As we look at the crystal ball for the coming season,i have decided to try and see were in particular we could rise and fall in terms of our playing roster.
Starting at the back,,the very back,,back behind the backs........in goals,,the nets,,fecking goalkeepers
I am old enough to rememember the days when i read or heard that Pat Jenings was injured or dropped(it seemed to happen a lot)way back in the 80s.
His replacement was a scottish guy by the name of GEORGE WOOD,,GEORGE,wasnt a particuarly bad keeper,,in fact he was solid,,but in truth we always felt much better when BIG PAT was there,,hands like shovels,,agile as they come and braver than any man alive,,despite coming to the last 25 years of his career.
Pat had presence,,snce then we have had a variety of luck with keepers but i would prefer to concentrate on the ones that will face the season head on as we speak.
Vito Mannone,,has all the attributes to be a top keeper,,tall ,lean and an incredibly good shot stopper,he has already endeared himself to Arsenal by putting in an incredible perfomance away to Fulham 2 seasons ago,,he was cat like,brave and made several 1 on 1s away in a tight 1-0 away win,,he was at that stage a 3rd choice keeper.since then Vito seems to have stagnated ,,although never getting within an asses roar of the 1st team in 18 months can do that to you,,Vito i beleieve likes playing,,simple as that,,and he certainly didnt do himself any harm when he was loaned to Hull City last season and looking at highlights apparently did ok,,.
My feeling is that Vito can certainly progress in his career but maybe not at Arsenal,,possibly a future EPL number 1.
Next up is Luckasz Fabianski,talk about dividing opinions,,Luckasz is by defintion "impulsive"he gets bored,,he doesnt like having nothing to do,there is no denying is athleticism,,he is ncredibly agile,and some of his saves have been incredible,,Man City away,early in the game,,Chelsea away despite a loss he was brilliant,,a great stop from Malouda springs to mind.,the common thread among supporters is that Luckasz biggest problem is decision making,,he comes and wants to get involved,,his attemps at coming for crosses in the early days were nothing short of woeful,away at the Polish side pre-season in a 6-5 win(the score gives it away),was laughable,,injuries had come at a bad time but the 1 thing Lucasz has is character and some incredible but "maybe misplaced" confidence.
.....Manuel,Manuel,,,at the risk of sounding cruel and derogatory,,i shall try to be brief,,but in the hard nosed world of EPL goalkeeping we need to be objective.
ALMUNIA was never up to the job of Arsenals number 1,,the amount of genuine match costing mistakes he was involved in fed into the myth he was worse than what he was.
Manuel to me was "average",unfortunately "average " is not good enough,,Manuel didnt excel in any particular area of goalkeeping and i think this will be 1 of Arsene Wengers worse ever blind spots,,,,the west brom game away when we were at a low point and needed calmness and solidity was the final straw,,,the 2nd goal to this day will haunt me,,,and any goalkeeping expert will be entitled to ask what was ALMUNIA doing outside his goal,,40 yeards form his goal.........I wish Manuel well,,i just wish him gone.
Lets call him "CHEZ",,he is blessed with incredible physique at 6,5,,and an arrogant personality to boot(ALMUNIA was 6,1 and devoid of arrogance),,Chez,,dominates his box,he comes for crosses,,not always right but he comes,he punches he catches,,he clatters......(remember his collision with Gareth Bale at the Lane)stupidly brave,he is a respector of nobodys reputation and i have to admit i like him.
He gives you a safe feeling instead of the heebie jeebies Almunia and Fabianski(early days) used to instill in us.
Im not saying Chez is the finished article but he does and hs saved us the angst of searching for a new potential NO.1,,for the record i rate him a lot more than i do SCHWARZHER,
It used to be a position that would give us nightmares but as we head into 2011-12,,its a position that we can look forward to with renewed confidence........touch wood??George Wood
cya
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