Fabianski in, Poom out & Flamini almost out

Flamini is surely on his way out of Arsenal nowFlamini’s cup final disappointments

Mathieu Flamini has spoken about his disappointment at being consistently overlooked in cup finals by Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. Flamini made his desire to leave the club public last month – citing a lack of first-team football as his main reason – and has now elaborated on those comments.

“In my first season at Arsenal, I played in all the matches in the FA Cup only to be left out of the team for the final. Last year, I played in every match in the Champions league but was left on the bench for the final. Then last season I played in a lot of the Carling Cup campaign but once more I didn’t play in the final. I was left in the stands and it was not easy to understand. I have not started a game since February and I have to think of my career.”

Flamini underrated by Wenger

It is very difficult to argue with Flamini’s point of view. As he said, he has been excellent for the Gunners when called upon and extremely unlucky to miss out on playing in the FA Cup, Champions League and Carling Cup finals despite playing a significant part in all three. He has taken this to mean that Wenger does not want to rely on him in big games and sees this as a big reason to move on. Again, it’s hard to argue with this. It seems that these comments are the final nail in the coffin and Flamini will surely be moving on in the summer.

I am personally a big, big fan of Flamini and will be sorry to see him go. I think Wenger has undervalued his potential and I subsequently believe whoever does sign Flamini will not regret their decision. It is obvious that Wenger sees more potential in the likes of Abou Diaby, Denilson and perhaps even Johan Djourou to fill the void that will inevitably left by Gilberto Silva’s absence and does not feel that Flamini can do this job on a long-term basis. Only time will tell whether Wenger has made a mistake in letting Flamini get away from Arsenal.

Fabianski’s signing has finally been confirmed by ArsenalFabianski in, Poom out

In other news, Arsenal have finally confirmed the signing of Polish goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski for an undisclosed fee. 

“I am delighted to be joining Arsenal. They are a great Club with many world class players and I am really looking forward to meeting my new team mates. Arsenal is one of the biggest and best clubs in Europe and I hope that I can help the team win trophies in the future.” 

Whilst Fabianski has finally joined Arsenal last season’s third choice goalkeeper Mart Poom is going in the other direction has been released and signed by recently relegated Watford, also for an undisclosed fee. Poom was signed midway through last season as cover for Jens Lehmann and Manuel Almunia and only made a couple of appearances for the club.

Fabianski signing should refocus first-choice Lehmann 

Whilst Arsenal does already posess a world class first-choice goalkeeper in Jens Lehmann, there is no doubt that the German was not at his best last season. He had an annoying tendency to get ruffled by opposition players and this resulted in him receiving and unacceptable tally of eight yellow cards in the Premiership last season. There is a genuine feeling Fabianski’s signing should refocus current number one Jens Lehmannamongst Arsenal supporters that the signing of Fabianski should – at the very least – keep Lehmann on his toes and give him a firm reminder that he is not irreplaceable should he inexcusedly lose his head again next season. Should Fabianski perform well when given the opportunity, however, there is every chance that he could displace Lehmann as the club’s number one goalkeeper by the end of the season.

So, in summary, outgoing is a 35-year-old third-choice keeper who only made a couple of appearances for the Arsenal first team and incoming is a 190cm tall, 22-year-old player who has been voted best goalkeeper in the Polish League for the past two seasons and should give Jens Lehmann a real run for his money. It doesn’t take a genius to realise that this has been a good bit of business for the club.

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Comments

  1. good article spanish but imo lehmann is past it, i dont think he’ll capture the form he had prior to the world cup which is why i think Fabianski will be number 1 sooner than everyone thinks.

  2. I actually hope so too. I guess what I am stressing is that either way, we’re going to have an improved goalkeeper next season. Unless Fabianski flops of course…

  3. fingers crossed that he doesn’t flop then. must admit that its not the best way to start a season – will lehmann keep playing shit? or will this new keeper flop? i’d much rather be saying how the fuck did wenger manage to convince buffon to sign for us? but anyway back over to gunnerblog for me… maybe you should advertise your site more and try to entice people over to here by offering free lemonade and scones. just an idea.

  4. Just want to say that this ite is soooo much better than that god awful gunnerblog effort.

    Hurrah!

  5. Though I’d like to keep Flamini just for the hell of it, he should go. He’s behind Cesc, Gilberto, Diaby, and Denilson. Merida is coming through too, and he’s just not going to get another game. If he was willing to play at full-back (where I think he’s actually better), then I think he would have played a lot more this season, but he likes midfield.

    On the whole Fabianski thing, he’s been trained by one of the top goalkeeper coaches in Europe, He’s said to be better than Boruc, and I just say he’ll probably be at least decent. Look at Reina. He was awful for a season and now he’s one of the best keepers in the Premiership. I think if he’s a bit crap, we’ll just have to give Fabianski a bit of time.

    I’m for lemonade and scones.

  6. Lemonade and scones for all then. I also agree with your comments about Flamini. He would have made a very good full-back but asking him to play there would be like assigning him to be glassy when he wants to pour the drinks at the bar. You can hardly blame him and I don’t think Wenger gave him enough chance to prove himself.

  7. I am actually pretty upset at the way Flamini has been treated, especially withj regard to the CL final… the bloke got us there in fine style, then gets dropped for cuntley.. disgusting!

  8. I have to say I agree. In hindsight I would’ve preferred him over Ashley Cole as well. As I said before, I really like Flamini and hope he makes the best of his career.

  9. I like flam but did he relaly have the class to hold down a place in the central midfield area of a club like Arsenal? its such an important role and hard work alone would not give you everything you need. since he refused to play anywhere other than centre mid, his writing was on the wall. good luck to him though.

    Spanish Fry – get yourself on Newsnow!!

  10. Interest point gazzap. I think he may have had the class but was never really given the chance to show it. Now we will never know.

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