Looking Out for Number One? (UPDATED)

So almost without us (or me, anyway) even realizing it, we appear to possibly have a goalkeeping controversy on our hands.

After Manuel Almunia went down a few games into the season with a “chest infection”, and last season’s number two, Lukasz Fabianski, was also out with a long term injury, we had to hand the gloves over to young Italian Vito Mannone. For most of us this was pretty nerve-wracking, having to turn to an untested twenty-one year old. However, after a shaky initial performance, Mannone has turned in one spectacular performance and a string of consistent, largely mistake-free performances between the posts.

His stock has risen, no doubt about it. I think he has the most potential of our three keepers, and his performances to date this season mean that he may very well have usurped Fabianski as our “keeper of the future.” But I don’t think anyone really thought that he would take over as our number one keeper.

And, to be clear, I’m not saying that he has. But you have to admit–it is all a bit curious, isn’t it? Almunia has missed a lot of time now with a mysterious “chest infection.” He’s been in training, and is supposedly back to fitness, and yet there he was, sitting on the bench against AZ while Mannone started in goal yet again. Perhaps most puzzlingly, though, is that Wenger hasn’t come out and clearly stated that Almunia is the number one and the job is his. Addressing shareholders yesterday, he was asked about our goalkeeping situation, and his statements, while positive, were very vague–he talked about how our keepers (plural) were good enough to win, but singling out Almunia by name.

Now, maybe this is trying to see something that isn’t there. Maybe Almunia really did have some kind of weird chest infection that kept him out for a long time, maybe he wasn’t quite match fit on Tuesday, and maybe Wenger was just speaking of three keepers as a collective unit even though he still views Almunia as number one. In fact, that is probably exactly what’s going on. But it is curious nonetheless, and Sunday will tell us a lot–if Mannone once again starts, I think it’s fair to say that Wenger has either replaced Almunia as # 1 or is rotating keepers, which would seem to be disastrous.

But it would be exceedingly weird if that was the case. Wenger is ordinarily very loyal (sometimes to a fault) to his players, and unlike the Lehman/Almunia scenario of a couple of years back, it’s not like Almunia has made any bad or high profile mistakes in the net. He seems well-liked by all his teammates and has worn the captain’s armband on a few occasions. So I think he’s still our # 1, and if Wenger was going to make a change, it’s hard for me to see him doing so in such an unceremonious fashion. But maybe Mannone has done just well enough to give Wenger some pause about reinstalling Almunia, and he’s trying to play it close to the vest until he makes up his mind.

At any rate, who starts in goal will definitely be one of the more interesting subplots of Sunday’s match from an Arsenal perspective. West Ham preview coming tomorrow.

UPDATE: As soon as I post this, I see that on the official site, Wenger has essentially confirmed that there is uncertainty about who our number 1 keeper is. Wenger said, “I wouldn’t say Almunia isn’t first choice. But Vito has come in and done well.” To me, that indicates that he’s leaning towards playing “the hot hand” with Mannone until he falters.

I’ll just go ahead and say it–I think this is shortsighted, and I disagree with it. I like Mannone, and he’s done well, but I really don’t think we’re going to win major trophies with a 21 year-old first-choice keeper. And whatever you feel about him, it seems grossly unfair to Almunia, who has been nothing but a class act throughout his tenure at the club, to all of a sudden lose his spot in the starting 11 through illness, not any mistake or fault of his own. The job should be Almunia’s until he does something to show Wenger he doesn’t deserve it. And you can’t really say it’s unfair to Mannone, who, at 21 and the third-choice keeper, can’t realistically have expected to become number 1 this year. But I can see this being a divisive issue for the team, and bad for morale if a player has to worry about being replaced every time he gets injured or sick. I hope I’m wrong, and that we see Almunia back in action on Sunday.

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Category: Arsenal News, Arsene Wenger, Lukasz Fabianski, Manuel Almunia, Vito Mannone