Almunia - Was he at fault?

[Clrnc]

I think he could have done better especially for the 2nd goal. First and 3rd goal sometimes you save it sometimes you don't. Closing down is a 50-50 thing.

(lets hope criticism de-jinx him )

 

[sabret00the]

Could be done in the match thread. And course he should've saved it, but he didn't, it happens.

 

[Gurgen]

Yes he was the silly Eminem looking fker.

 

[the dawn raids]

does it really matter if he wouldve saved one shot at this point?

 

[NIPOLOPO]

No, and **** anyone who blames him for losing last night, if it wasn't for him the scoreline would've been as high as 7 or 8 over the course of two-legs.

 

[Clrnc]

That 2nd goal was crucial, utterly crucial.

Oh and I created this thread because the last Almunia thread was closed

 

[JazzG]

Yes all three were his fault. Second one was a huge mistake, first and third I thought he could of done better but won't hold those against him. Second goal was just criminal though.

 

[marco]

yep he played very well last week
but world class keepers dont make errors like last night.
second time beaten from 40 yards this season in the 2 biggest games at home.
he always chucks one in for the mancs at home
but yep he played very well last week

 

[goonerwarsh]

Did anyone see Jens give Andy Townsend daggers when he was critisising Alumnia saying that even he could have got over and saved it? It was like he was insulting his little brother. You gotta love Jens Lehmann

 

[Stevo the Villan]

I have seen the goals, I think he definitely could have done better with the second one (ronaldo's free kick). But to blame him for the first and third is ridiculous to be honest. He went down for the 3rd and ronaldo lifted it over him. If he'd stood up and ronaldo had slid it past him people would be blaming him for not getting down quick enough. One on One against players like Park and Ronaldo, no keeper can be expected to save it.

To blame for the second goal? Yes, in my opinion.
To blame for the result? no.

 

[ultradoc]

The problem is he was hyped so much. Just to make ourselves feel comfortable.
This kind of efforts from him was expected and if you didn't..
Great goalkeepers as he is dubbed in the recent past,I believe, tend to stand up more almost blocking the whole view of the goal for the striker.Almunia just slides in for the first goal like on an icy playground. And if it was an intelligent classy goalie, he'd have noticed it was JSPark that was at the end of the chance..worse finisher with more nerves.
And the second goal...god bless lehmann for his classy comments but we be damned if those goals are not saved from so far out. I tell you he has a bloody damn weakness on his left side of goal standing up.
Don't even care about the third one..djourou.....

So, hereon,my plea to everyone is-just don't overhype your average players who come up with some good saves sometimes, that doesn't make them world-class.

 

[qs]

Yeah on the second goal he was terrible. Kind of takes the sheen off his good second half of the season.

 

[qs]

And if it was an intelligent classy goalie, he'd have noticed it was JSPark that was at the end of the chance..worse finisher with more nerves.

 

[irishgunnerz]

For 1 and 2 - no. He made his mind up, he came at the attacker and forced them to make a choice. If hed stayed up and it slid past him he'd be slated over not going to ground. They were just good finishes from players who showed more composure than we were capable of over the two legs.

At fault for the second - for me yes. Yes the ball curled at the last minute, and yes Jens is right - the ball can move in the last ten yeards viciously and this is what causes keepers problems, not where the ball starts out. Even then, it was his near post, he got across but misssed it.

At that stage the game was realistically over. We never looked like scoring 2 let alone 3.

I think Ultradoc youre going over the top. No one has said he is world class - but he's certainly been the pick of the Premiership over the course of the season. VDS when exposed by his defence has been average. Cech hasnt even been in the top 5 keepers this season. Reina, Given and Manny have been the 3 best most consistent.

And I hate to break it to you - even Buffon at his best, Seaman at his best all made mistakes. Costly mistakes. Seaman is a legend, he's been an idol for me as a keeper..but Nayim from the half way line? Remember that? World Class strikers **** up too, but people rarely remember - its sadly a keepers lot that if he ****s up, its talked about forever. Like the stunning full length save from Rooney last night, or the stop from Ronaldo's drive have not had a mention. C'est la vie I guess

 

[ultradoc]

That is exactly my point my irish friend. If you wanna use adjectives like 'stunning' for a save from rooney where he had all the time to watch the ball and from outside the D.. it was just a training ground practice save for me. If you are happy with your goalkeepers with such flashy looking saves with getting a few basics wrong time and crucial time again...
One cannot debate if almunia is compared with mistakes of buffon and seaman really.
Just to say, our players are just average for now and have a long way to be called great-almunia included. And yea, it's nice and easy to say if he had stayed up everyone would slate him for that,but staying up is the thing to do in such situations.He makes up his mind far too fast for me.

 

[alonso14]

yes he was ar fault for the second goal, but without him you would have lost the tie by double

and it wasnt the second goal that was crucial, it was the first....you could almost feel the deflation when that went in

 

[hackajack]

I think a keeper shouldn't be beaten from that far out. That said, the 'wall' was pathetic though, they seemed to think it was enough to stand vaguely in the way and didn't close out the near post - they actually made it more difficult for Al.

 

[goonerwarsh]

I think a keeper shouldn't be beaten from that far out. That said, the 'wall' was pathetic though, they seemed to think it was enough to stand vaguely in the way and didn't close out the near post - they actually made it more difficult for Al.

John O'Shea muscles them out the way, they showed you at half time

 

[hackajack]

I was more or less behind it I didn't see O'Shea, I did see a clear shot at goal outside the 'wall'.... and fark me.....

 

[Captain]

To be fair, fabianski could and probably would make the saves that Almunia did in the first and second leg but he may have bolloxed up in other ways.

Saying that we could have been further behind without Almunia in the first leg is pointless as nobody knows what the alternative could have been.

I'm still not sure if that freekick was a mistake (it was a blinding strike which Ronaldo does maybe one in twenty attempts) or if he could have done anything about any of the goals but it is what it is; just let it go and move on.