Almunia was a good keeper for a bad team, but a bad keeper for a good team.

When it comes to being a keeper for a good team, a lot of it is mental concentration. There a times where you’re doing nothing for ages, so you need to stay mentally switched on at all times so that when you are suddenly called upon to do something, you make the right choice. Almunia was capable of making the type of saves we expect from a good Arsenal keeper, but the major problem with him was when he wasn’t doing anything.

This is why Almunia struggled at Arsenal. After standing in goal for 10 minutes with the ball nowhere near him, when a pass was clipped over the top that anyone could see he should leave to the defenders, he comes flying out of goal because he is desperate to do something.

Same with Ben Foster at Man U. Playing for Birmingham he looked superb. After Man U when he went to Watford, he looked great (aside from his final season when he was past it). But at Man U he didn’t have the concentration levels to get through the vast periods of the game when he wasn’t doing anything, so he would make poor decisions when he was called upon.

Almunia looked good for Watford when he was required to do something every couple of minutes.

This is one of the reasons that keepers like Seaman were so good. Massive concentration levels for the whole game, knowing that they might only been required to actually make a decision once of twice but being able to consistently make the right one.