It’s never fun laying in to one of our players but Saturday’s performance by Manuel Almunia had the look of ‘final straw’ after seasons of mediocrity punctuated by howlers. Some might say that that’s a good summary of most goalkeepers’ careers as their mistakes often have more serious consequences. But really this was the latest of a number of slip-ups and reflects the general sense of “accident-waiting-to-happen” that pervades his game.

In fact, the equalising goal on Saturday wasn’t really a true goalkeeping nightmare like the one Fabianski endured in Porto. Instead it looked more like rank bad technique and ability - why was Almunia hopping slightly forward when the ball was deflected giving him even less time to react? And it wasn’t his only mistake – he was flailing around chasing the ball when Birmingham’s set piece hit the post earlier in the second half too.

The truth is we have a goalkeeper who, if the Premiership’s keepers were placed in a league table of their own, would expect to be fighting relegation. For what it’s worth I’d rank the top flight keepers like this:

Top class
Man U – Van Der Sar
Chelsea - Cech
City - Given
Liverpool – Reina

European contenders
Fulham - Schwarzer
Villa - Friedel
Birmingham - Hart
Bolton – Jaaskelainen
Everton - Howard
Wigan - Kirkland
Blackburn - Robinson

Looking over their shoulders
Portsmouth - James
Stoke - Sorensen
Arsenal - Almunia
Spurs - Gomez
Sunderland - Gordon
West Ham - Green

Dodgy
Wolves - Hahnemann
Hull - Myhill
Burnley – Jensen

(In fairness to Hahnemann and Myhill, they are at a disadvantage considering how often they are called upon compared to Almunia – I don’t think either would do worse if they were playing for us.)

This is all completely subjective, of course, but I don’t think neutral judges would compile a list too far off this one. Regardless, the point is this – Almunia is out of his depth. I feel sorry for him as he seems a genuine guy who, in his heart of hearts, would probably admit he’s not good enough for this level but keeps putting in an honest shift. But that doesn’t help the rest of the team who see their hard work thrown away and doesn’t make it any easier to retain the services of our best players. The likes of Cesc and Arshavin want to play with people as good as them, if not better, not someone palpably a level below them.

The really worrying question is whether you’d ever back Wenger to pick the right man to replace Almunia. To end on a nostalgic if not unrelated note, I never really understood why we let Stuart Taylor go. He never hit the heights away from Arsenal but would our current Number 1 do any better now?