Comments on: Mannone the hero as the famous ugly win is finally attained

By: Pete

Pete — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:16:26 +0000

I’d say that Almunia has shown those sorts of skills before, notably in the first leg of the CL semi last season – he was awesome that night.

The danger with Mannone is placing too much expectation on his shoulders. Before the Fulham game, he gave us all the jitters and he’ll return to that again – all young keepers do.

Almunia was 30 when he stepped in (I believe), so Mannone has some way to go yet. He certainly has the potential, but imagine the outcry when he costs us a game? The poor lad will be set back a mile.

That said, you make a good point about competition for places – Almunia never had a better season than when he was fighting to keep Jens benched.

By: KCGooner

KCGooner — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:07:17 +0000

Let us not forget that this is how Alumnia came around to getting the first team nod. Lehman went down and Almunia stepped up. Granted that Alumnia is/was quite a bit older than Mannone, I think Almunia should still stay number one. It will be nice to see the competition for the number one spot though, as this is when I think Almunia performed his best in past seasons.

By: kc

kc — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:01:14 +0000

Its easy to get a little worked up at the site of a possible top class keeper within the Arsenal. Its been too long. Almunia has been poor this season, and never has he shown the skills Mannone did against Fulham. Its doubtful Vito will be that good every game, but his position and reaction skills are fantastic. Two areas where Almunia suffers. Our lack of a quality keeper for the last few years is why the tuff 1 nil wins haven’t happened for us. Mannone must stay in net until his luck runs out. In my opinion Almunia and Diaby have been our two weakest links. Both should ride the pine for a while.

By: Gooner

Gooner — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:48:24 +0000

‘It is a classic lack of middle ground’

That pretty much describes Arsenal supporters and the media. We are either world beating or totally incompetent. Wenger is either a genius or will be the reason Arsenal falls into mid table mediocrity.