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.
Magic Hat wrote:Problem is he isn't Lehman (hardly a big name when we got him), VDS or Reina
i have to disagree with you on the lehamnn point, he was massive in germany before he came to arsenal he was rather unfortunately overshadowed by kahn, who was legendary. personally i'd wanted jens in for a couple years before he came.
and reina? in my opinion he is just as 'average' as Al, dont like him, overrated.
reina is average.........like alumina..........but fabianski is certainly not the answer, from what ive seen hes worse than stuart taylor, or vince bartram for that matter....he looks like a tentative kitten, with no idea what to do in his box, and a weak shot stopper.
Weak shot stopper? Certainly not when he plunged to his left against Fenerbache (granted after getting caught in two minds), his double save against Wigan, his performance in pre season, his point blank save against Burnley, or his good save against Cardiff.
Granted he has a lot to work on outside of shot stopping, he is young and still erratic but at least he comes for crosses.
Eboue-Why? wrote:I've never agreed with the amount of grief Almunia receives from fans. Yep he makes mistakes as all keepers do but he's nowhere near as bad as some make out. Today he was excellent. He can be criticised for his decision making from time to time but his handling of shots is first class and his natural instinct is to try and dominate his area which again he did well today. IMO we did not and do not need to spend £5-10m on a new keeper.
Thought we defended well in difficult circumstances yesterday.
He's a good back up keeper, a good first team keeper for a lower rung Premiership side.
He's not good enough to be a regular 1st team goalkeeper for a top 4 side.
Magic Hat wrote:Problem is he isn't Lehman (hardly a big name when we got him), VDS or Reina
i have to disagree with you on the lehamnn point, he was massive in germany before he came to arsenal he was rather unfortunately overshadowed by kahn, who was legendary. personally i'd wanted jens in for a couple years before he came.
Not really, he was considered a 'make do' keeper when Seamen left.
should have, but didnt for some reason........wouldnt have weakened us had they gone...jay simpson as good as bendtner...eboue = ok right back shite everywhere else.
I Hate Hleb wrote:Alternatively, maybe if Almunia controlled his penalty area; claimed the crosses; made the match-winning saves that his predecessor did and was half the keeper Lehman was, then he would not get the stick he does!!
Fact.
IMO if we had a better keeper last season we'd have won the league. Same applies if Ade had finished off a quarter of the 100 clear cut goals he missed we'd have won the league. They're both mediocre.
eh!? we lost the league last season because of the run of draws + defeat at the Chavs in February/March in which none of the goals conceded were Almunia's fault...
Put Almunia in the Newcastle team and I'm sure he'd look as good as Given; so many shots you're bound to make a lot of saves and get on MOTD and so many goals conceded that the ones he makes a mistake on aren't really noticed. Think how many lower grade keepers have "amazing" games against us (or did in happier times). Almunia has to face a lot more scrutiny in the media and on forums because he's at a big club.
