Guest Post – Custodians Of The Net – Part One
Jul 21st, 2018 by 'holic
Once again I thank our very own TTG for a much-needed contribution to this never ending (not complaining!) summer heatwave. TTG has a nostalgic (or not so nostalgic) look at his favourite, and least favourite, Gunners goalkeepers. We start today with his five worst, and I have to confess he names at least one I would heartily concur with. I still have nightmares about ‘Fingers’. This will spark some debate among the older Gooners, I have no doubt, and I thank the author for that. Cheers TTG.
It was interesting to watch the World Cup but even I as a football nutcase found it dragging at times. The end result was a respectable if flattering fourth place for England. Whilst Tottenham, who at one stage looked like possible saviours of the nation, were ultimately exposed as just as ‘Spursy’ when their players represent their countries rather than the club itself. Lloris may have lifted the trophy but not before he made a prime chump of himself taking a leaf out of the Karius school of goalkeeping handbook.
His error and my interest in goalkeeping as a key part of the game prompted me to consider who in my sixty years of supporting the Gunners have been the best goalkeepers we have had. I don’t want to imitate the weaker clickbait blogs too much but I would like to inform some interesting pre-season pub debates. In this two-part article I will be giving my five best and five worst Arsenal goalkeepers.
I will begin with the zeroes, those keepers who gave me a serious case of the heebie-jeebies when they were in goal. In order of awfulness my worst was :
1. George Wood
George’s awfulness was particularly irritating because I had seen him come to Highbury as an Everton player and play out of his skin. Sadly that was the best performance, by a country mile, I ever saw from him. For us he was indecisive shaky and made many handling errors. So George goes into my bin of awfulness at the bottom.
2. Malcolm Webster
Webster let in the most pathetic goal I’ve ever seen when playing at Highbury against Manchester United. We were leading 2-0 ( it was that game where Sammels scored with a low, swerving, drive from about forty yards) when George Best jinked through the middle but underhit his shot so badly that you could literally have thrown your cap on it, had you been wearing one. Unfortunately Webster in only his second game fluffed it and only half-saved a ball that trickled beyond him into the net. He left us to spend most of his career at Southend. That was probably a more realistic level for him.
3. Jim ‘ Fingers’ Furnell
Furnell was bought from Liverpool in 1963 when we had umpteen goalkeepers on the books already. He was big by goalkeeping standards then but he never inspired confidence in me and never played again after making a late error to let Birmingham back into an FA Cup fifth-round tie at Highbury that we had all but won. His advent into the first team coincided with the targeting of goalkeepers at corners by teams like Leeds. Look at the 1968 League Cup Final for evidence of how jittery this made ‘Fingers’! Jim looked the part until someone shot at him.
4. Manuel Almunia
This is quite harsh in a way because Almunia did make some very good saves in his time but he also made some catastrophic errors. His highest profile bloopers were in our only Champions League Final in Paris against Barcelona but I can remember horror shows at the Grove against Manchester United (in the CL again) and West Brom. Oddly he could save penalties but he never gave me that reassuring feeling when I saw him in goal. In fact completely the opposite !
5. David Ospina
I’m exaggerating for effect here but I’ve never trusted Ospina as a goalkeeper. He is pathetic at taking crosses as we regularly see at the Grove. Remember him dropping the Olympiakos corner into his net? And I remember McCauley heading in through Ospina’s hands in one game at home to West Brom. Similarly though he had a reasonable Cup Final in 2017, his attempt to save Costa’s second half effort looked like Wayne Sleep hailing a taxi. Being fifth worst is damning him with faint praise but it’s the only praise I can muster for him. I hope he finds a new club where he can be happy and fulfilled, but it won’t be Arsenal.
None of those goalkeepers was , in my view good enough to represent Arsenal. Do come back early next week to find out who I thought most definitely was.
Thank you, ‘holics.
59 Responses to “Guest Post – Custodians Of The Net – Part One”
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ye cut me off in me tabs ya hoor ye
.
(press translate on the Google Auchter extension)
go on Dave
yer the nicest fucker I don’t know
have a tune
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0jtScxMtncw
and can I say
exemplary dancing chief
just told herself about the Bar Kays
and Otis
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AfK1IPLpcqs
she shed a tear i think just to keep me company
gonna fuck off very soon ‘hol
don’t worry
didn’t mean to ambush
Probably say hello at Christmas if that’s ok
Fuckin hate Christmas
like the tunes mind
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KIO3KvvgCqA
In the olden days I used to get plastered outside then go in the “club” no beer money or if there was a unicorn in the month enough for one .
Nowadays people wreck their lives and livers differently(expensively)
MISSING OUT
?
All the Ramones are dead
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp3zaeOyL7Q
Can’t decide if I should sew up my eyes or ears first
Does anyone here know Any of the oul farts at that gig or the 76 gig .
Cos if any of the attendees were regulars here they’d a lorded about it or maybe ……… always had my suspicion s about ned
can I be the first to point out
ON YER OWN
ON YER OWN
ON YER OWN
You don’t have to go, ya mentalist.
This is an eclectic place.
But if you want to, you go with my blessing until the next time.
Ya big bollix ya!
Apologies cba, for hailing you then buggering off for the rest of the evening. Good to you you again, err, you big bollocks.
COYG
hahaha ‘hol
brain and life in disarray
short or long term is anyone’s guess
and although I appreciate according to some
I add colour to your site
I read this site and discovering what repetetetetive nonsense
I boked is not nice
same waffle
Clive was right years ago
SHUT UP
when you annoy yerself
even when yer apologising
for being annoying
ye really should take a fuckin good look at yerself
but Ive tried that an my handsomeness sent me into feedback
?
howdy pan G
worry ye not a jot
and let there be no panic
?
.
.
.
HOW’S ABOUT THAT THERE SOCCER TEAM !
in other news
borrowed a projector
holy fuck
?ENORMOUS?
watched it’s garry shandling and Bob newhart shows
herself was amazed and disgusted
she fucked off when rising damp went on
????????????????
.
“Ye aren’t gettin the benefit”
said she
?
sometimes I despair
Holy shit the fuck she’s gorgeous
a right fuckin looker
everyone fancies her
but
way back from the bar
pitch dark
king tubby in my pocket
I just wish she’d …
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&noapp=1&v=CHqR1Rql5r8
.
.
anyhoo
seein as ‘hol has left the hatch up
was party to NEW conversations
a just back home attention seeking young gay fella
outraged at the fact
despite his volume
nobody was interested
In his faux outrage
about made up injustice
he hadn’t experienced
from two fellas sittin outside
which we all heard through the window
including his granda’s brother
sat by me on the jameson
silly ?
.
indeed
self same relative told him exactly what he thought
and with a stout and a wee john j
he un-righteoused his pretend indignation
so
swimmingly
is how it turned out
.
.
“See ned , would a thickaspoundies eejit
say
SWIMMINGLY
.
.
no
Clash fan unfortunately
not entirely unsurprised
lotta contrived shite
.
.
cheerio
.
See ye at Christmas ?
Provocative read, TTG. Harsh on Ospina, to my mind. He has a better record than, say, Fabianski (who played a similar number of first team games) in terms of goals conceded per minute played and clean sheets per game. He also comes out much the same as Cech on those measures. He would rank above Stuart Taylor and Vince Bartram, to name two, to my mind.
Ouch Ospina. I always thought he was better than most gooners thought and it seems Ned’s stats are trying to prove same.
Almunia Champs League performance broke my heart in my 1st live Arsenal match.
Agree with comments above about Ospina. I always expected him to be worse than he was. Like many of today’s goalkeepers he is too short for my liking. Almunia had one excellent season for Arsenal in 07/08 when we lost just three games all season and nearly won the league. The lad we got from Ipswich around 02/03 was pretty awful but I can’t remember his name now.
Richard Wright wasn’t it
You’re right, Matt, thanks. The problem with a lot of reserve keepers in the old days was that they hardly ever played and when they did, they had to be at their best straightaway. At least these days they get a chance to play themselves in with the various cups. Does anyone remember Geoff Barnet, my first ever reserve keeper. He had to play in the 72 Cup Final after Bob Wilson got crocked in the semi- final.
DevonStu@25: at 6′ 0″ in the old money, Jack Kelsey, who some will say was the best we ever had between the sticks, was exactly the same height as Ospina — and as Peter Shilton come to that. Older ‘Holics may remember two other, shorter England keepers, Peter Bonetti (5’10”) and Ron Springett (5’9″). They, of course, were both understudies to Gordon Banks, who was only an inch taller than Ospina.
DevonStu@25: The second-choice keepers did play regularly in the old days. In the reserves. No sitting on the first-team bench on match days back then.
Thanks for the information North Bank Ned @28 and 29. Maybe it’s because the big keepers of today are much bigger than their counterparts of yore. I’m referring to the likes of Cech, Courtois and Schmeichel. Personally, I prefer a big keeper who can command the box, although criteria for a top keeper seem to have changed of late with ability on the ball more important these days.
DevonStu@30:Take your point about giant keepers. Six foot seven and upwards while not exactly common is not rare either. The tallest seems to be Simon Bloch Jørgensen, who plays for the Danish 2nd Division East side, Greve and is listed at 2.10 metres, which translates to just over 6’10 1/2″.
The average height for a keeper in Europe is 6’ 2” and the average height for all players is as close to 6’ 0” as makes little difference. There is comparable data from 10 years ago which suggests that relatively keepers have gotten only a tiny bit taller than footballers in general over that time.
The monks have not yet been able to track down a data set to see how that ratio has changed over several generations. However, people have been getting taller so you would expect, footballers and keepers, to do so, too. When Jack Kelsey was playing he was more than three inches taller than the average UK male; Ospina is only 2 1/4 inches taller than the average UK male today.
And while Ospina is 2.7% shorter than the average goalkeeper playing in Europe today, I would hazard a bet that Kelsey was at least average and more probably above average height for a keeper.
The goal is no bigger today, though.
Ozil has decided to quit playing for Germany, blaming racism. How tiresome.
That Romford lad Taylor was gigantically jinxed decades ago.
Strange sort these keepers of the goal.
Only thing behind you is the net and the gloves are on yer hands, half
of the time picking yer nose, other half flying in the air. Weird way to
make a living.
I can do that in the pub.
without gloves
From what I remember didn’t Jack Kelsey run the Arsenal shop that was situated amongst the turnstiles to the Clock End
Thought provoking piece there TTG. I rarely disagree with you and whilst I cannot match your years of watching Arsenal keepers, I cannot agree with your placing Ospina in the worst five keepers. I myself have seen several worse keepers play for our first team: Taylor, Bertram, Fabianski and the Italian fella who looked like the spitting image of a statue of the Emperor Constantine were all worse than Ospina. I agree he doesn’t seem to command his box like Cech used to or Dave or Lehman but his numbers remain good. Unless Leno improves markedly under Arsenal coaching I bet that we will be pining for Ospina before long.
Ladles and jellyspoons, I nominate Rami Shaaban as another (Not A) Keeper for the list.
Geoff Barnett is the one that will always be my top pick though, simply for that cup final. Such a weak effort to try to save that winner.
Interesting and very sensible replies. I must admit I warmed to Ospina in the 2014 World Cup but have never felt safe with him in goal. I realise I must be exaggerating his incompetence given the confidence of good judges on here. I must admit that in my prep for this article I didn’t include Vince Bartram because I always regarded him as a back-up.( Webster was arguably a back-up too). He was a very poor keeper and I had the misfortune to see him later in his ‘career’ playing for Gillingham where he became a bit of a cult figure ( no N!) but I thought he was technically very poor so he would squeeze Ospina out.
Hopefully on more positive ground I’ve been fairer about goalies I rated although I’ve elevated one perhaps controversially.
Interestingly there is a rumour in Europe tonight that we are close to signing Sonner the Swiss international. If this is true it would be a major surprise and would almost certainly mean that Cech was leaving. It also may mean an immediate concern about Leno but it is very early days. He apparently made a mistake in a Friendly last week against Brentford. Surely we aren’t that short-term in our thinking?
I’ve just read Ozil’s comments over on arseblog. It’s good to see a footballer giving the middle finger to racism in general and in particular to the divisive and racist attitudes of the German media and DFB, especially their president. I think he deserves to be applauded for his defiance and bottle. He’ll probably get some really nasty stick now in Germany. Hopefully Arsenal fans will get right behind him.
I think you were a bit on Ospina,or did you forgot Fabianski? Did you remember a certain 2-3 to Wigan and N’Zorgbia or the 2-1 to Porto at the dragao in 2009?
Harsh I should say
bravo, mesut özil. very well spoken.
Fair play to Ozil for taking a stand,
and for shaming the DFB. If you
read the stuff that’s been said to
him, then it’s understandable that
he wants to walk away.
Evening Holic, TTG and Holics,
Had a bit of a break from football – awaiting the return of the Arsenal to at least semi-serious training.
For all the new spirit in the international camp, I just couldn’t muster any enthusiasm for FIFA’s latest extravaganza in Putin’s Russia – an award bettered only by the upcoming version in 2022, in the 50°+ heat of Qatar – a country that doesn’t even have a football league.
Even less appealing than the idea of endless international football, was our own team made up largely of Spuds and augmented largely by Man Utd cheats and donkeys in the shape of Young and Jones – both obviously way out of their depth on the international stage.
Anyhow – apologies TTG, as I rudely digress from your views on the worst of our keepers.
Each to their own but OsakaMatt, I think, beat me to it in nominating Richard Wright. He came with a good reputation as a highly promising young keeper. Personally, I would put him in the Fabianski bracket – had some good shot-stopping talent, but just mentally couldn’t handle the expectation levels at a club like Arsenal and turned into a bit of a disaster.
One other name I don’t recall seeing above was Willie Warmuz – and we certainly don’t need him in a summer of 30° temperatures ?
what mesut is trying to say is
i was good, fuck*ng great, but John Racism was not
wide-eyed 10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zgu7djuloZs
(my apologies to the real homosexuals)
PC baby, PC
If there are legs to the rumours that we are looking to sign Sommer, it would suggest that both Cech and Ospina will be off. It also suggests that the club thinks neither Martinez nor Macey are long-term prospects to be a no 1. Iliev and Virginia are both well regarded but a generation behind Martinez and Macey.
This if the final year of Cech’s contract. At 36, he might well consider the timing good to sign a multi-year deal elsewhere. Napoli as been said to be interested. Ospina, at 29, is the same age as Sommer and will want regular first-team football, which I assume Leno will deny him as soon as he has settled into Premiership football.
Well done Mesut for speaking out against the hate-filled Germans and their racism-fuelled excuses for their own incompetence. May their national team struggles long continue.
Devon Stu@39, and Barack O’B@47,
Well said sirs, agree with every word. No place for these racist attitudes today.
Let’s hope we get a new, highly motivated Ozil turning up every week from now on.
I came to read reaction to Özil”s statement, from one particular source.
They did not surprise me.
COYG
Wood got sent off once in a midweek
game (league cup vs Villa maybe?).
Made for a great atmosphere afterwards
as the support really got behind the
team after that – it’s honestly the only
thing I can remember about him although
I must have seen many of his games as
I was a regular at the time.
Checking the internet I see he played in
the home whacking by Spartak and the
cup semi defeat to Manure – painful memories
best suppressed!
Think he took his role as the Woodwork far too seriously ?
He was a ‘keeper but never a keeper.
A stopper but not a corker.
Uli Hoeness has had his say on Ozil, but nobody had the nerve to ask him what he thought of Mesut’s tax arrangements…
Should the non-appearance in TtG’s list, or until now in the drinks, of Vito Mannone be interpreted as a universal vote of confidence in Vito’s Arsenal career? Funny, I don’t remember too many Vito fans on here, other than yours truly of course.
“Whenever (Bayern) played against Arsenal, we played over Ozil because we knew that was their weak point.” – Hoeness.
Ex-con can speak.
Lip Up Fatty
This podcast has a well-informed half-hour long discussion of the Ozil situation:
http://www.secondcaptains.com/2018/07/23/episode-1220-ozil-drops-the-mic-karius-makes-plea-to-humanity/
And now for the best five. Thanks again TTG. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Thanks NBN that was well worth a listen. As someone who lives in Turkey I was furious with Özil for that photograph in the middle of a crucial election here and have a great deal of sympathy with Germany’s reaction to it. This was a surprisingly well informed discussion. Let’s put some of this in perspective shall we? When I was excited about Özil signing for us I was informed by Turks how disliked he was in Turkey for choosing to play for Germany. Who are the racists?