Almunia is a tail-end goalkeeper

If Manuel Almunia played cricket, he’d be a hopeless batsman.

The secret of top-class batting, we’re told, is concentration. If you play a bad shot, forget it. If the ball beats your bat, move on. Clear your head, and play the next ball.

Almunia couldn’t do that. He hasn’t the mentality. When’s he’s confident, he’s fine; when he makes a mistake, another mistake becomes far more likely. For one error, the team is punished twice, or more.

A mistake confuses Almunia, and the confusion is clear. He’ll come for crosses when he should stay, or vice versa; he’ll charge after through balls, sliding into his defenders’ territory, taking balls that should be theirs.

In short, Almunia’s like a tail-end slogger. If one ball beats him, he charges for the next one, and ends up stumped, stranded, five yards from safety.

It’s no way to run a back five. The goalkeeper, remember, should be the team’s best defender: after all, he’s the one who can use his hands. Any cross that arrives between the goal-line and the penalty spot should be the keeper’s, caught a yard above the striker’s leap.

For Arsenal, taking crosses is essential, because teams don’t often play through them. But Alumnia isn’t Arsenal’s best defender. In fact, he’s the worst.

Arsenal don’t have a back five: they have a back four, with the Spaniard left, like a liability, to his own devices.

Remember Liverpool? Despite what Arsene Wenger said, Almunia’s mistake almost cost Arsenal the title race. Without Glen Johnson, it would have.

Last season, Almunia looked like he’d changed. He played well in most games, and, without him, Arsenal would have lost 3-0 at Old Trafford in the Champions’ League.

But, after last season’s smooth ride, this year’s been downhill. Every mistake accelerates the end of his Arsenal career.

Consider this: Arsenal, on paper, have a better defence than last year. Thomas Vermaelen is better than Kolo Toure; a 4-5-1, with Alex Song in form, is more secure than 4-4-2.

Yet Arsenal have conceded 23 league goals in 21 games: worse than Chelsea, Aston Villa, Birmingham, Tottenham, and an off-form, off-key Manchester United.

That’s no better than last year, when they’d also conceded 23 goals after 21 games. So while the back four’s got better, and the formation’s more secure, the defensive record is the same. That means Almunia's got worse.

In his third Arsenal game, away at Manchester United in the Carling Cup, Almunia conceded a soft goal in the first minute from David Bellion. Have Arsenal’s players, manager, or fans got more faith now? Not much.

Since Almunia’s been first choice, Arsenal have won nothing. Of course, he’s not the only reason. But if Arsenal are to stay in this season’s title race, Almunia can’t afford another mistake.

We live in hope, not expectation.