As of 6pm UK time the English transfer window is now closed.
I had intended to cover “Deadline Day” in a fair bit of detail but was instead forced to help out a friend with an extremely stressful travel insurance problem here in Berlin.
In the end, it seems I didn’t miss much.
Indeed the biggest news for Arsenal is not what happened but what didn’t happen: goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer signing from Fulham.
Yesterday I expressed my desire to see the Australian join the club but it wasn’t to be as Mark Hughes held onto his man and Manuel Almunia held onto his No 1 shirt.
On one hand I’m obviously disappointed that this move didn’t go through. I firmly believe that Schwarzer would have improved our team and it would have been a lot of fun to see a fellow Australian playing in red and white.
But on the other hand I feel quite good. For all of Almunia’s faults as a goalkeeper he’s still a bloody good bloke and a loyal servant of the club and it’s good to see him get the opportunity to show what he can do this season.
Call me optimistic, deluded or just a massive softie, but the thought of him playing a blinder after all that’s gone on excites me just a bit.
The only other transfers directly involving Arsenal players were Mikael Silvestre’s permanent move to German side Werder Bremen and Armand Traore’s one-year loan move to Juventus.
Silvestre’s exit was expected even if the final destination of Bremen was not, while Traore’s move is particularly intriguing.
A few seasons ago William Gallas called Traore the most talented of all our younger players and it will be interesting to see how he handles the experience of playing in another country for one of the very biggest clubs in the world. Personally I think he’ll do quite well.
The comedy story of the day is Alex Hleb’s loan move to Birmingham. From Arsenal to Barcelona to Birmingham, Hleb must go home every night wondering why the heck he didn’t just stay put with his buddy Cesc Fabregas.
And that is that, I’m afraid.
Thoughts?
Have your say on the transfer deadline day by leaving a comment.
What a bummer.
Ah. Well. So thats that then
Well don’t worry, he would never have worn Red and White anyway. Arsenal goalkeeper kit is grey,
That does it! Wenger doesn’t respect us, I will not respect him! I don’t want to see him, I don’t want to listen to him! I want him to fuck off from my club and take his defence and goalkeeper knowledge right up his arse!
@ roy – Yep, that’s how I feel.
@ Sean – Haha, good point.
Fulham did say that schwarzer wouldn’t move “this transfer window”. Sounds to me line fulham and arsenal might have perhaps done a deal for January.
@ sean; haha lmao good point
I don’t respect you either MIke…I didnt think you were going to read what I write Mike? you must be the liar. I would not like you to be associated with arsenal
There is no guarantee that Schwerzer will be able to perform better than Alu.
Anyway Alu has been given the chance to show what he can do. I am confident with the new defenders,the gunners won’t concede stupid goals.
We will have to wait and see how Alu performs from now. He has been given a new lease of life and I hope he doesn’t gooner fans.
So many retards out there.
We respect our club for refusing to sell Fabregas, but when another club refuses to sell to us some fans moan at Wenger.
Again. Retards.
gotta agree with you, I dont think this is the end of the world. I`d have liked to sign schwarzer as I think he is a quality keeper, however, almunia isn`t as bad as some fans would have us believe. I hope we, as supporters get behind him and the team now, atleast until january when the window re-opens. I am pretty sure we will be back in for schwarzer when that time comes, we just have to hang in there and stay focused. I`m still feeling confident about our chances this season.
Here we go again – the foul-mouthed morons who seem to believe that there is a better manager than Arsene Wenger out there just waiting to come to The Emirates! Wenger took a thoroughly dull team and changed it into one of Europe’s leading clubs. Let’s not hear any stuff about being a great club before – that’s as may be, but it was a long time ago. Under Wenger we’ve won titles, seen great players and even had The Invincibles, yet goalkeeping-expert and defence coach Mike wants him to”fuck off from my club take his defence and goalkeeper knowledge right up his arse”! Would Mike would have held a different opinion if AW had managed to get Schwarzer? Utterly brainless.
face facts alumnia as ad his chance n failed on many occasions he is a 3rd rate goalie i know it the rest of football world knows it wenger dont i wudnt blame fabregas if he ripped up his contract n walked away 2nite mr wenger u av let us down badly resign now n the board of arsenal plz plz plz i beg you dont give ur usual day after deadline speech saying we av money 2 spend in janurary cos we wont spend money we never do every 1 say bye bye 2 another season
Yup…Hleb is a lesson to be learned by all money grabbers and glory hunters.
A bigger lesson is unfolding thriough a guy called Adebarndoor.
Hope he sets another example for all youngsters to avoid.
To be honest, im very disappointed. I dont see how we can win a trophy without a reliable gk. Almunia is a nice bloke, yes, but a great gk he’s not. I hope he has a blinder this season and helps us win something but i just dont see it happening.
This is just so depressing.
Almunias’s confidence was in tatters at the end of last season & on top that our summer pursuit of Schwarzer must have piled the pressure on him.
So, my question is, if AW wasn’t sure of pushing the deal for Aussie to the limit, why then did he bid in the 1st place? It will make matters worse & it leaves a big mental scar on our goalies.
If Almunia makes a single mistake (i hope he won’t), then his season will be definitely gone. He won’t recover from that & guess who is in line to replace him?
Good article – agree with you about keeping Almunia. I expect Arsenal fans to have a totally different opinion about him next time this year. Look at Eboue. I definitely prefer AW’s way of running the club and will have it this way much rather than the Barca, RM, Chelski or Maniciteh model. Don’t know why some fans just want new signings all the time and when they don’t get them act like retards. These players are ours, they have grown up at this club and we are rooting for them to come good. Arsenal will have a brilliant season. AW has strengthened where it was really necessary. @Mike – I think if the fans must choose between AW and you we all know who they will go for – goodbye hope you find another club where they make big name signings every season.
Now it is all about to support Almunia. Let us look forward with the best keeper in the EPL. 🙂
You on drugs here?
Listen, I don’t give a fuck what you think about me, this is not me & you. This is Arsenal. Arsenal is silliness right now because of Wenger. Whatever he had it is long gone. We are a predictable, funny team. Everybody knows how to score to our “goalkeepers”. Everybody knows how to confuse our defence. Everybody knows what will happen when Drogba comes. Everybody knows it was a mistake waiting for the last train to catch a GOALKEEPER, our problem for years, the most important player. You know who’s the one who didn’t know that – Wenger. Wenger doesn’t know. He’s pathetic. And we suffer because of his stubbornness. Thank you very much but JUST GO before you lose your aura completely.
And you know what is the scariest part… I’m not even affected.
ALL U GUYS GET BEHIND AND SUPPORT OUR OWN ALMUNIA.
IF HE IS THE MAN WHO ‘REPLACED’ JENS LEHMANN, WHY DOUBT HIS CLASS?
GALLAS WAS THE PROBLEM.
HE MADE ALMUNIA BAD.MADE HIM LOSE HIS CONFIDENCE
SO SUPPORT OUR TEAM.
WATCH OUT FOR OUR GOALIE HE GONNA DO GR8.
WATCH OUT SPUDS GOALIE…HE’LL GIVE U TIME TO LAUGH WITH HEADLESS CHICKEN GALLAS PLAYING INFONT OF HIM AND SHOUTING AT HIM.
Schwarzer on a free in May! Simple as that! Hughes is a bastard because he sold Konchesky to Hodgson, but forgets we gave him Adebayor and Toure within a matter of days only 12 months ago!. Hughes your a scum bag and spiteful bastard and jealous of our manager! I reiterate, we are still strong enough to compete on all grounds. We just need to keep fighting as we did at Blackburn…by the way Hleb you and your mate Flamini are a joke, you dick!
We don’t need to be Man City for fuck’s sake! Are you that blind! What is absolutely necessary is not a whim! Schwarzer, Jaaskelainen, Sorensen. These are the kind of keepers we needed. Someone who can arrange the defenders and catch the ball in the air. Gosh!
The stuff about Almunia being a ‘loyal servant’ I don’t understand – I bet he just can’t believe his luck Arsenal ever came in for him. Who has ever tried to tempt him away, in what sense has his loyalty been tested?
I also dont understand the stuff about his chance to ‘show what he can do’ – he’s been our number 1 for 3 seasons now. I’d say he’s had plenty of chances, and has proven he comes up short.
Just astonished Wenger hasn’t sorted this out. He had all summer, Schwarzer is not the only GK out there. I don’t understand his thinking at all.
@Mike, your entitled to your opinion. Mark S is a good goalkeeper at best, Almunia is in the same bracket. Given can shot stop but can’t command his box. As previously mentioned by someone our defence is stronger and more resolute than before which means our keeper is less exposed than usual and should lead to less goals conceded or possibilty of error. The defence starts at the front and in Marouane we have a good striker that defends fromm the front, as well as Walcott who is good at tracking back etc, less so AA. As a team we are stronger defensively and this should benefit us in terms of points, proved at the weekend. Drogba can put many people on the weights but if the supply is cut off by our strikers and midfielders, again there are less oppotunities to concede or chance of an error.
As many people have made comments disagreeing with you, I am happy knowing you are in the minority.
Where’s this transfer fund gone that was promised? The defence needed sorting out and that included a goalkeeper. Schwarzer, Akinfiev, Lloris and even Buffon, Any of these players would have been sold if the price was right. Why not pay over the odds for a sustainable title challenge? Look at the statistics; the teams that win the league have top class goalkeepers, Chelsea spent millions when they were bought over and won nothing first season, Arsenal sign Lehmann and we won the league. It would have been a reassurance to see a new keeper, as it would show that we corrected our flaws, held onto our best players and started challenging for honours. Its ok when we are playing Blackpool or liverpool with no in-form strikers, but what about when we go to old trafford? stamford bridge? They will exploit the weaknesses in the team, Blackburn did for f**ks sake. One keeper, out of all the world class keepers, we couldnt get one. Yet again we wait until deadline day to drive a hard bargain and end up getting f**k all. We will start well, have a mountain of injuries in the new year, and come up short yet again. Bitterly disappointed
@ Gibbs : Can’t agree more with you…this is really depressing.
Why doesn’t AW understand that we need some quality experienced players to challenge the likes of Man U and Chelsea…Trust me we are going to be below Spurs this season. Am really disappointed…
Just look at how Birmingham and Stoke did their shopping judiciously today…these two clubs were really active on the D day. And we didn’t even manage to get one GK who had his one foot in our club…for God’s sake, someone please make this stubborn man understand that we need good reinforcements. someone needs to make him understand that our heart bleeds when we see our beloved gunners lose. My heart will continue to cry loud for the next two days…someone please console me 🙁 🙁
there there..it will be alright
I’m a tad disappointed with the Schwarzer non-move. Though his main problem in the past has been not getting crosses and high balls in the box. Against Blackburn he commanded his penalty area superbly, and I think Wenger saw that and decided he was ok if they didn’t get the Aussie.
Still optimistic though. Manuel was superb against Fat Sam’s men. Long may it continue.
What do people not understand about Schezney? He is the best young keeper in the premiere league next to Joe Hart! What would be the point getting in a keeper with more than three-five years left on their career and stunting the growth of such a prospect? The reason Schwarzer was out target was becasue at his age he was the best option, to help Schezney mature and coach the others, plus he had 1 year left on his contrract. But then Barca fucked around with us all summer, Liverpool went and upset Fulham and Mohammed Fiyed brought in that bastard Hughes to help him retain his favourite player Schwarzer! Believe me, we have the strongest midfiled in the premiere league, who just need to fight by defending and we will win the title! Trust me!
“Fuck off from my club” Mike you are the one that must be on drugs.
It is not YOUR club. It was never YOUR club and it will never be YOUR club.
It is Stan Kroenke’s club. It is Alisher Usmanov’s club but never yours.
THEY own it .
It is THEIRS.
For a fee they allow you to sample its qualities but you are only ever renting an experience.
They REALLY like Arsene Wenger and like most rational people they appreciate what he does on an ongoing basis hence his new £6,000,000 annual salary.
I am pretty sure however that they would have no problem with whiney ass bitches like you fucking off from THEIR club.
If you have a problem with that you can either have a serious reality check or spend about £1,400,000,000 to take over the club yourself and then you can enforce your wisdom on the rest of us whilst you sift through all the transfer requests.
Stupid fucktard.
AW have done it again at the end of the season all we will hear will be (we did our best, we play well and the boys were good on the patch but we were not lucky to wing any thing.the fan should keep the faith will be our trophy at the end of the season.when are we going to graduate from this stage and move ahead.next season most of our players will demand the team to sell them so they can wing some for themself .with all of this I remain GONNER for life.
So, another windows closes and more dissapointment for us Gooners.
Feelings, well currently I see spuds might be signing Van der vaart, Sunderland have pulled quite a coup in gyvan (or whatever his name is) and birmingham have signed Hleb (WTF??)
Anyway, back to us. It’s clear as the spot on the end of my nose that we need a new goalkeeper. Almunia cannot cut it at the top level (i know there are some people suggesting he will get better) but I don’t buy into it. How many more players do we have to wait on to reach they’re ‘peak’. How do you think Cesc is feeling right now that a club of Arsenal’s stature cannot even sign a 37 year old player.
My point clearly is that i’m preparing myself for another season whereby we win nothing, comw unstuck against the big boys and more wenger excuses. Don’t get me wrong, I love the club with all my heart and support them through the good times & bad times, but this REALLY hurts
Just to add:
I think the selling of Traore may come back to haunt us a la Andy Cole
That’s all
Drew
I see your point Gooner Town, well put. Highes is scum bag ever sinve that classic cesc comment “i thought you used to play for barca” lol.
I agree that the aussie was a stop gap and thats why, lloris,akinveev etc were never going to be in conttention. I dont know too much about WS apart from some reserve games, his loan spell at bretford which was very good for all. Ive also seen a little bit around the national team etc.
AW speaks very highly of him and II would love him to be in the Joe Hart mould though but I cant make a judgement as Ive not seen enough.
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.many of u guys think with money in hands, Wenger can buy anyone he likes…
THIS IS ARSENAL and not FARCA/MAN SHITTY/CHELSKI/MANURE/SPUDS…
Like Farca we dont use press or we dont pay our players to shout at press,create havoc and lure other players in.
We dont pay unncecessary huge amounts like the ManShitty, since we r not in OIL business.
WE R A MODEL CLUB AND DO OUR BUSINESS FAIR N SQUARE and WE KEEP IT SECRET….
THIS is the Arsenal way.
SUPPORT IF U CARE…other wise GET LOST….
All losers complaining WENGER, doesn’t know the basics of Football.
Wenger tried for many Goalies this window, he din get it.Our way of doing business is not similar to other clubs.
There are reasons why we din get a Goalie and it is beyond all emotions.Think rationally.
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have to agree with Jekyll and Dennis Villa, Almunia has had his chance and has shown that he is not up to beingthe Arsenal number, a solid number 2 is all he is, and I think if anything his performance this weekend proved it, a number will most of the time do well when he has to step in once in a while but if he is in the fist team for a sustained his inconsistencies and weaknesses are suddenly shown up. Also as Dennis Villa pointed out why has it taken the whole summer to get the goalkeeper thing sorted out?
Doing a deal for a keeper last minute is alomost impossible who is the seller going to replace him with? in that sense you can’t really balme Fulham can you, the keeper situation should have been sorted out a long time ago.
Lastly as pointed out above (sorry Dennis I seem to have plagrised your whole post) Schwarzer is not the only keeper in the world what about someone like Frey, now that Boruc has joined surely Fiorentina would be willing to off load. Its just so frustrating we seem to be strong in every department apart from the goalkeeping department unfortunately that’s a pretty gap that has’nt been filled. Disappointing
Still I don’t care what you think about me, Terry and others. Yes, it is MY CLUB! I am the fan, Wenger is the coach. The coach goes, the fan stays. I saw Highbury destroyed for the fans to pay the most expensive tickets. What happened is totally unprofessional.
Never thought that Schwarzer was the long term solution, at 37 he’s getting on a bit… If we had of signed him it would have just been like sticking a band aid on a pimple on your arse, it wouldn’t have cured it, just made it a little more comfotable in the short term… I wouldn’t be surprised if there is an announcement on Arsenal.com in the morning saying that we’ve signed Hugo Lloris or Michael Landreu, for an undisclosed fee (as always !)… We all know Wenger plays his cards close to his chest when it comes to his transfer dealings, and this whole Schwarzer thing may have been a bit of a red herring… If I’m wrong, then we have a duty as Arsenal fans to get behind Almunia, and try and lift the poor bastards spirits and help re-build his confidence… As others have said already on this thread, he ain’t a bad bloke, and has been very loyal to the club since he joined… Goalkeeping is about confidence, and a confident keeper will perform well… We need to start singing his name at the Emirates more often, to give him a bit of a lift… I think Wenger needs to get rid of Flappyanski though and install young Vito Mannone as the #2 keeper, assuming of course he hasn’t already got something lined up, which has yet to be announced… If you really love Arsenal, and are a true supporter, you have to stick with it through thick and thin, and stop this ‘bitching and moaning’… The good times will come again, of that I’m sure.
@ Andy,
I actually dont know where to start to begin to tell you the many faults I find in what you wrote there.
Lets try though with the fact that Almunias always been a bloody good bloke and loyal servant, thats never been an issue or called into question, fair enough……but in business or any profession being a nice bloke isnt the pre-requisite, its a bonus. First and foremost you have to be good at your job, if your not you dont get that promotion or you get axed, the same is the case with football and I would rather have the biggest arsehole in the footballing world whos good at his job than the nicest, loyalist guy whos a liability.
And mate you are all three (optimistic, deluded and a big softie) when you say you want to see him have a blinder, some would argue hes been playing ‘blinders’ since hes been with us. How many second chance do you want him to get??? In my opinion hed have to be playing for the next 10 years at the standard of Given and Schwarzer before hes near vindicated for the many poor and costly displays hes served up in recent years.
As for le Boss, and alot of my amnesia ridden fellow gunners, Laurent Koscielny and Squillachi are not what we were promised and not the missing pieces to a winning side.
A draw,win,win vs pool,blackpool and blackburn does not necessarily mean improvement to the desired or required level, are these additions good enough to reverse the hidings we got head to head with utd and chelsea at HOME and away last season??? Eh NO.
What happens when the injuries or suspensions come to key players again??
All I can say is I have even more respect for Cesc Fabregas staying put if he knew Wenger was pulling another fast one on the fans, nobody can have any qualms when he leaves for a Barce set-up who are determined to acheive.
Am very upset with the manager.
i am not happy with Arsene wenger,he want gamble with us again………
@ Lewis trust me Schezney is the shit! He just does not have the experience, but he is a couple of seasons away! Schwarzer on a free in May is good enough for me! Gooners be patient and you will get rewarded! Forget about all those mediocre signings today. They were all has beens to crap teams,
Barring Hughe’s bastarding, us, city and Liverpool have made the signings we need! Everyone else were unconvincing and those two cannot compete! Relax and be patient!
Que Sera Sera whatever will be will be, its Almunia and Fabianski, Que Sera Sera what will be will be.
I applaud your optimism Andrew. I’ve removed my coffee table from the living room and anything with glass, in case I feel the need to rage when Almunia starts his usual pattern. My crystal ball says he will start ^&*^%@g up during Chelsea/ManU matches.
Other than that I’m happy with the addition of defenders and thank god for football in high definition.
@ Gooner Town it is difficult to be patient, if we don’t win anything this year players will start leaving then the rebuilding process will have to begin all over again, a solid keeper will have made us contenders, but as long as Almunia is in goal the opposition will always believe they have a chance.
I really hope Kos & Squillachi turn out to be world class, coz we nees world class infront of Al.
Guys please stop with the “second chance thing” how many chances does Al deserve.
Yes, relax! Now we need a device that tell us each morning “you are the happiest people in the world”. Just like in North Korean camp.
Our dear leader have fed us with shit once again.
@Gooner town, well thats good to hear, I think that Schezney may go out on loan and then maybe there is a chance for Schezney next season and then no need for the Aussie.
Schwarzer and Given look better because most of their carrers they have not been at a top team and therefore have alot of shots against, hence them getting plaudits, foster at watford was class….at man u? nuff said as they sold him.
Imagine this headline a year ago, ‘MArk Scwarzer signs for Arsenal’ fans would be up in arms saying WTF, sack Wenger
And @ shambo, so what players did wenger promise to buy???? Names
@lewis,
You read everything I wrote and all you could come to me about is a smart retort looking for names of who Wenger said hed buy when you know full well when we were getting hammered by Utd and Chelsea at home and beaten soundly and witrhout any spirit or pride at fucking spurs that he came out and said hed identified where we needed to sign proven quality and experience, we have signed 2 centre backs with no PL league experience and one who has had fleeting international experience in a mediocre French side, weve also signed a striker who looks decent, but was a risk and the decision to sign him was based more around the fact he was free than on any guarantee that he could be part of the required quality needed to mount a title challenge.
Heres names of quality players, you probably wont even know half of them or even their nationality but here goes;
Montolivo/Melo/Parker/Diarra/Gago
Given/Frey/Vivianno/Ciani/Stecklenberg
Tasci/Mertesacker/Chiellini
If Cesc, RvP and Verm are all injured at the same time, like they were for a month at the end of last season, your depending on the same group minus Sol, Gallas and Eduardo to carry the challenge…..how did that go for us last season in the last 6 games when those guys were left to fight to win….oh yeah they were brutal and if there had of been 2 more games then we would have finished 5th.
The table last season from xmas on read Chelsea, Utd, Everton, Spurs, City, Villa THEN Arsenal….believe that….but then again maybe your like Wenger with Almunia and you think that history and reality wont repeat itself and some of these guys will defy logic and play above themselves on a consistant basis……best of luck with that, unlike you I wont be dissapointed next May cos my expectations are in sync with what I see regularly and not on a wing and a prayer.
in fact I’m not too disappointed, I have the tendance to get on the side of too harsh criticised people and at last I really wished Almunia to prove them wrong, to have the last laugh, to astonish them, and I’m not too surprised, I can’t believe it’s easy to get a keeper last minute but who knows, I followed the development with astonishment, I have never been interested in transfers so far, this was exciting and still is a little bit, I can’t judge the keepers really, Lehmann too had his howlers (though he never looked unsure), in Germany he’s always been more criticised than Kahn, so, why shouldn’t make it Almunia this season? even Petr Czech had his howlers, last match was a good start for him (Almunia), so let’s see . . . 😎
@ shambogunner
whats up mate long time no hear from you as usual great article but you no what we can’t do anything now cause the window has closed so we have to go with what we got.
I’v bee most critical of wenger because he is not a person you can depend on he has outsmarted us yet again with what he has done but as he says judge me at the end of the season
Mr wenger don’t fear your time will come may be even sooner than you think you own Arsenal so continue to do as you want buy average players and fool the fans it will catchup with u
@ Breezy. I hate to sound too optomistic but if the best team in the world could not buy our best player, what chance do any other team have of buying anyone of our other players. To be honest other than the invincibles, the only other players to leave affecting the re-building process were Hleb and Flamini (nuff said!).I think a lesson has been learnt and I do not think other players will be so hasty to leave! Win or not!
@ Lewis all I would add to the Schezney topic is that he played well for our first team in particular during last seasons pre-season. Then he went to Brentford and became there player of the season!
All the top keepers had to develop at the top level as keepers before making a name, as you rightfully pointed out! Almunia should also have that opportunity, if he is willing to take advantage of it! I recall when we dominated for the whole season during 2007/8 Almunia was not our problem and was not the one who lost us the title! In fact he saved us a few times! Toure and Gallas spent the whole of the following season bickering at the back and Almunia suffered a bereavment last season. Wenger warned us he was not himslef but us loyal supporters forgot that the second he tripped up Wayne Rooney and we lost that game. Same with Bacary the season before. But judging by the Blackburn game they are back to their best. maybe not getting Schwarzer was blessing in disguise. Maybe we should judge our team on a game by game basis rather than judge them based on last season!
Whoever expected a scum like Hughes to sell anything good to Wenger? Hughes is so jealous of Wenger that he actually deceived Wenger all along. Believe me, immediately Hughes became Fulham boss, I closed the chapter of getting any one from Fulham. It’s like buying a good player off Sam Allardyce, Tony Pulis and the likes. But great that the likes of Phil Brown, Martin O’Neill have all gone under while Wenger reigns. Hate him as much as you wish, Wenger is a complete gentleman. His trophies are around the corner, Schwarzer or no Schwarzer. Just believe if you’re a Gunner!
I believe that Wenger (being the genius that he is) identified and isolated Almunia’s problem (he is a terrific keeper but suffers sometimes catastrophic dips in confidence due to fickle and venomous “supporters”), and put on a grand show this window to cure said problem. Almunia felt PRESSURE to perform well when he was thrust into the spotlight as #1, he WANTED to do well, to be loved by fans. Obviously this put tremendous mental strain on him at the slightest criticism. You can tell from his interviews what a reserved fellow he is, what he needs is an environment conducive to his particular psyche. Well, now he has it. Wenger stirred up the media machine, which obliged with flashing headlines, “ARSENAL NEED NEW KEEPER!” Obviously Almunia saw these. If the plan succeeded (and I believe it did), Almunia’s attitude now should be veiled bitterness toward the fans. After all the calls for a replacement, all the insults hurled at him, he now cares not what the fans think of him. They (and possibly Wenger too to some extent) have lost respect in his eyes. He plays now only for himself and entirely within himself (how a keeper should. Deflecting all stimuli external to the game). Obviously this is a temporary solution dependent on many things to proceed smoothly, but just watch as Almunia surprises this season. Wenger does not sign players who do not have ability.
@kel,
Wassup bro….I still dont want him gone but I genuinely thought hed take the plunge this time and buy the finished article, players with the character and winning mentality. I can see utd and Chelsea steamrolling us again and its gonna be a tight race to secure Champs League football.
The infuriating thing is even if he does somehow, miraculously come to his senses next season and recruit big game players it will be too late as Fabregas surely wont stay now and you couldnt blame RvP and Arsha or Verm to become unsettled, I mean he hasnt exactly tried to change Cescs mind or hasnt given him the platform to win things before he goes.
And whats with everyone blaming Mark Hughes for fucksake. There are more and certainly better keepers out there than Schwarzer and there was plenty of time to do business before he got the Fulham job but as usual its blame everything but the manager, well he has to be held responsible.
How can so many fans actually not be angry at this? fool me once, shame on you, fool me 2,3,4,5 times, shame on me……in Arsene we rust
@hickory,
ARE YOU FOR REAL?
Its the fans fault for Almunia being ridiculously inadaquate and putting in regular displays like those at Birmingham and Spurs last season, its the fans fault he cant catch a ball,has shit distribution and instills zero confidence in the players in front of them….Its cool tho cos you get awarded points now for the number of nice guys in your team….fuckin hell Id be the nicest guy in the freakin world if I were gettin his wages and donning the Arsenal jersey with limited ability and a manager ,who out of more stubborn ego than anything else, persists with me and never holds me accountable for any of my costly rookie errors.
Nice guy my left one, how many medals has nice guy Manuel got compared to prick Peter Smeichel????Ferguson never dropped him cos he wasnt likeable did he? WAKE UP
ok if fulham had keeper problems. we should have done a money and player deal give them Manuel Almunia and buy Mark Schwarzer for two million. any one on my side
so incredibly disappointing that we had a whole summer and made so much profit from last season and yet we couldnt even sign another keeper, how is it that one of the top team in europe couldnt lure a keeper, even another different one from the previous mentioned.
im disappointed but still hope we go well, i love arsene but his stubbornness is frustrating
i would love for alumnia to have an incredible season now and prove all this stuff wrong, hope he does it for us and himself
@shambogunner,
Vermaelen was totally unheard off till we signed him last year and now with a season under his belt we know that he is world class… so with koscielny and squillaci we’ll have to wait and assess their performance in December. I am positive about our chances this season..
lets face facts i keep reading lets get behind alumnia we av bin 4 2 years n he aint good enough we r meant 2 b a top club i ask ne1 2 tell me another club top club who dont av a quality international goalie alumnia as let us down time n time again wenger as let us down big time i spend all summer defending him saying he will get it right our squad was defo too small last year its even smaller this year we need quality back up 2 our 1st eleven we not got it next game we go into it with 1 striker chamakh remember last year arshavin playing up front alone take song out of midfield who can play that role ? we av becum laughing stock of europe now can u imagine man utd chelski barca real madrid ac milan aving a goalie who made that many mistakes face it lehmann made a couple he was out richard wright made a couple he was out manninger who i dont remember making a mistake he was out time n time again alumnia as made mistakes he still there he was made captain omg that is a disgrace to our great leaders adams mcclintock vieria rice even fabregas i say mr wenger im sorry 2 say it but u av let us down big time dont say this team will cum good cos it wont not while we dont av a solid back bone remember wen u 1st arrived we ad solid defence n world class goalie u spotted we ad no midfield which u soon changed how can u not see wots wrong now in pre season u sed we av 4 top goalies where r they maybe mannone n the polish kid will cum good but we need it now i remember u saying the same thing wen seamen left we av stuart taylor n graham stack cuming thru within a year they were gone never 2 b seen again . we av seen a collection of wonder boys from around the world arrive at the club fabregas as cum good vela hopefully bendtner is ok a good back up where r the rest u av let top stars go n replaced them with nothing i hope alumnia reads this n decides 2 go now n a personal message 2 our captain dear cesc u gave ur all which we thank you i dont blame you 4 wanting 2 go u need 2 win things
i am with shambogunner on this.
i mean why can’t we sign in one or two proven talents. this will definitely have a dampening effect on the likes of RVP, Cesc and Arshavin.
whatever anybody says, i believe a good GK was an absolute must. If we assess the champion teams across the last 3 / 4 seasons, you will find that they had an experienced GK under the bars, be it Cech or Van Der sar…In 2008-09 after Cech’s injury (replaced by ‘Hilario-us’) look at what happened to Chelski…They lost out to Man U.
Forget about shot stopping, Almuna is not even half as good as Cech and Van Der Sar when it comes to releasing the ball on time and assisting a move.
why couldn’t we sign a defensive screener like Melo or even Palacios (sure he is going to be an excess after Sandro joining)…
have started getting nightmares that we have been drubbed by Spuds by 3 nil…hope this doesn’t happen.
So far this season I’ve seen Reina fumble the ball into his own net, Petr Czech come flapping at a cross and miss it by a country mile, Jaaskelainen have a tizzy-fit and get himself sent off and Cudicini make a mess of a routine grubber and that’s just the ones I can think of right now. Sure Almunia has made mistakes but it’s now become ridiculously over emphasised with this hysteria that’s going on, as highlighted by some of the comments on this board. Apparently, because we didn’t buy Mark Schwarzer, we’re all suddenly going to drown in a gigantic vat of flaming shit.
Almunia only has to make the slightest of errors now and he’s got every commentator, fan and pundit crying ‘Dodgy Keeper!’ Personally I’m expecting him to rise to the challenge and prove his doubters wrong. In the Blackburn game, while pulling off a decent save, he smacked his head against the post. There was no fuss. He just got up and carried on. I bet that f*ck’in’ hurt an’ all. Whatever – He’s our No. 1 now for sure so let’s get behind the geezer.
@Mike. You are just fucker who need to be fuck by all Gooner fan. Who the fuck are you to give comment. It’s AW job and I fully support him not to sign any new GK. Look at most of the goal scored against us. Is it really the fault of Almuna? Why must we blame him for every goal. It’s the fault of the whole team who did not work as ONE. Look at last 2 goals by Liverpool & Blackburn. Both was defender’s fault. Almuna do his best to stop the goals of others fault. Wake up or you better leave Gunner and search for another club
Almunia has had enough chances over the years – there is literally nothing exciting about him at all. Very disappointed that AW has not signed a decent keeper. Yes. Almunia may help us win the occasional odd game, but that will never outweigh the amount of points he costs us.
It wasnt much about AW not wanting to push for schwarzer, Hughes was just not willing to sell until he was assured he would see one to buy. me finks that the bid for him will make Alu sit up as we have seen in the last 2 games. lets not 4get that as good as these other keepers are, they still make costly mistakes even if far apart.
i am sure Alu has gottent he message and he buckle up. lets all get behind him this season and see how he tracks by Jan window as there is no need to cry over split milk now. I also want to belif that we the signing of 2 great defenders, keeping Cesc, making sure vanP is fitter than usual, Diaby improving, Walcott getting more playing time, Arshavin living up to his status, the rest of the crew bringing in theirs, then something is in the offing for AFC this season. If the guys can deal with the thugs Rovers threw at them all the 90+, then they can deal with whatever a Drog will present. i even fear a Mouluda than drog. lets not despair.
@Old Timer – you are very correct.
Ask yourselves, which do you prefer
Highbury – Seaman – Adams – Merson – Wright
or
Emirates – Almunia – Clichy – Nasri – Chamakh
Gallas was bad for Almunia. Gallas is gone. Almunia is now the Premier League’s best. Simples.