Following the continued injury to our so called No.1 goal keeper, Szscezny, we have had the young Italian keeper, Mannone, known by many as Man One, guarding the sticks for us for a number of games.
I don’t think it would be fair to label him as simply a good ‘shot stopper’ and nothing else, because in a number of games he has pulled off some critically important saves, either to keep us in the game, or enabling us to hold out for a win.
The game against QPR showed this very well with two vital saves late on, particularly the block against Machie who had made a fantastic run which left our defence for dead and all of us thinking he would score.
And yet ………………… there is something frighteningly fragile about his ability when it comes to dealing with crosses or, as in the Norwich game, his lack of anticipation in getting down to strong shots, which on that occasion he spooned out to Holt for an easy tap in for what became the winning goal rather than pushing it around the post .
It would be invidious to blame our occasional lapses entirely on Man One, after all he is just a single cog in our overall defence, and we do have the best ‘goals against’ record in the Premier League. The Zonal Marking tactic does not always seem to have been mastered by the rest of the defence, and this has allowed the opposition forwards to attack the ball and leave our centre backs flatfooted and Mannone looking clueless.
That said, he has often made vitally necessary saves but has looked uncomfortable and often flustered when called upon to do so. It must also be said that most of the goals he has conceded did not come from open play, other than the Norwich one which springs to mind, but almost all of them have come from set piece corners or free kicks.
While we are at it, can I point out his useless kicking from dead ball situations or when clearing pass backs? Well, OK, that is my initial thought but the cause of this problem almost certainly lies initially with the defence, who have developed a foible of passing the ball back to him, even when there are forwards running at him, rather than taking responsibility on themselves for clearing our lines.
As it happens, at the moment, we do not have any choice in playing Man One as both Chezzer and Flappy are out injured. In truth, even if Fabianski was fit, I doubt that he would play as both the management and the fans have completely lost faith in him.
So, is Mannone going to revert back to being our No.2, rather than remaining as our No.1 when Chezzer comes back from injury? I think that will be the case, not because he does not have confidence in himself, he has already said he sees himself as our No.1 keeper, and he undoubtedly is an ‘OK keeper’, but that is the point – he is just an OK keeper, he is still unproven and I fear he just does not have it in him to become a ‘great’ keeper and that is what a club like Arsenal undoubtedly needs.
We also have another product of the youth system coming through, with young Martinez getting splendid reviews in the Reserve and U21 games, in the recent past, so does that mean when Chezzer returns from injury we will be seeing a revamped goal keeping set up; with Man One carrying out his threat to move on to get regular first team football, if he does not stay at No.1, and Martinez taking his place as the No.2 keeper?
I am not so sure. This would appear to smack, to a certain degree, of Arsene promoting ‘OK but not potentially great players’ from within the clubs youth system, and particularly in the goal keeping position, rather than looking at our needs and finding a keeper that meets those requirements.
That would beg the question, “why is it that we have not looked further afield to buy another David Seaman or even another Mad Jens”? It can be argued that we need a ready-made, first class keeper, now, who will win us games, like Hart is doing at City, rather than someone who occasionally saves us from losing games, but in any case needs much more time to develop his potential?
This draws us back into the discussion as to whether this is a sensible, premeditated and calculated choice made by Arsene to promote keepers from within the youth ranks as the best way forward, in order to solve a problem in a critical position that requires the highest quality player needed at the very top level of the game; or is it perhaps, instead, another reflection of having to make do with what we have, in order to conserve our cash resources, and enable us to keep to the self sustainability model that the Board are committed to?
What do you think?
Written by Red Arse.
.
Bergkampesque 
I like ManOne…maybe h e’s mnot world class, but tehy can;t all be.
As you say, he has played a lot of games and we still have the PL’s best defence. HIs errors are just that …techinca errors…not absolute confidence shattering howlers.
I’m happy enough with ManOne as our stand in/No.2 keeper
*technical* errors
Hi RA,
I totally agree with you. Mannone’s inconsistency (I actually mentioned it on my post earlier) is a big issue and tomorrow could go a long way to making or breaking him in the eyes of us fans.
I think he has potential, I also think he has been let down by a defence that has been weak of late. In the Norwich game in particular, Tettey should’t even have got that close to have the shot in the first place, Arteta or Rambo should have been on him and harassing him at least.
I think he is a victim of circumstance, he isn’t quite good enough to be number 1 at Arsenal, but he needs games to see how far he can go. When we have nothing better at the moment than young Damian Martinez, hero? of the Reading game it’s grin and bear it time at AFC.
Me, I just want him to have a good game and maybe clatter RvP whilst making a stunning save.
That’ll ding-dang-do for me.
WG
Nice one Redders
Vito’s done ok. I have doubts about his ability to make it to number 1, but what do i know.
i particulary liked your last paragraph. I have always believed that the policy of giving youth a chance was sound. teeny weeny problem is that once these players mature or play well they end up leaving.
Someone who is defenitly not leaving is my syrup. This morning, talk of been mated off upset him so much that i had to chase him round the house begging him to get back on my head. i almost had to go to out without him. He did however state that he is prepared to listen to film offers involving mating with Angelina jolie, but insists that i be wearing him during the love scenes. Which ime prepared to do free of charge. hahahaha
Hi Guys, again, 🙂
As I tried to say, Man One is OK, and I am not trying to throw the baby out with the bath water, but he has said he will leave if he does not get game time.
What he means is that he wants to be No.1, and there I draw the line.
If we were a mid-league table team, then fair enough, he could be considered as the new No.1 if Chezzer does not continue improving, but we have pretensions to being a top 3 team, which is a whole different ball game.
We need a sh*t hot keeper – not “he’s an OK keeper”. My hospital specialist is “OK” but I don’t want to sleep with her! Now her assistant —– that’s a hole different ball game!! 🙂
Sorry about the spacing in the Post, I must have had shaky hands!!
Oz,
In reply to your earlier comment;
“RA as you’re the guardian while TA is away.
What is your honest opinion of a section entitled ‘the pre-match finger’
Used in a tasteful way with no swearing or anything. Just a release of anger so to speak?”
Actually, Oz, I’m not the site guardian — TA is keeping a watching brief from afar – I am a common or garden blogger, just like everyone else, but like all you guys I am trying to help him out! 🙂
When you talk of a “special section” do you mean on the blog site?
Well that would be down to TA, of course, but a “Rant your ass off Day – tastefully done” would be OK by me!!! 🙂
TA is not looking, so give us an example! 🙂
Terry,
I have it on the highest authority that Angelina was begging to be included in a starring role opposite your Syrup, in a Glic “special”.
Sadly Glic turned her down saying that HE was the star – not that damned wig, and he only needed his mirror to do the business! Bast*rd!!! 🙂
Terry …Angelina Jolie, I bet your are.mmmmmmmm.
Nice post Red Arse. ManOne has done ok but Im doom n gloom here, I can’t see him as our number one.
Chezzer will remain our number one when he gets fit.
The reason why Wenger has not ventured further afield to replace Seaman and Mad Jens, Simples……Money. Im sure he sees this as a position he can get by with and not spend money. Wengers spending these past few seasons have been middle road spending and hope for the best.
Im ready for the flack, bring it on. Sorry but this is my honest opinion on Arsenal at the moment. Perhaps, as many are saying, wait for 2 more years until we get better sponsorship then buy big. I won’t hold my breath though.
COYG
WG,
I have tried commenting on WiganGooner, but WordPress is throwing a wobbly, and reporting “Internal Error”. It is being a pain! 😦
Hi VCC,
Your comment ties in with my Post a couple of days ago.
Youth team promotions are OK, but they need to include at least one external top notch keeper too.
VCC, i reckon we need to spend money to Keep, not to buy
if we had managed to keep half the quality that we nurtured in the last seven years we would have a team capable of winning the league. As we speak, Theo is another example. we have had to put up with his learning the game and just as we are ready to reap the benefits there is a danger he may leave.
I am confident that Chesny will become a great keeper, my fear is that when he does it could be for some one else.
That is a perpetual and self perpetuating problem Terry!
The purse strings need to be adjusted to take account of the market place realities.
Hi Sharkey, 🙂
Sorry, in changing over from yesterday’s Post I somehow missed your comment.
It seems we are in agreement. Man One is OK and he is certainly a better No.2 than Flappy.
However, he has said more than once that he feels he could/should be the Arsenal No.1, and that if he does not get more game time he will look to move on.
Since then, because of Chezzer’s injury he has got his wish and he is in fact the de facto No.1
The crunch will come when Chezzer recovers and if Man One is ‘relegated’ to No.2 again, will he be prepared to stay – is he good enough to be No.1 – I don’t think so, personally.
Your right Redders. it realy does my head in. Thinking about tomorrows game just reminds me of this fact, Our opponent tommorow will attempt to turn us over with our best player from last season now playing for them. How frustrating is that?
The good news is that ime out on an over thirties night tonight. bound to be some hot women needing some Terry action. I might even throw VCC and Cornwall a bone or two. hahaha
Terry,
With your syrup advantage you could wipe the floor with Glic and VCC — a ‘Terry towel’ moment!! 🙂
cheers for the good post RA.
Szczesny is our number one and hopefully will be for a long time to come. I truly believe he will be the best in the world in a few seasons time. Until then everyone else is just backup. Mannone is solid and he has shown he can slot into games comfortably without needing a few games like Fabianski does. If he doesn’t want to stick around then so be it. It’s a tough gig so I’d never blame a keeper for wanting to seek playing time, only Stuart Taylor doesn’t care about that.
thanks for the opinion. Just a little section I’ve added in for tomorrows pre-match. It’s pretty venomous but warranted.
Oz baby, how you doing fella? Hows the surfing and chicks chase going. Not that i get my rocks off hearing about how young Australian guys get hold of beutiful blonde Australian womeN……but tell me about it. hahahahaha
Terry…….Not so long ago I used to mock my West Ham United friends, saying, “If only you kept the players that have gone through the ranks, you would have a team capable of making the top half.
Unfortunately Arsenal are slowly becoming the same.
We need to win or draw this week end for any chance of my £50 bet to come to fruition.
Evening guys,
Some fine comments to a fine post.
Hi Oz, Saw your email and all looks good. Could you please put it all in one word document?
Fine post Redders. Goalkeeping is one of my least expert fields of knowledge, so I have no idea, apart that they are usually effing nuts !.
Now if it was Carnal Knowledge, then I`m your man ( no, not literally hahaha ).
Stretch, dont chuck VCC any bones, that old UMF will forget where he buried it !. hahaha
Even though I`m an International Playboy, I still read the Sun newspaper and I must say, todays Page 3 girl was the ” Stretchiest ” pose I`ve ever seen in The Sun in all my years of buying it, all I can say is, “Up the Arse” !.
haha Terry not much is going on.
Surfing: wouldn’t dare. Sharks give me the willies. You want to see someone walk on water, give me a shark fin and i’ll sprint all the way home and under my doona
Chicks: I’ve got one, and I’ve been warned that any touching of another will cost me the use of my tackle.
I’m sorry but your going to have to stretch elsewhere haha
Good Morning all, :-
I am looking forward to your pre-match today, Oz. 🙂
Did you see TA’s message about putting everything onto a Word Doc for him (or something?) he is struggling with an almost flat PC battery.
Anyway, I am sure you have sorted it out between you guys. 🙂
Oz,
I was swimming off Kaanapali Beach, Maui some years ago, when this thunderous great wave came to wards me. It was so huge it was sucking all the water towards it, including me.
Within no time at all I was being lifted up the face of the wave, which was like the side of a mountain, but before I got to the top the wave curled right over me hammering me onto the sea bed and knocking the breath out of me.
I was turned over and over, a bit like being in a washing machine, and felt certain I was going to die from drowning. I had no control, no breath and was passing out when I suddenly was thrown up to the surface and onto the beach.
I lay on the beach, and simply could not move my legs, but as the water ran back out to sea it was taking me with it. Luckily these two girls, who had seen what was happening, ran down and held onto my arms and dragged me further up the beach.
When I recovered a bit, I was amazed that my near death experience had reduced them to fits of laughter, but actually what had had happened was that the outgoing wave had pulled my shorts down around my ankles and that was why I could not move my legs.
We had a great time for the rest of the holidays!!!! 🙂
The moral of the above story is that there are other things to worry about, in the water, than just tiger sharks. 🙂
Hahaha great story RA. I’m sure you informed them that the water was very cold haha. That would be very frightening though not being in control like that!
Yeah spoke to TA, I normally send them into AA like that so I was unaware but sorted it out quickly
Just a final comment on that, I am not a surfer, altho I play around on a board when over there on holiday, but those dudes are brave and crazy.
Some of the stunts they get up to defy reason!! 🙂
I got there respect, quite mistakenly, on the day I had my mishap, partly because my arms, legs and back were pretty lacerated from hitting the sea bed, (What a hero!!) 🙂 but also because I was the only fellow out there swimming that afternoon.
Why? Well unknown to me, a guy had had his arm ripped off by a tiger shark and had died there the previous evening, and everyone was a bit scared to go in until things settled down.
They figured I was a real man for facing it out!!
No I wasn’t — I just did not know that had occurred — not that I told the sun bronzed girls or these really brave dudes that.
I have no shame!!! 🙂
hahaha that’s great. The unknowing brave hero! I agree those big wave surfers are very brave/crazy guys. You should have retold it as you getting in a scuffle with the shark and living to fight another day! Although I’d be a bit worried about a shark who takes your boardies…terry the tiger shark
One look at Terry’s tackle and the shark would be off!
New Post fellow Gooners!
Oz takes MU on with passion and fighting spirit!