As maybe some of you know, the summer transfer window ended yesterday and contrary to what many were hoping for, we didn’t sign a goalkeeper.

Let’s start by analysing how our readers reacted to all this. We collected a total of 2,500 votes from the poll which we ran on our website yesterday and only 10.7%, 259 readers that is, believe that there is nothing to be worried about. 46.3% believe we can still win something with Manuel Almunia in goal(although some believe Lukasz Fabianski should not be his backup) and finally, 43% – almost half of those who voted – admitted how not signing a goalkeeper is a big blow for our title hopes.

Now of course one could ask these 43% to go and support Spurs or Manchester City since their feedback could be seen as somewhat negative. Or else, since we of course care about Arsenal fans and driving them away from the Club is not a hobby of ours, we try and understand why such a high percentage of those who voted are looking at the future with maybe not the same optimism as they would have, had we signed a goalkeeper.

Mistakes

I have never heard of a goalkeeper who went a whole season without making a single mistake. When you play in such a dangerous role, mistakes are not the exception, but the rule. However, it’s all about when these mistakes are made, how serious they are and how similar they are to previous mistakes.

I’ve seen Gianluigi Buffon make mistakes, Petr Cech make mistakes and also our own Jens Lehmann of course. Yet it seems that both Almunia and Fabianski are not allowed to make any. Why? Not easy to answer but I personally believe that the problem with our goalkeepers is that when they have to make important decisions quickly, they often opt for the wrong option.

Missing a heartbeat whenever a long ball is delivered in our penalty area or fainting the moment Rory Delap embraces his beloved towel has nothing to do with pessimism or lack of support(more on this below), it’s just how things are. Blackburn was great to watch back there, Almunia had a very solid game, but Liverpool was not. He made two attempts at winning the ball in the air which he failed at and which could have easily cost us the game. Though unlikely, let’s just hope that when mistakes are made we get away with them in the same way we did at Anfield.

Support

Allow me to explain the headline. Many of our readers – in yesterday’s article – published a comment asking for Arsenal fans to support Almunia. With all due respect, I disagree. That is, just because many of us wanted a new goalkeeper doesn’t mean that our support for Manuel has changed. I personally support Manuel in the same way I support every single player who plays for Arsenal and new goalkeeper or not, I’ll keep supporting him the same way I’ve always done.

I seriously cannot understand why someone could question the loyalty of a fan just because he is showing disappointment because one of our most serious problems of the last two seasons – together with injuries – has not been fixed.

And then, if I may ask, what about the Club’s support? What I am going to say next is based on what I’ve been reading online in the last month or so, so take it with a pinch of salt, but it seems that we had two offers for Mark Schwarzer turned down and if Cagliari’s chairman is to be taken as a reliable source, we also made an approach for Federico Marchetti.

Seriously, I’m not sure how I would feel if I were in the Spaniard’s shoes, knowing that at the end of the day I’m still the number one not because of my ability but because whoever was supposed to replace me was not allowed to leave by his club.

Looking Forward

The next month or two will be incredibly difficult for Almunia, he will be under a heavy amount of pressure where every single step he takes will be examined under the microscope in order to see whether he took the right decision or not. This is not because fans don’t support him, this is because it comes automatic to wonder when will it be the next time he will come out to punch the ball and miss it. Or the next time he will make a judgement error and leave his goal rather than let the defender handle the situation.

I of course hope for more Blackburn and less Liverpool but I find it hard to say we will see less and less mistakes from our goalkeepers. That is what I was saying two seasons ago and last season as well.

But I’m still waiting for it to happen.