I am not sure what to make of Mark Schwarzer to be honest. I have heard many people say that he is not better than we already have and then others say that he is just what we need. Personally I have not watched enough of him to make a judgement

Ah so who has been telling porky pies ey? Someone has decided to create an interview with Arsene Wenger.

I was certainly feeling rather skeptical when I read the quotes yesterday.

“Manuel Almunia Rivero is a talented goalkeeper. In training, he is superb, the only problem is that he gets nervous on big matches, thereby making silly mistakes. After the World Cup, we will be making an announcement on goalkeeping.”

I was caught up and in the full swing of believing it until I read that Almunia makes silly mistakes. Yes, before you say or think it, Almunia has made silly mistakes but Arsene wouldn’t even say something like that of a past player let alone a current squad member.

I haven’t read the rest of the ‘quotes’ and I have no reason to do so but I heard that many of them were pretty ridiculous.

I missed the Mark Schwarzer story doing the rounds yesterday. Apparently he has passed his medical on the second attempt but Fulham are waiting for a replacement before the deal is announced or something. Quite an elaborate fabrication if this does not turn out to be correct. Are we sure that we are not in the beginning of April?

I am not sure what to make of Mark Schwarzer to be honest. I have heard many people say that he is not better than we already have and then others say that he is just what we need. Personally I have not watched enough of him to make a judgement. Obviously we know about his errors. We know about Petr Cech’s errors because that is what stands out, but I can only really judge a goalkeeper by watching him every single week. Watching how many balls he comes and claims without fuss. How brave he is to dive out at the feet of a Wayne Rooney.

If he signs and plays 10 matches in a row then I can jot down my opinion of him.

What I do want to see from a goalkeeper, whether that be Almunia, Fabianski or a new face would be a goalkeeper who can catch comfortably and give confidence to the rest of our back four. I watched David Seaman from the moment he signed for us to the day he left and the one thing I remember was the safe feeling I had whenever a cross was swung into our penalty box. Everyone knew that ‘safe hands’ would come out plunk the ball out of the sky with two or three opposition players around him and clutch the ball into his chest often with a smile on his face.

Currently Fabianski does not install that confidence but I do not see a reason to write him off totally, he just is not ready at present. Manuel Almunia has all the tools to be that safe presence in goal and is often very capable. Dealing with crosses and excellent shot stopping but unfortunately he has been prone to lapses of concentration which has cost us.

Manuel Almunia of two seasons ago would have been more than good enough to be our number one but can Arsene take that risk after an underachieving season.

Samir Handanovic of Udinese is the 3,232,122nd goalkeeper to be linked to us this summer. No quotes, no substance and probably the usual bull.

What doesn’t seem to be bull is Sol Campbell’s link with Steve Bruce’s Sunderland. Not quite sure what happened with the whole Celtic thing but it certainly looks as if he will not be wearing Arsenal colours next season. I will be more than a little disappointed, after we gave him the platform to get back to top flight football but at the same time from a selfish and personal point of view (Sol not myself of course) Sol will want to do the best for his future at this late stage. He would get more playing time and many more clubs than he would at Arsenal. If it is for financial reasons then he deserves a slap.

Right, gotta dash.

Back tomorrow.

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