Szczesny v Almunia as Arsenal’s Number One? NO CONTEST!
Turn the clock back to 2010 in the match at St Andrews against Birmingham City. Samir Nasri had just netted what looked to be the winner in the match. Just seconds from time, on their last attack, Birmingham found a half decent ball for Kevin Phillips. The veteran came up with a scuffed, poor effort that any professional goalkeeper should deal with easily.
Almunia literally flipped his palms up to deal with the ball, panicked, and an age later the ball found its way into the net for the equaliser.
That was it – Arsenal was finished as a title contender for that season.
There were countless other occasions as well – not only with the Spanish keeper – when Arsenal threw points, games and titles away just because of poor goalkeeping decisions and technique.
When Wojciech Szczesny finally stepped up to the plate, Arsenal finally had a reliable goalkeeper at the back. Besides being a great shot-stopper as he exhibits in just about every other match (you only have to look at his penalty save against Udinese), he has been an indomitable presence in the box with fantastic decision-making.
Most importantly, his attitude is right for the job. He did not back down or lose confidence even after the horror shows against Manchester United and Blackburn and came back stronger than ever. The assurance he gives to the players, the manager and the fans is impressive and at the same time essential for the team.
As Arsenal enters the crunch period of the Premier League, Szczesny is likely to be tested to his limit. From what we have seen so far, he will undoubtedly be up to the challenge. At last, with safe hands Szczesny at the back, Arsenal will not have to worry about dropping silly points!
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Almunia as number 4! Sczesny first, hes a class keeper who will become the best in the world. Fabianski and mannone as second and third
Top Gooner!. Agree or not?:
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WHY EVEN BOTHER PUTTING THIS ON ALMUNIA NO SZCZESNY YES,
WHY NOT PUT SOMETHING ON TO PUT A SMILE ON US GUNNERS FACES LIKE YOUR FAVOURITE ARSENAL MOMENT.DENNIS BERGKAMP V
NEWCASTLE YOU ALL KNOW THE GOAL FANTASTIC!
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HERE’S ANOTHER ANFIELD 1989 AMAZING NIGHT
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we know the answer to that. Our inability to delivery a decent corner is is killing us
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It is a relief not to feel obligated to get on arsenal forums and blogs and bitch about the lack of quality between our posts. Sczezy has taken a weight off of many a gunners shoulders as he arms more than capable of performing his duties at the back. Now as for our secondary striking options…
Gooner til I expire
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I don’t know guys. Almunia is tearing it up at West Ham…Szczesny could have a run for his 1st team spot.
On a more serious note, HOW AWESOME IS ARSENAL’S YOUNGSTERS?! Holy hell I will never doubt Arsene “the master” Wenger as kolo toure exclaims ever.
If only The OX could play on the opposite side then we would have him and Walcott netting and setting all day.
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Almunia is still here?
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who?
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Why wenger didn t play the first team? It was about a place in the semi final..what does he want? win the champion league against the like of messi or the premiership with -12 points ? sometimes i don t get it….
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Now Lennon with a ferocious cross from the right but Chalkias punches clear. Then Rose follows up with a ridiculous effort. Who does he think he is playing, Arsenal? min 58
This is comentary from eurosport online tot-paok. Fans must react!!!!!
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http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/europa-league/2011-2012/tottenham-hotspur-paok-480151.html
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wenger didnt play the first team bcuz he didnt wanna risk injuries dont u read or listen to anything in the news the first team played a hard match against dortmund on wednesday then on saturday they were tired and played against fulham and then tuesday u want them to play city and im sure saturday u want them to play wigan …..i rather rest them than risk them being injured for like a month
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Szczesny’s rise to NO 1 is almost unheard off.
Form number 3 to number 1 in 4 months.
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SPUDS CRASH OUT OF EUROPE, SPUDS CRASH OUT OF EUROPE,
NA NA NA NA, NA NA NA NA
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Isn’t Almunia still injured. LOL
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agreed,hes quite a ‘mr.dependable’.basic thing for any team is keeper,and if ur going to have one like szczesny then u shud consider urself fortunate.hardworking,always talking to the back 4,shot stopper,never gets intimidated by the big games,in short-’legend in the making ‘.but am also impressed by fabianski’s(slowly improved and has became a neat keeper) and mannone’s talent as well,even though both not as interesting as szczesny in terms of character……
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omg @redbb,am very surprised.the moment i read it(just after posting my comment),i immediately ‘opened the sun’ football page and guess wat ??? first thing i saw was united 1 crystal palace 2.
frankly,this 2 upsets ‘made my day’ thanks…. lol
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The only reason fabianski has improved is he is not playing so many matches so cannot make so many mistakes. we should sell him almunia and shea which should raise us around £5m. This would still leave us with chezney mannone martinez and mcdermott. also there is cook the u18 keeper who is highly rated. if we felt the need we could bring in an experienced keeper who would be prepared to mentor all the keepers and play if and when required be it first team or reserves. there are plenty of keepers around that would jump at the chance maik taylor and marcus hanhemann have just signed similar deals with everton and leeds.
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If 3 or 4 years before Szczesny is our no 1 goalie, we should won some trophys for sure.
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i just hope Chelsh*t & Manure lose in CL next week so we’re the only English side 2 qualify. the irony would be so beautiful, the supposed english teeam in “crisis” is the only english team in CL knock out stages………. so all those dic*heads(reporters) making us turn on each other can shove their critism up their ass!
GO GOONERZ oh n Admin plz show szczensy some respect he doesnt deserve 2 be put in the same sentence as Almunia EVA woji is superior in every aspect of the game, put simply Woji is goalkeeper of the century, Almunia is flop of the century!
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Almunia and Flappyhandski make me nervous. Polecat (Szczesny) is probably one of the best keepers in the world right now.
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Take a bow mr szczesny
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We need this type of commanding ‘bad boys’ who speak their mind and kiss ass at the same time at Arsenal. I wish him to be another Lehman minus the controversy with own teammates…
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Sorry I mean kick ass
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Wow, granted Almunia has failed to set the world alight, but I see absolutely no point to this article. Almunia had some good spells for us, during which he put in some fantastic performances (Barcelona anyone?), even leading to some people calling for him to play for England, before the emergence of Joe Hart. What’s the point in kicking a man when he’s down? Everyone know’s Szczesny is quality, but why pick one poor moment from Almunia’s time to criticize, and to state the obvious? If I’m not mistaken, Szczesny had his own horror moment against Birmingham as well. It’s things like this that make me ashamed of the current crop of Arsenal “fans”, and justifies other club’s criticisms of us. The rules for the board state “COMMENT GUIDELINES – PLEASE BE POLITE IF YOU DISAGREE, WE ARE ALL GOONERS IN THE END!” but apparently this doesn’t apply to the originally writer. You make me sick.
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