Wenger confirms Mannone will keep spot in goal
Vito Mannone will definitely keep his place as Arsenal’s No. 1.
Arsene Wenger has confirmed the Italian is likely to retain his place in the Champions League on Tuesday and perhaps for as long as he continues to impress.
The 21-year-old pulled off a string of superb saves and single-handedly preserved the three points in the 1-0 victory at Fulham.
That performance itself was reason for Mannone to remain Wenger’s first choice in goal whether Almunia – who has been below-par this season – regains fitness or not.
It now appears Arsenal’s absent Spaniard is facing a similar case to how he stole the No. 1 spot from Jens Lehmann in 2007. And until Almunia recovers from his mysterious “chest infection”, Vito Mannone will be the man proving his worth between the posts for Arsenal.
“Almunia will not be fit for Tuesday. Fabianski will not be fit until October 17 at the earliest.” Wenger revealed.
“Until the next game he (Mannone) is No 1. In this job you have to go from game to game. He has played a fantastic game today and the consistency is the first sign of quality.”
“He kept us in the game in some unbelievable situations. You say that keeper sometimes look unbeatable. Today he looked like he could make the save needed every time.”
clean sheet against Wigan and Fulham, this good news and better than almunia who never keep a clean sheet
I like it…good for the young lad. He played out of his mind, hopefully everyone on the team will wake up and realize that Wegner has backups that are waiting for their chance to shine.
The rise of Mannone will create a healthy competition among the goalkeepers in The Arsenal squad. Now it appears that everyone will have to be on their toes.
Its good for wenger to realise that almunia is not a “good” goal stoper,tumb up for vito.
I still fancy Scznezny to come out on top. Doesn’t flap much but is as assured as they come!
It long since a keep last won us a game, it dates back to the days of Lehman, thats why it wast gratifying to see Manone yesterday. Good keep his reflexes sharp for the rest of the season. By the way has anybody ever hard of a club interested in Almunia
His position at the post is better than almunia.
Ojariko, no club want Almunia plus no country want him
I’m serious Almunia must think his days are getting close to being over.
Alumia is good at some aspects but he doesn’t try for every ball. How many times have you seen Fab, Vito or Wally attempt to get a hand on the ball and show some grit by diving to where Almunia just sits there and doesn’t try for anything out of his reach?
If I’m Wegner you ride this VIto train till it bucks you off. The last three games he has only let in 1 real goal..I don’t consider the PK a goal.
Keep it up Vito but then again we need to be careful as we don’t want to put to much pressure on the lad.
UP the Guns..1 down 4 more on this 5 game unbeaten run that we need!!!!
My goodness this is a master stroke this has to be an example for all the players out there voz a lot of them were slackin,Almunia OG against City pissed me off and um glad he has been dropped even for dis infamous chest infection…and I believe Chezny is another good keeper jus wish Fabianski had been available I would bet that Alnunia wouldn’t get his spot back for a whole while longer
Hey Guys Garth Crooks of BBC sport always put out best 11 players every week and this week he select Vito Mannone as NO 1
ALMUNIA X3=MANNONE,
FABIANSKI+ALMUNIA=MANNONE
lots of short memories on this thread. very short.
almunias had some gaffes, yes. but he’s also made some great saves indeed. one example: stopping that pen from keano vs spurs to preserve the momentum and go on to win? oh, yeah, that was more two seasons ago. lets just forget it.
surprising to hear AW will go with the replacement once almunia is healthy as that is not his style.
typo!
oh, yeah, that was two seasons ago. lets just forget it.
The guy was so impressive. I still believe in Almunia though. Am doing a wenger thing.
He may be very new compared to almunia BUT this Vito guy just COMMANDS the box like a good keeper does,..and he attacks the ball. That’s what almunia does NOT do.
Almunia has gotten hit by the ball sometimes but it was often just a fluke, he almost never did something great, and arsenal who are competing with the top four need to have a world class keeper and Almunia will never be near that standard and vito has a long way to go as well !!!
Mannone can become a great goolkeeper