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Mannone impressing in goal in Szczesny’s absence
By Tom Humphrey
Vito Mannone has barely had a sniff of first team action since he joined Arsenal in 2005 from Italian club Atalanta. The following season he was sent out on loan to Championship side Barnsley on a 3 month deal. A couple of costly errors and eventually a knee injury that cut his loan spell short meant that the Italian’s time at the club was not a happy one.
It took until May 2009, in the final game of the 2008/09 season for Mannone to get his competitive debut at the club. This was mainly because in previous seasons he had competition from Jens Lehmann, Manuel Almunia and later on, Lukasz Fabianski. He conceded one in a 4-1 win over Stoke, but the following season saw Mannone get his chance.
Mannone got his chance in September 2009 because of injuries to Almunia and Fabianski. He started the Champions League group stage match against Standard Liege that month, getting off to a poor start, with Mannone being beaten at the near post and the penalty spot in the opening minutes of the match. Arsenal recovered to win the game 3-2, but it wasn’t the ideal game for the goalkeeper.
He then kept a clean sheet in a 4-0 win over Wigan a few days later before he went on to put in a man of the match display against Fulham at Craven Cottage, almost single handedly kept Arsenal’s 1-0 lead due to a string of impressive saves. Mannone then started against Olympiakos in the Champions League, keeping another clean sheet in a 2-0 win. He was given another start the following month, this time ahead of a healthy Manuel Almunia, in a 3-1 win over Birmingham. He made a mistake that lead to Birmingham’s goal in the game, flapping at a cross and gifting Lee Bowyer a goal out of nothing. Later that season he signed a new contract at the club and stated his ambition to be number 1 at Arsenal in the future.
The following season saw him sent to Hull City on a loan deal. Again he made some mistakes but also put in some impressive displays at the club. So much so that he returned to Hull half way through the 2011/12 campaign and would have probably signed a permanent deal with them this summer had they not changed managers. Mannone also made an appearance for Arsenal in 2011/12 in a Champions League game against Olympiakos. He came on when Fabianski picked up an injury and his blunder lead to the Greek side scoring their second goal in a 3-1 win.
Mannone didn’t look fantastic in the club’s Asia Tour, but I found it interesting that he was being given playing time. I was expecting him to be one of the names in the travelling party that didn’t even get a game. I saw his age in pre-season and saw that he is 24. I realised that he isn’t a kid anymore. If he’s going to make it, it’s got to be soon. Either that or he will simply be a backup all his career. I couldn’t see him getting his chance with Szczesny in our goal though and Fabianski also ahead of him.
In August 2012, ahead of a game between Stoke and Arsenal, both Fabianski and Szczesny were injured. This left Mannone as Arsenal’s goalkeeper for the game. He kept a clean sheet and handled whatever came his way. Mannone kept his place in the team the following week, this time at Anfield against Liverpool. Mannone again impressed when called upon. He is worrying when crosses come to him still, he spills them, which is a problem of course. But I was extremely worried when I saw him coming up against Stoke and also Liverpool, but to his credit, he has done well.
I have said in the past that Szczesny will struggle to keep up his impressive form that we have seen the last couple of seasons at the club. This is because Almunia (now at Watford), Mannone and Fabianski hadn’t shown me anything (Mannone’s case since 2009) that told me they could challenge for the number 1 jersey and keep the Pole on his toes. Hopefully Mannone can push on from here and make it difficult for Szczesny. I think Szczesny walks back into the team when he is fit again, but Mannone could get the no.2 spot now and push on. 24 is young for a goalkeeper, but he has been here for 7 years now and you’d like to believe he’d be ready to push for the no.1 jersey. The loan spells and experience in the Championship with Barnsley and Hull has helped him. If he never makes it at Arsenal, he will definitely make it as a Championship goalkeeper in the future at the very least.