Tuesday 31 August 2010

Schwarzer: my final thought



I was never particularly keen for us to sign Mark Schwarzer, not only is he 37 but he is arguably no better than the goalkeeper we already have, Manuel Almunia. The transfer window has closed and we have no new keeper, Manuel Almunia has to be our man.

I didn't watch that much of Fulham last season but I can certainly remember Schwarzer's howler at the Emirates. I also saw him in the World Cup, against Germany he had a shocker for their second goal and against Serbia his fumble cost another goal.

Maybe Schwarzer would have been better, maybe not, opinion is clearly divided on this one. However it is blatantly obvious that there is not a massive amount of difference between the keepers, what is also clear is that Almunia has been judged incredibly harshly for his errors in comparison to Schwarzer. For example I recently read someone trying to blame Almunia for Blackpool almost scoring from a fine left footed cross that led to a header in the first half, ridiculous.

Many times I have posed the question to those who unfairly slag off Almunia as a joke keeper, so name his howlers and specific errors that have cost us goals? It is remarkable how few errors these people can list, it leads me to the conclusion that some people are being a bit unfair and irrational in writing him off. Maybe some of them are reading this article now. He wasn't half bad against Blackburn at the weekend, was he?

Whatever the ins and outs of it, whoever the better keeper is, how about we get behind Manuel Almunia while he plays for Arsenal? How about we judge him by the same standards that we judge other keepers? And you never know, a bit of extra support might just transform his confidence and with it his performances to the next level. Judging by the reception that Manuel got at the Blackpool game, it appears that a lot of Gooner are right behind our keeper.

26 comments:

Unknown said...

You mean when he gifted United a penalty bu rushing out of his box. The nani flap? Punching the ball into his own net against birmingham, costing us possibly the title?

I could go on....

gunny said...

Look at Eboue, what a bit of support did for him.
I am an Arsenal fan (and member) from Holland, and I don't understand all the negative posts about the club, as if Arsenal have the divine right to win all the trophies.
Just enjoy the beautiful football!

Anonymous said...

Hi, Goonertown here!

Almunia has is a recognised world class stopper and penalty saver.He is just too nicea guy at times and not commanding enough on Set pieces. Hopefully now 2 serious bids were made, he'll realise that his commanding and decison making needs to be at the level as it was at Blackburn. As i've stressed today elsewhere, Schwarzer on a free in May suits me fine. For the record, Schwarzer will be a stop gap for Schezney and coach for the all of our keepers. Plus he will get a couple of years Champions league experience. Hughes gambled on keeping an unhappy heeper thinking that Almunia would be our rason for not making the top four next season ans he will be able to keep his man even longer! Well I'll tell you this...we are Arsenal and we are stronger than last season. So if any team out there think they're hard enough come and try it! We should win the league this season!

Wembley79 said...

Totally agree with Gunny. We have what we have, now let's just get behind the team.

People forget that Seaman, Lehmann and even Jennings had the occasional howler - the main difference is that everything is examined under a microscope and debated endlessly on the 'net by people who have no experience of what is involved in running a premiership team, or buying the contracts of professional players. But, of course, I am sure that all of the doom merchants can claim to have never made a mistake, and have always come out on top in any negotiation they entered into...

gunny said...

Thank you Wembley79, some common sense here.

Anonymous said...

Look at GOALS CONCEDED,season after season,stats do not lie. It is not in his nature to fire up for big games,nor alertness or courage when required. He may be good at penalties but wrong judgement or indecisions abound. Yes he could adapt,but you will have to find his GO button as he is all at sea on that matter. Walcott has his GO button activated by Hanson,and he is on the double to make amends,and he will get there. To defend him with constructive comments is sensible,but to shield him in his old ways is doing an injustice to him,like encouraging him to carry on in his old ways.

1979gooner said...

yes, goals conceded

the reason for this has not been the goalkeeper, it has been a combination of other things, largely the centre back pairings and the lack of defending from midfield and from the whole team

Warsame,

those are about the only ones people can come up with and that's the point I'm making

that's very few in the grand scheme of things,

with schwarzer he had several in his last three games!

all the top keepers have made numerous howlers in the last year, reina this season for example

Manuel is a lot better than a lot of people give him credit for and it is now time to back him

Anonymous said...

The truth is before today we had two shit keepers.We still have.Anyone who doesnt believe Schwarzer is not better than Almunia hasnt been watching Arsenal for the last 3 seasons.

Its a disgrace that a club that considers itself a world class team cant sign a eworld class keeper.
Oh well thats 6 seasons without a trophy

Anonymous said...

Last season we conceded 41 goals that told us Almunia and Flappy were not good enough

Its a sad day.i wonder what Cesc is thinking?He stayed for what?The same old same old

nbgooner said...

Oh please do you watch the same keeper most of us do? Even a half decent shot stopper would not get beaten at his near post so often, he isn't confident with balls in the air and his distribution is only so so. Take this season for example the only reason his mistake against Liverpool wasn't highlighted was that Pepe Reina made an even bigger one.

I feel sorry for Almunia now because every mistake he makes is going to be highlighted by the media and fans alike, it's not his fault Arsene couldn't sign another keeper, but I also have no doubt if he is in goal till the end of the season he will cost us a fair few points.

Anonymous said...

Almunia had a good game at Blackburn.... maybe with a decent pairing in front of him and a bit more of a "**** you Monsieur Diouf" mentality in every game he'll turn out good in the end. A change in mentality can result in a changed player: Eboue is a good player for us now... I am glad he stayed.

We have what we have... another goalie would have been a nice option, but it didn't happen... So now it's time to get behind the team.

Peter W said...

Our whole defence last season was CRAP! Not just Almunia....So now with a more solid defensive centre lets hope that gives him the confidence to show what he really can do! It wasn't all his fault if were honest about it!

Anonymous said...

Sorry this is all tripe. We can all see that we have no chance of winning anything now that we haven't managed to sign a goalkeeper in 2 months.

Its mismanagement by Wenger, and I for one will not be spending any of my hard earned cash their anymore. Time for him to go

Anonymous said...

Pick a goal theres too many to name! He is a decent keeper who gets dun by his near post way too much! Consistancy is the key n he cant do it! Take the barca game he played out of his skin first half and within 30 secs he gets beat too easy! Top keeper like hart wouldnt get beat like that! Untill we get a quality keeper cant c silverware cumin in! But arsenal and almunia pls prove me wrong

Anonymous said...

" Warsame said...
You mean when he gifted United a penalty bu rushing out of his box. The nani flap? Punching the ball into his own net against birmingham, costing us possibly the title?

I could go on...."

Not really. As the article mentions fans can really name less than a handful. Many times Almunia has been blamed when it was defensive mistakes.
+ the penalty against united was a classic case of good diving on Rooney's part.
Now..... list the number of times Manuel has made a save when you were 200% it was going in.

Anonymous said...

If in their teens Casillas was good enough for Real, Valdes good enough for Barcelona and De Gea good enough for Atletico, then why is Wojciech not good enough for us NOW.
He obviously has Wenger admiring his talent. Play him and he will get experience. If we need a new goalkeeping coach we can surely find better than Gerry Peyton.

Anonymous said...

Folks, like it or not, the transfer window has closed. Let's get behind Manuel Almunia now! Cheer him on the next round.. a LOUD and CLEAR cheer..

I just hope Denilson would not get into our first 11 now.

Ted said...

Well said 1979. And what a load of idiot tosh there has beensaid above. Warsame, you total plonker, that is exactly the point - almunia has made a handful of mistakes in his career. So what? Name me one keeper that has not.

Schwarzer has been very average for years. He has no champs league experience. In fact, other than a uefa cup final in which Boro got stuffed, I struggle to think of any big games he has played in.

And anonymous moaners who think Manuel is reason not to come to the Emirates are very, very welcome to fuck off. It truly does amaze how much bullshit people come up with.

Damola said...

When Arsenal lost 6-1 to Man Utd or the recent 4-0 to the same team. Was it Manu between the sticks. I think the team also need to learn to protect their goalkeeper and get aggressive in the air. Manu needs our support. As now, he remains No. 1 till January at least and for once he would have a good cover in Vermaelen and Squillaci and also the height of Djourou. Still remains a very good shot stopper. I guess we all just watched Schwarzer's last premiership match. I wonder what the scout who recommended him to arsenal watched.

king tony said...

every great side over the last 30 years has had good keepers.Almunia is average at best,ok as a number2,manuhad Scmiechal,chelsea had cech(not so good since kicked in head)Last season's overachievers-brum-had the wonderful Hart,and once apon a time seaman was very good indeed,he made breathtaking saves,these oddgoals saved make a huge difference in the key games.We have great players in every area except goaly,fabianski isshot away in the head,almunia always seems to let a goal in,,th other pole might be another fabianski...SO please give Manonone another chance.

Anonymous said...

Frankly I also did not think all along that Schwarzer was the answer to our GK woes despite all the hype of how good he was. Why did A.Wenger hestitated offering to buy him at 4m until the very last moments of the transfer deadline? Could be he believed Almunia is a better bet. Arsene could be right on this! All said, Arsene could have bought a new more capable GK much earlier if that was on his mind all along. Now, he could have misplaced his trust in Almunia, and definitely so on Fabianski! Well, all the Arsenal fans will find out soon enough whether Arsene has made a crucial mistake.

ytgunner said...

I haven't seen Schwarzer much, I don't think I'm in a position to judge him. But Almunia has time and time again shown that he has quality, and he is able to pull off world-class saves. He does have weaknesses, especially in his concentration, but I do think that most of that is due to the defenders. As with Blackburn's goal at the weekend, Vermaelen failed to cover for Koscielny, and Almunia had to come off his line, and he was not at fault for M. Diouf's tap-in moments after. He has been quite solid this season, some might say that he flapped at Liverpool, N'gog shouldn't have scored, but it was an incredible angle, and give that lad some credit and do not just blame it on Almunia. He does not exactly instill confidence in you, with his occasional flaps, but that doesn't mean he's a poor keeper. Which top keeper that we were clamouring for doesn't flap? Even Casillas makes mistakes, Reina made a huge howler against us, VDS has made mistakes, Cech as well, Lloris doesn't seem to command his box that well, so who else do you want? Give Almunia a chance. He's pretty good.

Drew said...

First, I think we should all back Almunia as he is our number one keeper for this season. If he can pull an Eboue, we can win the league. Maybe the Diouf incident will trigger Almunia's nasty side.

That being said, I think we should have signed Schwarzer. Picking apart his recent gaffes is a bit short-sighted. By honing in on Schwarzer's mistakes, one makes the same argument that the Almunia detractors are making; that argument is that goalkeepers make mistakes.

I don't think Schwarzer is leaps and bounds better than Almunia; if anything, I think they are on the same level. The problem is that the defense don't currently trust Almunia. You can tell by some of the hurried clearances and glares (admittedly, the glares were mostly from Gallas) from last season. Already some of that has been cut out this season, so there is some hope. Schwarzer, while not markedly better, is someone different, and sometimes you need a change not for Almunia, but for our defense.

Blaming Almunia for the Liverpool goal is reaching at best, and to give Almunia stick for the out-swinging cross against Blackpool is idiotic.

Almunia isn't world class, but he is our keeper. Get behind him. Our team is minus one terribly destructive influence at the back; maybe not being berated by Gallas every week will be enough to restore his confidence.

1979gooner said...

cheers Ted and the other recent comments, Warsame seems to have missed the point,

Schwarzer was no Utopia and if he had come, he would have proven this to be the case, as he hasn't come I am sure we will be subjected to numerous what ifs for the rest of the season,

actually I have been watching Arsenal for the last 20 years and Almunia is not out best keeper, but he is nowhere near the worst, he's probably in the middle,

the absolute cr*p written above by some shows how foolish some people are, blaming the conceding of the goals on the goalkeeper is completely ridiculous,

remember it isn't long ago that we almost won the league with Manuel having a very good season in goal, we could easily win the league with Manuel in goal,

in fact I would dare to say that the goalkeeper has become the scapegoat for the whole team's defensive failings

in actual fact our main problem has been a centre back pairing that has not been dominant or aggressive enough, a midfield that has not shielded the defense enough, and the team not pressing well enough as a unit every game of the season,

losing the average gallas has been a great move, vermaelen and koscielny look better together than anything we saw last year, sagna is looking solid, i have slight concerns about clichy, he appears to lack concentration and get caught out positionally too often,

bottom line is I think if we remedy our main defensive problems then we can easily win the league with Manuel in goal, still if we don't then I've no doubt some plonkers will still blame him if we don't

Anonymous said...

Almunia will prove his worth this season. Then I reckon he would go as we fans have treated him soo badly.

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