Wenger – Don’t blame Almunia, he is under pressure!
Arsene Wenger has sprung to Manuel Almunia’s defence after the Spaniard has been blamed for Arsenal’s defensive problems in the last couple of games, but especially in the defeat against Man Utd.
He thinks that Almunia is being made a scapegoat, and he says that if he really thought he was to blame then he would have no problem in sacking him.
“I am not afraid to make a tough decision,” he says. “My only target is to make the right decision for the club. But after a game like Sunday we have to believe in our players rather than change half of the team. Almunia has done very well recently. People always look for a scapegoat when you lose a big game, you know.”
He admits that there is a lot of pressure on Almunia, but also says that he probably has the hardest job of anyone in the team, and is under intense scrutiny all the time.
“I think he puts a lot of pressure on his shoulders. Too much,” he said. “If you look well across Europe you see that being a goalkeeper is the most difficult job in the world today. And it is even harder in England. Everything is quick, people stand on your feet at crosses. It is a terrible job.”
“A goalkeeper is always in a negative publicity. If a striker misses two chances and scores two he is a hero. If a goalkeeper makes a fantastic game and makes one mistake he is a villain. They are under massive pressure because of that fear to make one mistake, knowing that it can kill the team and the game. It is may be the most pressurised job in football.”
So it sounds like Wenger will not be making any big changes in the near future. Do the fans think that Almunia just had an off-day last week, but is usually more consistent that that?
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he is an ok keeper but not great. and not as bad a some say. our next truly great keeper is currently playing for brentford – go see him if you have a chance! he will be a HUGE star. and a firm fav9ouritye too as he is a big personality. never before have the brentford faithfull taken to a loan signing like this boy. awesome. even motre popular than merson was when he was on loan all tyhosde years ago.
PS i like this site but a shame we have to ‘ave those yellow teeth on the right hand side ads.
sorry about the typos above – 2 early on a sunday morning!!! or the yellow teeeth putting me off?
THat is not exactly what is says is it? DId you bother to read the arsenal.com page? Have you also read other stuff today or did you just try to make an exciting headline so people would read your blogg?
He even tried to sign a new goalie this windon to TAKE OVE for Almunia, but failed at the last minute.
That proves he knows how fragile Almunia is and he will be replaced. However since ALmunia is the only thing we got now until end of season we got two choices.
A . Tell him how crap he is and hate him for every mistake he does. which of course will give him even less confidence and make him do more mistakes.
B. Support him even though we know how fragile he is and make the best out of a mediocre keeper(something we have to do regardless of wheter we choose option A or B. )
What do you think we should do? Support ALmunia since hes the onlyone we got at the moment or tear the only thing we got at the moment to pieces cos hes shit anyway? What do you think will be the best approac ?
Yes he is on pressure and good keeper but he is not Arsenal class keeper!We need a keeper who talks to defenders,organise the defensive line up and who is self confident.I’m sorry Armunia is not No one;many goals should been saved but his didn’t! Look at Nani’s goal it is a shame!!!
Yeah. Don’t just blame him. Kick him on the arse.
They have better keepers in division 2.
C’mon Arsenal C’mon..
http://11gunners.com/opinion/6-must-do%E2%80%99s-as-arsenal-await-another-6-pointer/3063/
alumnia need another good keeper 2 giv him a run 4 his money,but is ok.
goalkeepers of the last 16 teams left in the champions league:
Lloris (Lyon) Almunia (Arsenal)
Casillas (RM) Butt (Bayern M)
Dida (AC Milan) Frey (Fiorentina)
Van der sar (Manure) Lehmann (Stuttgart)
Helton (Porto) Valdes (Barcelona)
Carrasso (Bordeaux) Cech (chavs)
Akinfeev (Moscow) Cesar (Inter)
Nikopolidis (Olymp’) Palop (Sevilla)
Now all of those keepers bar 1 (Almunia) are either world class or like Lehmann have been or are close to it. Where do we get off thinking that we can do anything without a worldclass keeper….we are dreaming. They add so much more than just saving goals …it effects the whole defence
i’ll go on (i’ve been known to)
Schmeichel, Seaman, Flowers, Bartez, Lehman, Van der Sar, Cech. I believe these are the seven keepers who have won the premier league (soz if i’ve missed any).
We have no chance whatsoever with captain chaos in goal……..what is Wenger on!!!!!!
I dont care what anyone says Almunia is just not good enough to play for Arsenal. He had a half decent season last year we he made few mistakes but this year he has shown yet again that he sucks. I still blame him for the champions league final defeat where he kicked a ball going wide in
If almunia is under pressure, why do you use him? I always maintain my stand that almunia is not a reliable goalkeeper, you can not compare him with the likes of shay given, jaskalinear, friedel or james who always save their teams when it matter most. Infact i will prefer mannone presently more than almunia and fabianski because he is always confidence and he bring out his best when it matter most. AW,should start thinking of a goalkeeper in the summer
i have always said alminia is a liability. Mannone is a better keeper by far and i dont know why Aw doesnt play him.Fabiasky would say he is short and its easy to for strikers to score against short keepers also he is kind of overexcited somehow just not good enough.I know Aw doesnt listern to anyone but Aluminia is just sh***.
almunia pisses me off at times but if fans chant his name or sumthing like dat then he will feel more secure and perform because he can do it look at the first leg against united who says he cant do it again huh?
if wenger does see that a player can play in trainig than he ll give him a chance like gibbs eastmond so on
almunia was voted in top 5 for player of the season so get off his back and let him do his thing
Who care.I still want to blame Almunia.Wenger,buy new goalkeeper this summer
Wenger is a joke
That is why AW lost it, he claims Almunia is under pressure but uses him against the leaderS of EPL. Aside from Almunia can some one tell me what happened to gaurding the posts both ends? if some one even a short player was there Drogba could not score. Then the 2nd goal, the basics of defending is to push the attacker toward out side so even if he kicks the ball, is from an acute angle! Why Vermaelen, and Clichy allowed Drogba to drive the ball toward the middle, and shoot an easy goal. Poor Almunia did not even have natural instincts to block the ball like Cec did against Arshaving’s shot. Where are we heading Mr. “knows it all” AW!!!!! Since you stubburnly not buying and no one is good for you may be you should SOLD!!!! You are the casue of all our problems.
Aw said during the transfer window that since Bendtner, and Theo are recovering for injuries then there is no need to buy new strikers. Well you all seen how useless Bendtner played!!! even strikers in 4th Div. play better than him. He has no skills, no ball control, and AW expect a miracle against the top MU, and Chelsea players. What a shame!!! for them you chose not to buy? You told players few weeks back in Half time that they don’t deserve to waer Arsenal jersy, but I think it is you that dont deserve t o manage Arsenal. In 4 years, and selling all the big guns, the only good player you bought was Vermaelen, the rest were old and outcasts, and injury prone ones!!! Nothing to show for big games.
i think almunia isn’t the worst keeper in da league but i would prefer loris neuer or frey but lads da defence has to do it’s job