When Arsenal confirmed the official squad numbers for the coming season two weeks ago, many felt a little disappointed that Vito Mannone had been promoted to number three, as it meant Arsène Wenger would not be investing in a new goalkeeper. But for many of the Underhill regulars, this decision was nothing more than the 20 year old had deserved.
Experience is one of the most important qualities a goalkeeper can possess, and in his three years with the Gunners, Vito has certainly had many challenges to over come. The three month loan spell at Barnsley two years ago could have haunted the Italian, after being thrown in at the deep end he made a series of mistakes which cost the Tykes valuable points.
He returned to North London after the loan, and promptly got back to his brilliant best. Eight starts for Neil Banfield’s Reserves brought much needed confidence to the young stopper. A man of the match performance against Reading, and then a stunning penalty save against Watford brought his reputation back.
The last campaign signalled Wenger’s intent to promote Vito, who was by now entering the final year of his contract. He made the bench for every single Carling Cup game, and although he did not show his abilities for the first team, he was once more in stunning form for the Reserves.
Mannone was the Arsenal hero as a young second string side took on Reading at Aldershot’s Recreation Ground. Kyle Bartley, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas and Jack Wilshere made their first starts for Banfield’s outfit, against a Royals side which possessed experienced Premiership quality.
Not just content by making superb saves, but even at his tender age of 20, he helped guide the nervous youngsters through the fixture. However, in the 91st minute, and with the scores at 1-1, a penalty was awarded to the home side. Whilst all his team mates were appealing the choice, Vito kept composed. He stepped away and readied himself. Shane Long stepped up, and the Italian made an amazing save to rescue a point.
Like most things in his career so far, after experiencing the good times, bad times followed on the final day of the season. Poor Arsenal defending allowed Aston Villa striker Williams in on goal, as Mannone came racing out Williams pushed the ball beyond the Gunners keeper before flying to the floor. The referee sent him to the stands, to the disbelief of most on lookers. Replays later showed he made no contact with the Villa forward.
The end of the season brought a brand new contract for Vito, and a promotion to the first team squad. At 20 he has made great steps to becoming something very special, and whilst there as aspects of his game which he must improve on, the early signs are certainly promising.
Article By – J.Sanderson
goal keepers obviously develop later than outfield talent, but do you honestly believe he has the talent to make first choice in the first team, and is therefore better than fabianski?
dont post often, but let me say i think this is a superb site dude,
peace out.
Nice article mate, it’s difficult to know if he can ever be a top top keeper but Arsene obviously believes in him and whoever is #2 this year will almost certainly play in the FA Cup and Carling Cup, so I expect Mannone to make the bench for those games.
If suspensions and injuries kick in, we could see him play and I guess it’s up to him to prove himself.
From all i have seen i believe he has a huge chance. Goalkeepers do not come into there own until around 30? so he has 10 years to develop himself.
His attitude is superb as well, he really respects ands trusts Wenger with his development.
Welcome to Young Guns mate, cheers for your support!
Brilliant post J!
I heard that this guy was a bit dodgy to say the least but you never hear of their good moments!
Would like to see him play the CC this season and let Fabianski have the FA cup. That would be pretty cool i think.
What do you think his chances of getting a game next year are J?
Is it me, or does he look like Count Dukula?
I think the reason people are a little dodgy around him is his kicking needs some real work. But he is very agile, tall, athletic and seems to save ever single penalty!
I think if we get a ‘lesser’ team in the Carling Cup he will get his chance.
Although it has a nice and almost poetic double meaning, I think you meant “content” when you wrote “Not just contempt by making superb saves”
Great article, keep up the good work JS.
Btw on a completely different note – is Nordveidt sufficiently fast *now*, as he will definitely need to bulk up more for the Prem and that will negatively affect his speed.
Nice piece, his biggest problem could be Fabianski who is also superb.
JS, the young pole behind Mannone is also very gifted isn’t he??
Alex – cheers mate, i wrote most of this last night!
To answer your questions.. he is not really quick, but puts himself in a position where pace is not needed.. he always find himself close enough to a player to tackle them, and his tackles are always first class.
Sweet we have a young Italian Reina on our hands then if he’s good at penalty saving!
When we get to the final of the champs league i would have him on the bench, bring him on with one min left and he can win the shiootout for us :-)
Haha good thinking Clacko… have you ever thought of being a manager ;) ?
J, do you believe Fabianski will be quality, as well? He’s looked brilliant and assured at times, but also shaky as well, so I haven’t been able to get a good look at him. What do you think? How long until he surpasses Almunia? Or, do you believe Mannone a good enough talent to leapfrog Fabianski?
Well i did apply to succeed Wenger but they told me at the time that i was over qualified for it.
Bit of a shame but ya know life goes on haha!
Also, I think (and hope) that the Nasri and maybe even the Bischoff transfers will be announced on Friday for two reasons. One, is that our last signing, Aaron Ramsey was announced on a Friday, at 5PM. The other is that yesterday (Tuesday), Diouf was quoted as saying that the transfer would be finalized in “two days,” which he immediately corrected to “a few days” (three). Wishful thinking, but maybe I’m right!
When he played for the Reserves he made some outstanding saves, especially from Tottenham’s Gilberto. Its easy to forget he is still young, and i think both of them will be big prospects.
They are still youngsters and i think in the coming seasons we will see how good they both are.
Time will tell. Fabianski is ahead, and has won many awards in Poland for his keeping, but both have many years ahead and I look forward to having three top class keepers in the next five years!
all Fabienski needs is experience to temper his instinct to come out. Like Lehmann his first response is to rush out – especially for crosses. I think Fabienski is one of the best shot stoppers I’ve seen since Iker Casillias, in many ways they have similar styles. With experience, and perhaps a few more inches Fabienski will be world class.
Fabianski will be world class, he even has stylish youtube videos dedicated to his saves, that’s quite rare for a goalkeeper.
Phatrick thats a bit dodgy talkin bout Fabianski need “a few more inches”!! Got some insider info have we haha! :-)
I think Fabianski is 2 inches taller than Casillas! But I agree, his shot-stopping is top quality – he just needs to improve his command of the box.
Ive liked what ive seen of Mannone, hes a very good keep, great shot stopper, very athletic, he makes problems for himself sometimes but so does Fabianski. There isnt a massive age diferance between the two but in terms of experiance Fabianski is way ahead, however i still wont say that Fabianski is definatly guna be the n.2 and the one who is likely to take the mantle from Almunia when the time comes (provided hes still at the club to take it), cuz Mannone has proved himself, now all he needs is some first team experiance which he looks set to get this season in the Carlin Cup, (fabianski will probably play the latter round if we get there and some FA cup games, plus any games Almunia is unavialble for in the Prem or CL).
Im actually guna make a comp of Mannones exploits for the reserves last season, along with some other players, im still collecting the footage thou (all from Arsenal.com TV online…great service), ill post it up here when its done (probably 2-3 weeks) and maybe that’ll change a few peoples minds about him, but any1 whos been watching the reserves often will probably like me feel he has great potential.
when i say ill post it up here i meen the link, not the vid, that’ll be on youtube.
Good work, Johnny, I look forward to seeing Mannone in action!
Clacko – hahahahahahahhahahaha :D
Johnny – looking forward to your video mate :)
J. the very best keepers develop earlier than 30, although that is certainly the rule of thumb, Cassillas is how old now and been doing it for years.
Although if Almunia kicks on, it could be 5 more years before we need to look for a new stopper, but would fabianski or mannone be here still then?
“Good work, Johnny, I look forward to seeing Mannone in action!”
Gd gd, it’ll b worth it cuz all the footage ive got so far its brilliant, ive actually got everything i need for Mannone, im just collecting for the other player i wanna do now. Im guna do 1 for Barazite, Traore, Gibbs, Randall, Landsbury (maybe) and all the first team players (but im guna get soem practice in on the reserves first).
I wanted to do Wilshire but there just isnt enough of him since they only just started putting up replays of U18 games, im sure there will be loads of him next season thou so neva mind.
Johnny, are you going to put the downs as well as the ups on the video? Its a lot more informative when you see both, videos can make anyone look world class if you delete the mistakes.
I believe Casillas is 25 or 26, like Cech, which is quite young for a top goalkeeper. I think that goalkeepers start to peak around 28, until 34 or so. Almunia will probably be our number 1 for another 2 years or so, and then Fabianski (who I think will stay, because he seems like a very determined boy and a professional without a huge ego) will take over, with Mannone as second choice.
“Although if Almunia kicks on, it could be 5 more years before we need to look for a new stopper, but would fabianski or mannone be here still then?”
Good point, could even be more, i meen Lehman and Seaman were both grandads before they left, Almunia has only just gone 31, it could be more like 6 or even as much as 8 seasons before hes ready to pass on the gloves. I also feel hes very under valued at Arsenal and is one of Wengers top 5 buys ever provided he keeps doing what hes doing, i meen a player whos been overlooked for the best part of his career so far, no1 had heard of outside of Spain and Wenger brings him in, couple of season later and hes playing in the champions league and looking like one of the top 20 keepers in the world.
One you finish your reserve player compilations, J you should post them on Young Guns Under the Player Profile section, so we can get a better idea of each player.
“Johnny, are you going to put the downs as well as the ups on the video? Its a lot more informative when you see both, videos can make anyone look world class if you delete the mistakes.”
Lol, good question, i could do 2, the promotional video and the reality video. Wouldent be 2 hard, especially since hes had his fair share of downs aswell.
“One you finish your reserve player compilations, J you should post them on Young Guns Under the Player Profile section, so we can get a better idea of each player.”
Still duno how good they’ll b thou so dont get 2 exited, i did one of Henry once and it was crap (i was only 15 at the time thou).
johnny, i still cant make up my mind with almunia. he rarely makes a mistake, but apart from the spurs penalty at our place – and they are a lottery – and bolton away i cant remember him making a single top class save that helped turn a game. I reckon he deserves another season between the sticks, but has to do more than just carry on, he needs to really improve on what was his first season as first choice – you would assume he would though.
I think that Almunia had a great season. Watching the MOTD highlights of our matches last season, I feel like he stepped up time and time again, and made some tremendous saves in high pressure situations. For some reason, he makes me feel relatively comfortable when he’s between the sticks, and I feel like the players like him too, unlike the prickly figure of Jens Lehmann. Unlike Lehmann, Almunia is a humble guy who’s finally getting his well-deserved breakthrough. I’m just a little worried that without the competition from Jens, he won’t try as hard next season.
I think Almunia will really kick on this season! Now he has established himself he will be playing with a lot more confidence considering the season before last he was still making silly mistakes. Love his eminem haircut too, that has to put off strikers lol! :-)
Trevor, you hit on something there -Almunia is a nice guy.
Sometimes I ask myself, is Almunia too nice? Could he do with being a bit more nasty,more menacing, someone who strikers fear?
He don’t need that his haircut does enough haha!
forget about strikers fearing him, the defence needs to i think. i honestly believe that had lehmann been in goal for the season our defence would not have disintigrated, game after game, at the crucial stage and we would be champions. almunia still has a lot to prove
I didnt rate Alumia atall until i saw him vs PSG in the Emirates cup last season (i went to that day so i got to see Valencia blitz Inter and Figo have what was probably the worst game of a career + Materazzi getting booed by 45k Arsenal fans (not to mention about 10k Velancia and PSG fans aswell, sadly i doubt i’ll beable to make it this year (i live in Portugal nd sadly i cant afford to swan off to England to watch a football match alone)), but he was outstanding.
Last season he was steady and held down his place, cut out the mistakes and like Clacko said his confidance seemed to have trippled right from the first game he played. If England can get him in the side he’ll easily hold of Roinson and James wont be around for much longer in terms of international football IMO).
only time can tell thou of course and there are no garentees in Football.
Is it a good thing that Wenger belives in him? If there is one thing Wenger can´t do it is to spot talent in goalkeepers.
no doubt he would be first choice for england, narrow minded and hypocritical sentiments aside, but that says really very little. they are a piss poor bunch who have ideas way above there station, croatia and russia howed how far from the top they are.
It’s difficult to judge a keeper playing for a top team. We have a relatively good defence, and Almunia does not get tested much in most games.
The real test for big team keepers is how they play in the BIG games, and from what I’ve seen Van der Sar and Cech have what it takes to impose them selves in big games.
At the moment Almunia does not have this big game mentality, credit due for his improvement, but he is not world class….yet.
how long do you have to live in england to be able to play for the national team?
i think 5 years, but i dony actually know.
Almunia has also improved noticeably at coming out for crosses. I remember towards the beginning of the season, he’d always stay grounded to his spot and hope that a defender cleared it, but I think Wenger had a word with him after the scrappy goals from corners we’d conceded (Birmingham Home, Everton Away), and he began to come out and punch corners away, which I thought was an important improvement, and something that Lehmann always did.
Good to see Almunia being praised. Have you notice how many of the blogs that were totally against him at the start of last season now defend him. I feel much more comfortable with him than with Mad Jens. The only times i got nervous last season were a couple of occasions when there was some misunderstanding between him and a defender on whether he was coming for the ball or not – and on every single occasion it was the same defender, Gallas – so i think you can guess how i would apportion the blame….. (and each time Gallas would clearly be blaming Almunia afterwards).
That’s true Big Johan, most of Almunia’s problems lie in miscommunications with his defenders (especially Gallas). The goals we conceded that were previously blamed on Almunia (Man Utd Home, Bolton Away, etc) I think were more a product of poor communication from the centrebacks and Almunia. If this problem could be sorted, it will make our defense that much stronger.
Arsenehollis, he made a number of top saves against Chelsea, I think both home and away, which were both huge games. His saves from a couple of stinging Shevchenko/Ballack/Drogba shots were actually really impressive, and he was largely solid both of those games.
I remeber when we first signed Mannone he was labelled the young Buffon in Italy, lets just hope he reaches that level.
trev b, im still sore that he didnt do better with chelsea’s second goal at their place, although you make a fair point.
he did save some real stingers from range in those games, but you expect that to be honest. the best keepers can make saves they have no right to get near when the chips are all in, havent seen that yet from manuel, maybe in tim ewith experience and oppertunity though.
Almunia, Fabianski and Mannone. I like them all. I think Fabi is going to be one of the worlds best goalkeepers in a few years time. he has all the attributes and is highly thought of by the coaching staff. I have only seen Mannone play about 3 or 4 times for us but he always done well.
Almunia has the positional sense of a blind man. And yes, the defense need to fear him a lot more (like someone said upthread, they put it way better than I will, so read that). If he works on these two things, which could easily be done in training, he could be a good keeper.
However, I genuinely believe we will end the season with Fabianski no. 1 choice.
wish we had signed hugo lloris tbh.
Fabianski could take Almunia’s place next season Like what happend with Almunia and Lehmann. I personally think so what do you think JS
“Almunia has the positional sense of a blind man.”
Sry, gota disagree with that, compared to Lehman Almunia is positionally sound, i remember when Hasslebank scored against us a couple of seasons back and in the reply i noticed Lehman was standing on the opposite side of the goal, nearly got it, great dive, but if hed been standing centrally hed have got it.
I agree with Samuel. Almunia is no good we need someone with quality in goal, someone like buffon, Akinfeev or Robinson.
Robinson!?
I agree with Maverik – and perhaps Samuel meant it as a complement in that he doesnt need to look around but has developed his other senses to help him get into the right position!
I’d still like to see Frey playing for us eventually. He’s class.
Sanderson… why did your sister leave to joing Chelsea? That traitor!
How do you pronounce the kid’s name. Manony or Manon
Almunia is steady and after the first few shaky games was very consistent and error free. His only problem is that he does not make the great saves on a consistent basis. However, arsenal being a young team he brings a calming influence, unlike Mad Jens, who is actually a more talented GK.
Platinum you pronounce it like – Ma-known. you should of know that anyway you stupid idiot.
“Platinum you pronounce it like – Ma-known. you should of know that anyway you stupid idiot.”
The commentators always say it more like man – own – A (as in how u say a capital A).
agree
Don’t get too excited – he’s still got Wenger to contend with. Remember Stu-e Taylor – gosh he had fantastic shut-outs against Juve and others and a brilliant one-man wall against Man City’s Anelka and Fowler with a want-away defense who thought the game was over – performance. Bob Wilson thought he was the future – but Arsene Knows! And as WE all know – Arsene don’t know goalies.
Pity – everything else about the man is genius. Hopefully Mannone doesn’t get ousted for another Almunia.
Bergs
Italien goalkeepers are always good!
i dont thunk Almunia is a world class en thats why Cappello has never mentioned him is his plans while England badly neeeds a good keeper.he doesnt give out standing saves as compared 2 Van der sar but i think Fabianski is the finest Arsenal will ever have ofcourse after Seaman.my fantasies, NASRI 8 en SILVA 18
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