View From The Sphere

A case for Vito?

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Vito Mannone’s career at Arsenal looked all but over after a horrendous display against Olympiacos in the Champions League Group stages last season, a game which The Gunners eventually lost 3-1.

The Italian shot-stopper was not seen in an Arsenal shirt again after that game and was subsequently loaned out to Hull City in January until the end of the campaign.

However, the 24-year-old, in my opinion, has come back to the club a new player – not the finished article, but better than he was when he left.

Due to injuries to Wojciech Szczesny and Lukas Fabianski, Arsene Wenger has put his faith in Vito, who has started five out of the six games so far this season, and it seems the Frenchman’s gamble not to sign a ready-made goalkeeper is paying off.

In 450 minutes of football, the Italian has only conceded two goals (one from the penalty spot against Montpellier and just recently against Manchester City) and considering the teams he has played against, most notably City, Stoke, Liverpool and Montpellier, Vito has unquestionably done brilliantly and could indeed challenge Szcz for the number one spot.

Szcz would be the obvious choice to guard our goal – I’m guessing most of the fans out there would rather see the Pole between the sticks than the Italian. But if Vito plays well and does what is required of him, why should Wenger revert back to Szczesny?

I am a firm believer of giving players chances and if they take them then they should be rewarded for their efforts. In this case it’s Mannone. He is currently doing the business for us and it would be a shame to see him on the bench when our first-choice goalkeeper becomes available.

As stated above, Vito is not the finished article. He still needs improvement.

But if he continues to perform at the level that he has been and keeps clean sheets then there is no reason why he can’t be Arsenal’s number one this season.

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7 comments

  • Guy says:

    Anyone else remember Wenger deciding to give Almunia a chance over Lehmann?

  • Szez1 says:

    Hell No!!!

    Every save Mannone makes he pushes into the 6 yard box for an easy tap-in for any forward. He’s done it 6-7 times so far. We’ve got away with it with our defenders clearing the ball, but its just a matter of time. And the way he flapped at City’s corner for the goal was as bad a Flappyianski at his worst.

    Szczesny in our No.1 by a million miles and let us pray he is back soon.

  • JohnW says:

    Szez1,
    If you looked at Vito’s statistics, you will see that he has the highest number of clean sheets, drawn matches than any one of our goal keepers. I’m not saying he should be number I, he still has two seasons to be that, but he’s not as bad as you suggest. The way I see it, Arsene should rotate keepers like United does, that way each one will always be on their toes, this will allow them improve further. When a goalkeeper does not have competition, they tend to make silly mistakes. I’m almost certain that Szczesny will not repeat the mistake against Southampton lest he be replaced.

  • Owens says:

    It would be nice rotating our keepers…

  • keys says:

    Oh my God. How does some of you watch our matches? Szez is not better than Vito. From the latter part of last season, Szez has not performed well and I think Vito has to be given the chance I know he will grab it.

  • Tayol amin says:

    .Eeh dont let us leave d truth untalked about, cseny should be no1.look again vito made some error which our defence quickly clear out agaist city dat u wudnt bet ur money dat czesny wud do d same error.so jus let us thank our defence including vito too.perharp d kudos of dis new season shud go to our back 4 for dia rapid respond in reskiu of vito.

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