Fulham 0 – 1 Arsenal
Stand in goalkeeper Vito Mannone was the hero for Arsenal after a scrappy 1-0 win at Fulham.
The young Italian made FIVE stunning saves and keep his and Arsenal’s 2nd clean sheet in the league in a row.
The Gunners and with number one keeper Manuel Almunia had failed to keep a single clean sheet in SIX games this season before Mannone got his chance to impress.
Our 3rd choice keeper put in a man of the match performance and has now not been beat in 180mins of first team football..”Take a bow son”
I only hope that wenger treats Mannone better then he treated Alex Manninger who covered for David Seaman in 96-97, Manninger enjoyed a spell of EIGHT clean sheets in a row, a club record.
Wenger should have keep him as our number 1 but as soon as Seaman returned to fitness, Manninger was dropped. Manninger was never the same player after that as he knew that no matter how well he did he was never going to be Wengers number 1 and his confidence was gone.
“IF” Mannone carries on like this i hope Wenger sticks by him and gives him a chance AHEAD of Almunia who for me has been VERY poor this season.
But lets end this on a positive note, 1-0,3pts and a clean sheet.
Happy days
Sinbad
You can debate this more in this thread We need a new number ONE
Players Ratings
Mannone 9 MOTM (Unbeatable)
Sagna 7 Good forward, But his crossing let him down
Gallas 7 Pretty Solid, Won a lot of headers
Vermaelem 7.5 Great player, Solid
Clichy 6.5 Shakey
Song 8.5 Was very good today
Diaby 6.5 Ermmmh? Did ok
Fabregas 6 Apart from the pass to RVP for the goal, Our worst player, But one pass that won us the game.
Bendtner 6.5 Wasted on the wing..AGAIN
Van Persie 7.5 Took his goal well, That right foot is getting better : )
Arshavin 6 First game back and looked well off the pace
Subs, Rosicky 7, Eboue 6
Arsenal Action Blog 
yeah yeah, clean sheet, 3 pts blah blah blah.
Goalkeeper apart, there was NOTHING positive to take from this performance. No desire, no passion and where has the work-rate shown at Celtic gone?
Diaby was pathetic again. There was no cohesion going forward whilst at the back, we were all over the place at times. And this against a poor Fulham side that just put more effort than we did in.
If we win by many goals it is no good. If we win ugly it is no good.
I saw a lot of character in the team and last year we would have lost this one. Now we won a tight game so for me a lot of positive.
Winning tight games is fine. This was not tight! Fulham should have won easily because we were anything but tight!!
no almunia for 3 games = 3 clean sheets ! simples!
Almunia is a turd. At times last season looked almost competant but the man is and always will be a clown
you must be kidding, 6.5 for Diaby is too much
he did not help defense and lost possession so often. I just can’t understand what is on Wenger’s mind.
Ces was ok today. He is below his par but his creative is vital. Don’t ast him to play well when Diaby is around
Dead on mate, most gooners I know dont know why Wenger persists with this guy. Reckon he was only in the team today because of height?
Diaby’s prefomance is up and down lika a prostitute at a nightclub! but as Dazza said he plays these games because he gives us a physical precense + height, as with bendtner…i think cesc play worse when diaby is in the XI because he has to sit back more when diaby goes on his (more than often) pointless runs forward.
Arshavin should not have started this match as he was clearly not match fit, thus playing his worst game in an arsenal shirt. Where was eduardo? surely he should have got the nod ahead of an unfit Arshavin?
Shame that Arsh was off his game, but considering he got injured just before in in international week he has had a month out. Another game or 2 and he’ll be banging in the type of goals we saw against Man United. Fab was also off form and seemed to overdo his celebration of Robin’s goal. As if to try and stave off some criticism of his apparent lack of effort recently. I really can’t see him lasting out another season with us. I think he’s bored of us. I don’t want it to be true but I reckon that’s what it is. But the money from his sale will buy Arteta and perhaps Cahill if Everton are stupid enough to let them go. Or even bung Arsh in that position. Mannone though is something else. He really showed his potential today. A future Buffon ursurper I think if he plays that that week in week out! He should be instated as Number 1 until something suggests otherwise. Fantastic keeper and I’m even considering giving my kid due in February his name as his middle name. Although maybe we’ll see out October before I say for certain. All in all an ugly performance but grinding out a 1 nil win is what we we’re always slated for not being able to do. Well now we can so watch out everybody else in the league. We’re here to win things!
Cesc was shit again today
Wenger said after the game that Almunia will be back in as soon as fit, we all know wenger has his pecking order and sticks to it no matter how bad or good someone plays.
As for all this bull that its Diaby’s fault for Cesc playing poorly, utter nonsence, how can another player be at fault for Cesc being unable to pass the ball to a team mate, and Diaby had a good game today and its time some of you muppets stopped this obsession with having scapegoats to blame all the time, if its not Diaby its Nik, or Eboue or Song etc, lay off and support the team.
Also Dazza if you look at the game again you will find Arsenal had as many clear cut chances as Fulham, only difference is our forwards put the ball over the bar and fulhams made Mannone make saves
Utter bollocks. I watched the whole game! Suggest you have a look the stats pal. Pay particular attention to shots on goal and territorial possesion
cldnt have put it better EDUARDO…we fans nt critics cmon…comon u goonerssss.we r d ARSENAL!!!
Just like to point 2 things out.
1: Mannone hasnt been beaten in 265 minutes, not 180 as said above. 2 clean sheets and both he conceded against Standard in the CL were in the first 5 minutes.
2: Almunia kept one clean sheet. It was against celtic and he probably didnt make any saves but still a clean sheet.
I hope after Vitos performance today Wenger decided to just release Almunia and work with Vito and Fabianski. Anything is better than Shit Al.
Cesc was shit – the worst player on the team.
Sell Almunia
Sell Fabregas
Nice to see Arsenal winning by a great counter attack. From intercepting the ball on our own half to Schwarzer picking the ball out of the net took just under 6 seconds.. very impressive!
Arshavin played because that was going to happen so he could get match fit in a game we should be able to carry him & did so on that Wenger was correcton Diaby he is never going to be a Henry never a Berkcampt never a winger or a Fab. there is 1 possition in a top 4 side he is suited to which is DM & with his forward runs if they become second to an all covering all tackaling Viera like game he could become maybe 1 of the best in the world but if he can,t get his head around that he is useless a liability
Fab. goes no where 4 at least 2 years unless Arsenal say & if it is Barca. besides Arsenal that he wants to play at no way would he even consider moving in the next 2 years if it was up to him no way he goes until Xabi & Iniesta is broken up if he went before then he would be 2nd choice to those 2 i myself think he is better than either both but at Barca.they wouldn,t & he risks a Hleb situation or a Reyes situation at Real Madrid
Dont blame diaby 4 cesc being shit.evry body out there now realises denilson does work 4 the team.
Your analysis loses credibility when you give diaby 6.5 and eboue and fabregas 6. Fabregas and Eboue were both much better than Diaby.
How can fabregas get the same points as arshavin, when he was instrumental in setting up the goal? Whilst Arshavin had little effect on thegame.
why does wenger continue to put bendtner on the wing? Eduardo should have at least been on the bench? was he injured?
your thoughts?
Keep it up ‘Mann the One’ . When the going gets tough ‘Mann the One’ gets going. But to produce such ‘man of the match’ performance he has to go thru an intensive drill. Then that will become second nature to him, not just another flash in the pan. As for our unhappy ‘difficult to please’ fans out, ‘Come on ! Dont be too hard on the boys ! A win deserve a pat on the back. A pat on the back can trigger a transformation, as is the case with Vito. Youngsters need more pats on the back more than anybody else. You will understand this better if you are parents !! Cheerio Gooners
Diaby is good in 2nd half. He helped a lot..
I dont think so.
wengar has done this before. almunha got his break when lehmann started to flop. i believe almunha is flopping. the m richards goal at man city was a joke shades of an old seaman. ive watched mannone and his positional sense is better then almunha. some times almunha lets goals in because he has lost his position. mannone would not be in goal if he hadnt showed wengar his class.
good on him.
Come on guys. Most of arsenal had an off game. Vito did well but is too young to play every game. He should me replaced before he puts in a bad game. Before the game no one wanted him to play! Fulham played well and contained us. Diaby was poor as always. Clichy gets no support from him. But we one ugly I’ll take it.
Diaby has the talent, his decision making is rubbish. He is useless as his runs where he dribbles and loses the ball. He is a wheel barrow of horse manure. He doesn’t track back, when he marks, he commits fouls and gets booked. He should not be sold, he should be donated to Rushden and Diamond
some of you arsenal bloggers are just crap and waste of space…how can you give Diaby 6.5 and Cesc 6, when it is his pass that ultimately lead to the goal that won the game…we did it with Ade and now we sure are hell bent on sending Cesc away too..keep up the great work you worthless cunxx…
HOW THE HELL IS “#@@#$ DIABY” GOT INTO STARTING LINEUP WEN WE HAV HUGE TALENTS WAITING IN THE BENCH
HEs bribing Wenger for sure….
HE a real piece of shit…
HE is worser than anyone in my sunday morning team….
Even if we play with 10 without DIABY it would hav been better…
[…] [RATINGS] Vito Mannone ‘take a bow son’ But is he the new Manninger? Fulham 0 – 1 Arsenal Stand in goalkeeper Vito Mannone was the hero for Arsenal after a scrappy 1-0 win […] […]
Cheers to Mannone… if not for him it would have been a comic show for Arsenal. Diaby was that really soccer that you played…