies as there were hardly any in the area, let alone near him! All game he was rushing off his line and the one time he needed to, he froze with indecision/fear!!

Alas, this is a regular occurance with Almunia and if we do manage to win a trophy, it will more than likely be in spite of our goalkeeper, not because of him.

Have said that, there is also no ryhme or reason why peanut head Diaby didn't head the ball away properly!!

Gunnersaurus · Post by **Gunnersaurus** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 4:35 pm

He just doesn't inspire confidence at all, he is a decent shot stopper but then he's a goal keeper so it's a minimum requirement.

He is not commanding enough of his area and his communication with the back 4 is appaling.

He was at fault for the Portsmouth goal and he never should have come charging out for yesterdays pen.

I hate to say it but he's not good enough.

TeeCee · Post by **TeeCee** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 5:03 pm

g88ner - these are the keepers I would say are better than Almunia, ranging from just a bit better to miles better....
Cech
Van der Sar
Sorensen
Given
Reina
Jensen
Green
Friedel
Schwarzer
James
Jaaskeleinen
Kirkland

hanny73 · Post by **hanny73** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 5:05 pm

TeeCee wrote:g88ner - these are the keepers I would say are better than Almunia, ranging from just a bit better to miles better....
Cech
Van der Sar
Sorensen
Given
Reina
Jensen
Green
Friedel
Schwarzer
James
Jaaskeleinen
Kirkland

Kirkland? Really?

How many of these are available??

Post by **REB** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 5:33 pm

a great keeper is worth at least ten points a season to a team , we dont have a great keeper we have an ok keeper because imo and i repeat its my opinion he is not even a good keeper

almunia should be a number 2 at most and is not good enough for any team that wants to win trophies,
and that is fact

augie · Post by **augie** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 5:36 pm

Hasnt wenger blamed almunia for the 2nd goal ? I mean if you are having a pop at no communication for the 2nd goal (which wenger did) then who else could he be talking about ? Almunia was the player closest to diaby, was the player who was in the best position to view diaby and any potential threats around him plus he was the player that should have called, came and collected the ball

You cannot expect the defenders who are ahead of the ball to have a good enough picture of what is going on behind them to be confident in calling diaby can you ?

Vince · Post by **Vince** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 5:39 pm

Diaby should know that he has to clear the ball on free kick.
He doesn't need Almunia or anyone else to tell him what to do in this situation.

Bergkamp-Genius · Post by **Bergkamp-Genius** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 5:44 pm

I Hate Hleb wrote:Sorry BG. I generally agree with a lot of what you write but this time I think you're wrong. Alumina should have come for the cross which, by the time Diaby got his head to it, was 7 yards from his goal, having come from 30 plus yards out!! He didn't even have the excuse that he would have been blocked/running into opposition bodies as there were hardly any in the area, let alone near him! All game he was rushing off his line and the one time he needed to, he froze with indecision/fear!!

Alas, this is a regular occurance with Almunia and if we do manage to win a trophy, it will more than likely be in spite of our goalkeeper, not because of him.

Have said that, there is also no ryhme or reason why peanut head Diaby didn't head the ball away properly!!

As i have said IHH i'm not for one minute trying to say he is a great keeper and i would love to have someone of the quality of Buffon in our goal, but it's never going to happen.

There is a dearth of quality keepers around these days and the real quality are far beyond what we could afford never mind the pittance Wenger would want to pay. So we are left with the choice of the rest and i just don't believe there is much of a muchness between Almunia and what is left.

It's easy to look at the odd highlights of all the names people are mentioning and think yes he's better, but in reality they all make gaffs some of them on a regular basis and none of them are particularly safe at commanding their area. I have no doubt if the likes of James played for us he would get crucified because his frequent sometimes ridiculous errors would be all the more noticeable and memorable to us and the media.

As for yesterdays performance, the challenge on Rooney was a mistake, but it's a mistake all keepers make now and then, it's a split second judgement and always marginal whether your going to get the ball first or not, yesterday he didn't and it cost us a penalty, but who knows what would have happened had he stayed on his line Rooney may have broke the back of the net and then you may have been saying why didn't the keeper come out for the ball. Regardless, these things happen, it wasn't the crazy piece of keeping people are making it out to be.
The Diaby goal, i can't possibly blame Almunia for that goal, if your suggesting Almunia could see the ball coming for long enough to know he could come out and take it unchallenged then he could also see the ball was going to his own player in space for an easy clearance, so again i say there was no need for him to risk coming for it.
I understand that people think he doesn't command his box enough but he is not alone in that there are few keepers that do these days at least not safely. So again it's not that i think he is the ultimate keeper, i just don't see anyone out there that we would buy that would be much if any better.

Kiki · Post by **Kiki** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 5:51 pm

COSTLY MISTAKES BY ALMUNIA

- Lets a David Bellion shot go through his hands in the early minutes against Man U in the CC

- Poor display against Chelsea in December 2004 and at fault for Terry headed goal

- Shocking display in 4-2 home defeat to Man U

- Fails to take out Jason Roberts letting the striker net a late winner to put Wigan through to CC Final

- Shocking errors in UCL Final

- Soft 2nd goal conceded in CC Final

- At fault for both Man U goal's in 2-2 home draw

- Mix-up gifts Middlesbrough a peno to cause Arsenal first defeat of 07/08 season

- James McFadden free kick somehow goes in in the Brum game (we all know how costly that was)

- Poor display at game to chavs in defeat

- Kick the ball out of play when it was there for a defender - subsequent run of play leads to a corner in which Hyypia scores.
Standing in one side of his goal leaving an almost completely open gaol for 'THE RAT' Babel's 4th

- At fault for 3 of sp*rs goals last yr

Fuckin hell, I could go on and on here! I didnt even realise until lookung at it now the amount of costly mistakes he has made.

Saying that, credit were it due, there becoming less and less.....abeilt in the smaller games

Bergkamp-Genius · Post by **Bergkamp-Genius** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 5:52 pm

augie wrote:Hasnt wenger blamed almunia for the 2nd goal ? I mean if you are having a pop at no communication for the 2nd goal (which wenger did) then who else could he be talking about ? Almunia was the player closest to diaby, was the player who was in the best position to view diaby and any potential threats around him plus he was the player that should have called, came and collected the ball You cannot expect the defenders who are ahead of the ball to have a good enough picture of what is going on behind them to be confident in calling diaby can you ?

What does it matter what others did, Diaby was on the edge of the centre of his six yard box with an unchallenged header, a seven year old knows what to do with that, you clear it and you get as much distance on it as you can, you don't need others to tell you what to do in that situation, it's not like it was a choice between holding it and clearing it there was only one option and he f*cked it up, you can't blame anyone else for that kind of incompetence.

augie · Post by **augie** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 5:53 pm

BG the ball arrived in the 6 yard box which is almunia's area to dominate regardless of how far the ball has travelled. How many balls did gallas head away from the 6yd box in the 1st half yesterday while almunia was flapping about the fcuking place ? The same thing happened last week v pompey and look back at stoke away last season and see even more examples of almunia failing to control his 6 yard box. If a keeper cant dominate the 6 yard box then how can he expect to dominate the whole penalty area ? The man is an average keeper with no presence and inspires fcuk all confidence in the defence or the fans

Bergkamp-Genius · Post by **Bergkamp-Genius** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 6:12 pm

augie wrote:BG the ball arrived in the 6 yard box which is almunia's area to dominate regardless of how far the ball has travelled. How many balls did gallas head away from the 6yd box in the 1st half yesterday while almunia was flapping about the fcuking place ? The same thing happened last week v pompey and look back at stoke away last season and see even more examples of almunia failing to control his 6 yard box. If a keeper cant dominate the 6 yard box then how can he expect to dominate the whole penalty area ? The man is an average keeper with no presence and inspires fcuk all confidence in the defence or the fans

It wouldn't matter who we had in goal he would be seen as a liability, most people i know thought Lehmann was a liabilty. The position is such a critical one that every thing the keeper does is over analysed and if he plays for your own team 10 x more so. Almunia is by no means perfect but he's not as bad as some believe. There are few keepers that command even their six yard box, it's not like the old days of clemence shilton and the like, i can only assume the movement of the beach balls they use now makes it a much riskier proposition to come for high balls, it is a dying art, it's not just Almunia.
But all that has nothing to do with a professional footballer playing at the highest level putting the ball in the back of his own net from a free header on the edge of his six yard box, there is no excuse for that.

Post by **g88ner** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 6:26 pm

TeeCee wrote:g88ner - these are the keepers I would say are better than Almunia, ranging from just a bit better to miles better....
Cech
Van der Sar
Sorensen
Given
Reina
Jensen
Green
Friedel
Schwarzer
James
Jaaskeleinen
Kirkland

I would agree on Cech, Van der Sar, Reina, and Given.... so that's 4.

As for Friedel, Green, Schwarzer, James, Jaaskeleinen, Sorensen, and Kirlkland.... sorry, I just cannot agree, although I accept that Friedel is of a similar level to Almunia.

As for the others, I don't think they're as consistent as Almunia.

Vince · Post by **Vince** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 6:33 pm

g88ner wrote:
TeeCee wrote:g88ner - these are the keepers I would say are better than Almunia, ranging from just a bit better to miles better....
Cech
Van der Sar
Sorensen
Given
Reina
Jensen
Green
Friedel
Schwarzer
James
Jaaskeleinen
Kirkland
I would agree on Cech, Van der Sar, Reina, and Given.... so that's 4.

As for Friedel, Green, Schwarzer, James, Jaaskeleinen, Sorensen, and Kirlkland.... sorry, I just cannot agree, although I accept that Friedel is of a similar level to Almunia.

As for the others, I don't think they're as consistent as Almunia.

I think only Cech and VDS in their good days are better than Almunia. Given and Reina are at the same level.

We shouldn't forget all the games he saved us last season or the seasons before. We're talking about his mistakes, but he did a lot of great games .. against Tottenham when he saved Keane's penalty for exemple, or the semi final first leg of Champion's League last season.