The most talked about position at Arsenal this year has been the goal keeper. Fighting over the position, talking to the press about the other players, and now transfer rumours in and out are being associated with the goalkeeper position.
Let’s take a look at what has happened this season -

We have had our German Mad Jens in goal for the past 4 seasons. This year started just like the seasons before, but only 3 games and 2 big mistakes into the season, Lehmann was dropped because of ‘injury’ and replaced by Almunia after the Blackburn game.

For the next game against Man City, this is what Wenger said -

“Jens is out and he will miss two weeks, maybe more. He is going to see a specialist in Germany. He had this injury before but it has got much worse. Apart from the mistakes, he had good games. The first mistake he changed his mind and he was caught and the second one maybe it was the flight of the ball. This is the first time I have seen him make this kind of mistake. With his feet, things can happen but with his hands he is usually 100 per cent secure. I am convinced that he is still top drawer.”

So Almunia was in for now, and started well with 2 clean sheets in a row. He actually had 6 clean sheets in his first 8 games in goal.

Come October, Lehmann is fit enough to play for Germany. After the game, he says :

“I am fully fit now and expect to be back against Bolton. I expect him [Wenger] to play me. So no worries.”

So he automatically expects to start again, which is understandable being the #1 keeper for 4 years. What I don’t understand is why players say such things to the media. Saying such things to the press is an indirect way of putting pressure on the coach and setting up for a confrontation. Wenger’s reply? Not even giving Lehmann a seat on the bench for the Bolton game!

“Jens has to be a little bit patient. Patience? Yes, that is not his first quality, but he has to fight and be patient and be ready. In our job you always have to fight hard and cope with any situation. At the moment Jens has to deal with that. And I’m sure that he is strong enough to do that. I just decided to leave him out for this game. I decided to go with Almunia, but the next game after that we will see.”

Only a few days later, the turning point in my opinion of the whoe ordeal happened. In an interview with German television said the following -

“It could be that at some point I feel like commenting on the whole issue, but right at the moment I just accept everything as part of the humiliation. You have to let it happen,”

“But I think - and this is directed towards my dear coach - that you should not humiliate players for too long. I am an Arsenal player and I will not just fade away quietly.”

“I am convinced I will soon be playing again. Almunia hasn’t shown that he can win us matches just yet. I have been through this situation once and know how the other keeper is situated mentally. I can’t imagine he will handle this.

“Wenger has spoken of three world-class goalies. I guess I must be one of them. The others have proven their class by winning titles? I’m just thinking about it, and I can’t recall any. But yet today they are considered world class.”

The last two paragraphs ended his Arsenal career in my opinion. Saying that you expect to play is one thing, saying that you expect to play because your teammates are shit is a different story. The young team Wenger is building is based on a very good team spirit, and stupid comments like that from senior players are obviously against everything the team is about this year.

The way Almunia responded goes perfectly with what Wenger expects -

“I will stay positive. The goalkeeping position is a difficult position. I’ve been here almost three years without playing in the league. It’s normal for people to assess the situation

“I forget the past now I’m playing. It’s not a problem. I don’t care about pressure. I only want to play well. If I read the papers and listen to what other people say about me, then I’d will turn crazy. I don’t want that.

“When I’m playing well I honestly don’t mind other things that are happening. Maybe if I was playing badly I would be more worried. But now for me life is fantastic and I want to take my chance.”

Very well said Manuel. Now that Lehmann is considering leaving, things are turning out to be not in his favour. His reputation is probably the main reason now why Dortmund fans don’t even want him back in their team! Funny how everything you do and say comes to bite you in the ass at the most critical time of your career. He’s 38, he needs to play to retain his place in the German team according to his coach. Since being dropped, he only played 2 games, an easy home game against Bucharest in the CL and the FA cup game against championship Burnley.

There are many factors that combine to make his Arsenal career over. He is 38, his body and reflexed may not be as good as younger player, and the mistakes he did could prove that. Almunia has been doing a decent job as the #1 keeper. And most importantly in my opinion is his talk.

Now to the important factor - numbers. Lets compare their numbers -

These stats are up to 1/1/2008

All these numbers are for games in the premiership only, and I did not include seasons where one of them played 2 or 3 games.

Looking at these numbers, apart from his first season, Lehmann’s numbers are almost equal if not less impressive than Almunia’s.

The % of clean sheets shows Almunia having a better overall percentage, and this year’s goals against is much better than Lehmann’s past 3 seasons.

Obviously the team’s defending has alot to do with this stat. I honestly believe that when players like Gallas and Toure are not 100% sure about the goalkeeping, they will step up and make a better effort of making him work less, which is a good thing.

2 comments

I wrote a post earlier regarding our strikers and how they measure up against each other in different categories. The one main statistic that matters the most has to be the Goals per 90 minutes.

Goals per 90 minutes is a more accurate measure than overall goals or goals per game. It is a better measurement of how much impact a player has for every 90 minutes he is on the field. Our main man in this category is Eduardo. He had a 0.78 goals per 90 minute average up until the Everton game. Following the West Ham game, his ratio increased because he scored a goal in the 63 minutes he lasted. I decided to see how his new average ranks in comparison to the other top scorers in the league. This measure is for all games played by the team, which includes any domestic or European cups.

Here are the results -

Ronaldo is having his best season to date. He has been banging in goals at every opportunity. He is also having more shots per game than any other player from this list.

Torres has been proving his worth more with every game. He may have scored less goals than Adebayor in the league, but you have to put in mind Benitez’s rotation policy which limited his minutes. Although Liverpool have played more games than Manchester, he has 200 minutes less than Ronaldo and 100 less than Adebayor. Add to that the fact that he is in his first season in England, where players usually need a season to adjust.

Our recent goal scoring machine comes in 3rd with his 10 goals in all competitions.

The rest of the stats tell us that Berbatov isn’t as great as many people make him to be. Keane scored 2 goals against Anorthis Famagusta and 1 against Hapoel Tel Aviv in the eufa cup. Getting the opportunity to play against pub teams like those can boost anyone’s average.

Tim Cahill is much better than most people make him to be. He did not play in August or September but has still managed to score 9 goals, and the goals per 90 mins shows how good he is, especially as a midfielder.

Anelka seems like he’s very overrated, but you have to remember that his team is really shit, so being able to get those goals without much support should be something to consider.

Rooney comes second after Ronaldo in shots per 90 minutes, but his goals per 90 mins average is almost half that of Ronaldo’s.

As I said in the earlier post, just like most stats, there are many variables that affect this average, so it is only an indication of how good these players are. Although looking at the top three, you realize the quality!

9 comments

I was going to post about our strikers before the game, but decided to wait till after the game just in case. The game only proved what I had worked out earlier.

Before the match, and for the past week or two, everyone has been talking about 2 issues -

1. 4-5-1 vs. 4-4-2
2. Why Wenger doesn’t start Bendtner ahead of Adebayor following his performance in recent games.

I will not discuss the first issue now. Instead I will discuss the latter issue using statistics.

Wenger today played with Bendtner and Eduardo up front giving Adebayor a rest. Unfortunately Bendtner had a total nightmare of a game which ended disgracefully or rather stupidly from his side with a rash tackle. These things happen, this is football, and he still needs some more experience. We’ve seen these kind of silly mistimed tackled from lack of experience happen before with Denilson this season and Fabregas a couple of years ago. Hopefully its a learning experience for Nicklas.

On the other hand, Eduardo proved his reputation as a cool finisher with a killer instinct. Following his excellent finishes as Blackburn, he had two more today at Everton. The guy makes finishing look too easy. His record at Zagreb and for Croatia is nothing less than amazing. People have been on his back here at Arsenal so far this season, but in fact he has been excellent too.

Now the numbers part, which striker is the best of the pack this season??

I took the number of minutes each player played, and then got averages for goals, assists, and shots on target. I also got the percentage of shots that are on target from total shots. It will all make sense in a minute I hope -

These statistics are for all competitions this season.

Eduardo is a true striker. In his limited opportunities, he really made the most out of them, leading the way in terms of goals per 90 minutes played. He is also the most accurate, with more than 64% of his shots being on target!

With his excellent finishing, and these impressive statistics, I’d like to hear from people who still don’t rate him.

We are blessed this season with an excellent forward line full of talent, but in recent years we have been criticized for our lack of an out and out striker. Let’s hope Eduardo will fill that slot for us as well as he did previously in his career!

8 comments