Arsenal name 77 players in 2012 squad – But no Manuel Almunia!
All Premiership clubs have to name their playing squad for the rest of the season at the end of the January transfer window, and Arsenal have released their list today.
On the goalkeeping side, Wojciech Szczesny, Lukasz Fabianski and even Vito Mannone are included but Wenger hasn’t even bothered putting Manuel Almunia on the list which means that he has more than likely played his last game for the Gunners.
It looks like Almunia has been given the cold shoulder after admitting last week that he wasn’t looking for another club and didn’t intend to. He said: “To be honest, it is so difficult to concentrate because Arsenal is a big club and speculation is always in the news and everywhere. The only thing I can do is keep working because I have a contract here and I have to do what the manager wants from me.
“I have not spoken to him. If somebody comes in, I will have to talk about my future at Arsenal. That is it. I cannot talk now, because the talking would be for nothing.”
Perhaps Wenger is hoping that he will take the hint now and actively look for something else to do with his time rather than hanging around at the Emirates……
Here is the full list of players submitted to the Premier League:
Arsenal – Over 21′s squad players
1 Clarindo Dos Santos, Andre
2 Arshavin, Andrey
3 Arteta Amatriain, Mikel
4 Benayoun, Yossi
5 Chamakh, Maroune
6 Diaby, Vassiriki Abou
7 Djourou-Gbadjere, Johan Danon
8 Fabianski, Lukasz
9 Yao, Gervais Kouassi
10 Gibbs, Kieran James Ricardo
11 Koscielny, Laurent
12 Mannone, Vito
13 Mertesacker, Per
14 Park, Chu Young
15 Rosicky, Tomas
16 Sagna, Bacary
17 Henry, Thierry
18 Song Bilong, Alexandre Dimitri
19 Squillaci, Sebastien
20 Van Persie, Robin
21 Vermaelen, Thomas
22 Walcott, Theo James
Under 21 Players
Afobe
da Silva,
Aneke,
Ademola
Angha,
Ansah,
Bartley,
Bellerin,
Bihmoutine,
Boateng,
Brislen-Hall,
Bunjaku,
Campbell,
Charles-Cook,
Coquelin,
Eastmond,
Ebecilio,
Kyle Stephen
Eisfeld,
Fagan,
Frimpongn
Galindo
Glasgow
Gnabry
Hajrovic
Hayden
Henderson
Hoyte
Jeffrey
Jenkinson
Lansbury
Martinez
McDermott
Meade
Miquel-Pons
Miyaichi
Monakana
Monteiro
Murphy
Oldfield Spence-Neita
Olsson
Oxlade-Chamberlain
David Ozyakup
Ramsey
Rees
Roberts
Shea
Szczesny
Toral
Watt
Wilshere
Wynter
Yennaris
Do Arsenal really need that amount of players on their books??
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Lame article… why does Almunia need to be given a hint… it should be told straight on his face…
Opinions divided. What do you think?
12 
5
some of the u-21 names were wrong, Joel Eisfeld?
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5 
1
can we bring back the likings please
Top Gooner!. Agree or not?:
14 
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@ the like button is back I gave you thumbs up on my Droid phone
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4 
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can thiery henry teach walcott how to finish one on one .
Top Gooner!. Agree or not?:
40 
1
Not only Almunia, what is Djourou doing there? I dont think Arsenal need both players….. No?
Top Gooner!. Agree or not?:
14 
3
the names on the list show how substandard Arsenal is. We have very few players that can be called world-class stars. As for Almunia, he should kindly take his skills where they will be appreciated.
4th place is now a dream. Worst times.
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5 
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Admin, I owe you chocolates. Thanks for restoring the rating features. Now we can hide some dumb comments by disliking them. Lol! Guys, don’t start with this, otherwise I will ask Wenger to convert Almunia and D’jourou to strikers.
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5 
2
Yes, it is a slightly nonsensical piece. Almunia is under contract until the end of the season and the lazy b*stard, since he knows no one will pay him the same kind of money elsewhere, decided to stay put and cash in. I think what he’s doing is worse than Nasri – Samir at least plays, even if it’s for the wrong club.
On the other hand, it’s good the club don’t make a fuss of it. Mancini gave a great example of how you shouldn’t deal with a situation like this. You shouldn’t concede defeat at the hands of a footballer who simply won’t give you what you want of him.
As for the squad, the question is very, very stupid. The under-21 list includes not only the players who feature for the reserves (about 20), but also all the u-19 kids at the Academy, some of whom have not even been named on the official club site (Ademola?). A host of those players are apparently on their way out of Arsenal (Lansbury, Hoyte, Eastmond, Watt…), a few are already on the roster for the 1st team or close to making it (Oxlade, Miquel, but also Ozyakup, Bartley). the rest are on their way to becoming flops or hits. If you think a club that wants to develop talent doesn’t need so many kids, you ought to get used to the idea that you actually have to take some people in if you want to teach anyone anything.
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3 
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Almunia would fit this team actually ,sometimes wordclass,but false hope.
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1 
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Okay Okay! They are back!
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5 
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what a stupid article… as if this is any news !!!!
would have been happier if there was a clause to name the Manager & if we could have the as.hole AW’s name not reflecting …. that would have been some news to the fans….
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Aurijit – u dimwit… u r back ?????
What’s your observation of your foster father AW now ? After the Bolton game ????
Are you enjoying that we are at 7th place in PL with the succour that your godforsaken Manager AW has derided us into????
Are you still not convinced that you are a mug to cry hoarse about that twag AW who is hell-bent in destrying our club along-with the board…
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2 
7
Ok dude, I love reading your Blog, but can you please take off the stupid song when I open your page? PLEASE???
(Sorry I can’t do anything about the ads. They are different depending on where you live and your browsing habits. Don’t worry they change every week or so anyway. And if there is sound there should be a little button on the ad where you can turn it off….. – ADMIN)
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1 
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I agree wid Zaki. Wow. Love Wallcott but he’s costing us games wid his finishing
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Wat is d name Arshavin23 still doin der, pls we dnt need a short and lazy micheal jordan23 in dis team anymore.
Gunners for life =))º°˚˚˚°ºнaĦaнaº°˚˚˚°º=))
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1 
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I looked and couldnt find it, regardless, like watching the Arsenal, I will keep reading your blog
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We got Henry, and had to vacate a spot as the non homegrown slots were full. We had to delist Almunia (or some other non homegrown player) because we did not let anyone go. Hence Almunia left out.
By the way it is Ozughan Ozyakup not David lol.
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0 
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Almunia is available for fa cup reserve and even champions league. plus if we get an injury we can always draft him up as an emergency keeper whereas leavi.g anyone else out u cant do that. as for djourou being left out why? apart from the obvious that he is only our 4th best centre back he is also only one of 5 homegrown players registered we could have.had up to 8 but we dont have enough
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@ Asif…. In Wenger I Trust…if you’re right in your presumption that he wants to destroy AFC… then he would have left AFC to more Illustrious offers when David Dein departed…
ch33rs!!
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2 
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The idea that a squad boasting 77 players actually possesses about 3 players to rely upon to win EPL games is comical! We’ve become a massive waste of space and money at the AFC.
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3 
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Almunia is better than Fabianksi and Vito
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@zak: kindly name which 3 you mean, I want to know exactly how wrong you are.
Are you talking RVP, Chamberlain, Walcott? Or Vermaelen, Koscielny, Sagna? Or Song, Szczesny, Gervinho? And Wilshere – he’s on the squad, do you predict he’s not coming back or what?
Tomorrow you’ll say there’s only one such player, then you’ll say there’s none, and finally you’ll wake up, in two weeks or so, supporting West Ham.
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Think everyone got a problem with the little russian.. but im absolutely sure that if he was given the same number of opportunities as walcott in front of goals.. he wuld have score far more than theo. He might be lazy but he can also make miracles that can win us matches
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Juoruh,Shamack,arshavin,ramsey,squllacci,almonia,…all this guys as nothing to offer us AW pls show these guys the way out of EMIRATE STADIUM
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3
So we have a wage bill of roughly 110m which, without the huge number of young players, would be 5m per year on average per player. That is 100k a week on average for Diaby, Denilson, Bendtner, Chamakh, Almunia, Squillaci, Park, Djourou, Walcott and Arshavin. Oh but there are 52 youngsters on the books too you tell me, it’s not 100k a week. Tell me, what happenned to the famous class of 2008-2009 Arsenal U18s squad that should be breaking into the first team now ? I’ll tell you what, they mostly either left for nothing, are on loan in the lower leagues or we’re still trying to get rid of them. So what hopes do we have that this group who came 5th in their group last season will do better ? not much to be honest. As for the reserves they’re sitting mid-table at the moment, not very spectacular. The experiment is a failure. Time for those responsible to leave the job to someone else now.
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all mushrooms except RVP, Wilshere, Vermaelen, Koscienly, Ox, Szczesny.
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@Sunil Sagna, Arteta and Song are also alright. But that leaves 50% of the squad that aren’t top 4 quality.
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yes why djourou is there. n why dnt u questioned why even squilaci stil there? pft! n the question cn we finished in top four,bring one of the trophy most likely the fa cup. r even both with champs league(unlikely) with these current squad?? for champs league goes til wherever we go.with luck! like the 2006 season. rvp fit all season. the board replace. n probably happy ending.
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It’s amazing how 7 players under 21 are regulars for the starting squad and we have a few that are on the fringes of breaking through! At least we have these kids to look forward too in the next few seasons
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@zdzis. OK! since you’ve convinced yourself you can rely on wilshere to beat Blackburn this weekend, go ahead, good luck mate!
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Long list but aren’t many of those out on loan? I know we have to include them in our team list but we can’t really call on them.
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ted you tool we were saying that 6 years ago and look where we are
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0 
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we need quality.. not quantity!
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Quit worrying. Why is djorou, squllaci,fabianski and all the under performers doing in that squad. Having all those is useless b’se they are as good as nothing.
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almunia, arshavin, chamark, diaby, ramsy, djourou dis guy ar nt supose 2 put on d red nd white jesey of arsenal, arsenal is 2 big 4 dem.
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