People love to make up reasons why Given isn't really that good, he doesn't come out, so what, a keeper doesn't have to come out, he has to keep the ball out of the net.
Some keepers are better at coming out and claiming a ball, others are better at stopping the shot, Given is the best actual shot stopper in the league, if he's less good at collecting crosses and better at shot stopping, why should he rely on the weaker part of his game?
So Almunia comes out, misses the ball, someone gets a shot, no one in goal to save, Given doesn't come out, someone gets a shot Given saves the shot, no goal.
Not wanting to come out for crosses is NOT a weakness, its ONE aspect of goalkeeping, Given is an incredibly good goalkeeper and the only thing that matters is keeping the ball out of the net, not how you keep the ball out of the net, by and large Almunia doesn't keep the ball out of the net, and people have short memories, Alumnia was poor against Liverpool, didn't save a shot into the near post which should have been covered and did a pretty good impression of Flappyhandski at several corners throughout the game.
Since then we've played Blackpool, Blackburn, Braga, Bolton, Sunderland. SO Almunia has looked good, against 4 awful teams playing badly, conceded a not great late goal against Sunderland and didn't at any stage throughout look strong or "collect" the ball as crosses pinged in to Jones/Bent. Hardly a glowing resume for the season so far.
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....seems to have made a difference in the first few games of the season for him
