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.
