If rumors are to be believed Wenger may be after Norwich goalkeeper, Robert Green
I was watching the Norwich/Villa game today and thinking the same thing. It’s seldom you see a game and goalkeeping stands out, but having also seen him against Spurs, this guy is really talented and could be another piece of the puzzle for the next gen Arsenal.
You can?t have a great team without a great goalkeeper. The all-conquering ManU team of the 90?s had Schmeichel and the Liverpool team of the 80?s had Grobbelaar. Arsenal had Seaman a great one in his prime. Lehmann without further comment on his ability turns 35 this year, clearly not the face of the future. Don?t know about Almunia, seems to have been on the bench for half his career. Stuart Taylor is now third choice, unfairly in my opinion, since he has been no worse, if no better than Lehmann is, when called upon. Wenger has said publicly he can?t ?rely medically? upon him, hardly a vote of confidence. Stack is on loan at Milwall, his future is probably clouded at the moment. All solid goalkeepers, especially with our kinda defense, but not top tier, which I think Green is
Manchester United has reportedly joined the chase, with Tim Howler- I mean Tim Howard?s - precipitous dip in form. Maybe Green?s agent is trying to drum up interest, but I?ll be highly disappointed if we don?t get him.
17 Responses to “Wenger going Green?”
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September 19th, 2004 at 9:59 am
Green is good but heard these “rumors” as you put it the season before last and nothing came out of it. He was once said to be David Seaman replacement so who knows.
September 19th, 2004 at 10:07 am
A couple of weeks ago I heard Norwich fans on the radio saying they were resigned to losing Green to Arsenal. I thought, What? And, despite the persistence of the rumours, I still think it’s unlikely. I agree he looks promising, and that we’re obviously on the look-out for a young first-choice keeper, but we don’t often sign English premiership players - they tend to be overpriced, and there’s a lot of hype at the moment about Green.
September 19th, 2004 at 10:52 am
1. English players are not overpriced as you put it. It’s a matter of the other club cashing in as much money as possible. The same thing happens in other European countries. As things stand at the moment if Norwich and his agent knows there are 2 parties interested in their client they have to up the asking price. That is life.
2. There are no hype about Green. For the fact that he is playing well and one reason Norwich came up if you watch Div. one people are talking about him. We can say the same thing about Fabregas. The kid is/was playing soo well everyone is talking about him. That is not hype.
Ok let me get ready for the other game “come on chelsea” since N’castle recorded their first away win in 16.
September 19th, 2004 at 1:12 pm
Off to watch Cbbc. Damn and what was the deal with the minute Silence. As much as I hate the whole idea of a minute silence after 3 weeks spurs fans really prove why they are known as the Scams of the Earth.
And this message is for Le Boss “Wenger”, Please all that I need for X’mas is a good English defender named L. King. With 10M buy King and give Cygan to them. Hey I know some people wont agree with me but any good player will love to play for Arsenal knowing Spurs going no where.
September 19th, 2004 at 1:45 pm
Men, i haven’t really seen this green guy apart from the game against arsenal, i hope to see a lot of him soon. But gash what is Cyan doing in our defence, he kind of now shows Toures’ vulnerablities cos toure does a lot of work he is not used to when campbell was there. we really need a quality defender from any premiership team apart from the champion league teams , i know there is one. As par lehmann , i have never been his fan and i can’t wait for the day he would leave arsenal or we get another number 1
September 19th, 2004 at 2:03 pm
Cech looked brilliant against Spurs - a fantastic save - and Robinson was OK. Both sides played better than we did in the last couple of games, unfortunately. Looks like it’s not just that the CL that’s going to test us; it’s the premiership too, so we’d better get our act together pretty smartish. Makes me think we really need to invest in new defensive players in January, including, I’m beginning to think, a new keeper. I don’t usually bash Lehmann - I actually like him - but watching Cech made me realise that the top European teams don’t make do with a cut-price, stop-gap keeper, which unfortunately is what Lehmann is. He virtually came on a free. Yes, he’s athletic and occasionally brilliant; but he can equally often be a total liability, and he’s not young, not likely to improve a great deal. I wish we could buy Casillas. Surely, surely, given Real’s poor transfers and performances of late, we could tempt him to come? What would he cost compared to Green? Why not go for the best we can buy? Seems to me economising on the keeper, which is what we’ve been doing since Seaman retired, doesn’t make sense.
September 19th, 2004 at 2:23 pm
OK, to think we can poach Real’s keeper in revenge for Vieira is unrealistic. But I still think we’re going to be punished for having economised on defenders for far too long.
September 19th, 2004 at 2:52 pm
Now you WANT a Spurs player?
They can keep Ledley King. Whats he ever done?
September 19th, 2004 at 2:59 pm
Once again… I think the majority of you folks have lost your marbles due to a 2-2 draw against a good Bolton team!!!!
We have not lost a match yet this season. We are TOP of the league. Lehman is fine. Did I miss something yesterday? or do people think he was responsible for a goal? What the hell has Lehman done wrong?
Cygan is NOT Sol Campbell. Sol Campbell is Sol Campbell. Cygan has played admirably in the absence of Sol. We are UNDEFEATED and top of the league as usual. But folks need to bash players and look for problem where there aren’t any. What gives????? Why does this happen all the time? I just don’t get it.
Let’s spend a bunch of cash on a top notch defender who can sit on the bench and watch Sol and Toure in the middle. ???? Does that make sense? What player would want to come here for that??
Lehmann didn’t lose a League match ALL year last season… and hasn’t this year. Let’s replace him now too?
Do you folks read what you write sometimes? Why is there a need for change in an undefeated team?
Did you really think we would win 3-0 and 4-1 the whole season thru?? Are teams supposed to roll over against us? Get real. There is NOTHING wrong with our team.
Should Chelsea go out and start buying more strikers? Shit! They didn’t score against Villa and the Totts!!!!! LETS PANIC!!!!!!
September 19th, 2004 at 3:35 pm
What I was trying to say is that the only time Wenger has spent heavily on a much-admired young English player - Jeffers - it didn’t work out. His best buys have been the opposite: players who were underachieving at their clubs because they were playing in the wrong position, not getting on with the manager, etc. Henry, Vieira, Edu and, hopefully, van Persie being obvious examples. Hard to imagine Wenger didn’t look at Green last season, when he would have been cheaper than now, just as he must have looked at the bargain price Robinson. For some reason he thought Almunia better value. That’s why I think Green is unlikely, though I agree he looks good.
September 19th, 2004 at 3:47 pm
Yes, we read what we write! I may have lost my marbles but seems to me we’re conceding a lot of goals - Chelsea have only let in one so far - and, unless Senderos is readier than we think he is, we’re dangerously short of cover. No, the additional defenders don’t come to sit on the bench. They play, but not in every single game in the season. I thought most us were agreed that fatigue is a real issue: we have to rotate, though at the moment that’s impossible (unless we’re prepared to sacrifice the league as well as the FA cup to the CL). We have a smaller squad than the most dangerous teams in Europe and I’m afraid it may cost us this season, just as last season it cost us the cup and the CL.
September 19th, 2004 at 4:19 pm
Smaller squad? We simply can’t find enough room to play our midfielders and strikers. On defense, especially in the middle… you aren’t running the length of the pitch all game. I would say Central Defense should have the least amount of fatigue of any player, other than goalie.
Cygan CAN rotate with Sol and Toure… or at least play in a few matches in the league and FA Cup. Why not… they haven’t lost with him in there yet. He is good cover. Thats what we need him for…
We don’t need anyone else unless there is a major injury. Hoyte can play for Lauren IF NEEDED… or have Kolo slide over. Cygan can play for Sol or Kolo. Clichy can play for Ash. That’ll do it.
We aren’t bringing in any cup-tied defenders. Wouldn’t make much sense.
September 19th, 2004 at 5:01 pm
I agree with Stag on this one. Though I do feel we need improvement or a little bit more of depth on our defence, I don’t have any problem with our goalkeeping position though.
I really love the way Lehmann came out and attack the ball. You don’t see too many keeper has the gut to come out and catch the cross, and seldom dropped it too. That require a much bigger goalkeeping skills than just pulling off a diving save for the camera. Of course, inevitably sometimes he would mistime the catch a bit, but every keeper does that anyway. But in general, Lehmann is much better dealing the crosses than many other keepers in the EPL. I don’t think ppl should blame Lehmann for the first goal conceded from a corner, where was the marking at the first place??
And we have Taylor as our back up keeper. He never disappointed me whenever he played, at least much better and reliable than a previously much hyped Richard Wright. The media loves to hype up the young keepers, but don’t get fooled into it. As far as i’m concerned, Robert Green is just being hyped up the way like Richard Wright and Paul Robinson did by the media. I’m not saying he’s a bad keeper, but he’s not yet the finished article. Just look at Tim Howard, he was being made of a much better keeper than he really was by the media last season. And look at how he’s doing right now… And I don’t think Green’s much better than Taylor neither. When we have Taylor, why we need another young keeper?
September 19th, 2004 at 7:56 pm
Amen.
Taylor & Stack. Why do we need more?
September 19th, 2004 at 7:58 pm
After watching both the Norwich/Villa, Chelsea/Totts matches, this weekend in the premiere league, at least in those matches, was certainly one for the keeper. Robinson had to be soley responsible for Spurs coming away with a point. And Green was certainly MOTM for me. Break it down another way, and a newly promoted side and a perhaps newly nourished Spurs side are hanging with the big boys early on because of their keepers.
As for Lehmann, I’ve only had one concern: his temper. He gets rattled. The more pressure put on him from a tired back line, or from an entire squad on set pieces, the more he seems nervey. No one doubts his ability, or his record with us. But there will again come a time where it will come down to one game, one moment, one crucial tick of the clock. How will he react?
I guess you pay yer money, and take yer chances.
September 20th, 2004 at 4:57 am
Although I do agree that nothing is wrong per se with the players in question (ie Cygan and Lehmann, likely the two most criticised gunners), I think it is a bit naive to suggest that we shouldn’t try to buy players that could potentially do a better job. Obviously you are correct in saying that we have on the whole played well defensively but it is the *potential* for mistakes that is the problem - not our past results. It seems in a fair percentage of games that Lehmann and Cygan have been lucky not to concede goals due to bad errors in judgement and this is something that I would think has to be addressed. We have the talent and management necessary to beat anyone and maintain our unbeaten streak (as well as win the champions league) but fortune will not always favour these types of individual mistakes. Why not minimize the risk?
September 20th, 2004 at 1:40 pm
Quoting from the article:
“The Arsenal manager is now ready to turn to Green and has begun the groundwork for a deal by agreeing to let Highbury prospect David Bentley move to Carrow Road on loan.”
If this was in fact part of a pre-meditated strike by Arsene, then, damn, he’s too much for the rest of this league. A loan of DBII, who wasn’t going to play much anyway, for the inside track on the keeper you’ve been eyeing? Brilliant.