Match Reaction: Arsenal 3-2 Southampton

[Özim]

Cech was on the slide when we signed him. He was and is still to a degree on occasions a decent keeper, but he was definitely on the way down.

Lehmann wasn't ever a top class keeper.

My point is that we never ever go for the best realistic option, there is always an element of opportunism or making do with a budget version.

Yeah I totally agree, that's the issue, we look at price first rather than quality first, just look at some the keepers we've signed over the years, Almunia, Shaaban, Warmuz, Fabianski, Poom (when he was past it), Mannone, Cech, Ospina, Wright, Lehmann.

The reality is we haven't signed one top top class keeper and all of them were relatively cheap (Wright was highly rated when we signed him but that didn't work out), compare that to other top clubs and it's very different, a top keeper plays for years at the top level, we seem to prefer to pay less and chop and change.

The guys we're being linked with now are the same, cheaper options who aren't proven, so far that's not worked out well, you either haveot be very lucky to find a top keeper who isn't top class already, or have a brilliant scouting team like Atletico who seem to find top players that aren't that well known all the time.