Jens Lehmann is most upset by Arsene Wenger's decision to stick with Manuel Almunia in goal, going so far as to say, "Wenger spoke of three world class goalkeepers. One of them must be me. The other two have proved their class by winning titles? If I think about that, I can't recall any. I'm convinced that I'll be playing again. Almunia has not yet showed that he can win matches for us. I've experienced this situation before and know what the others are expecting from the goalkeeper. I can't imagine he'll be able to handle that."
Same old Jens. Dismissive of his rivals, arrogant to the last.
But in this case, he's right.
Wenger is far too smart to think Almunia is ready to take Arsenal to places like Old Trafford, Anfield, Stamford Bridge, and even second-tier aways like St James' Park and Goodison. He knows Arsenal have had an easy run of games, mostly at home and all but one in London, to open the season. Almunia has proven adequate for that task, but if Arsenal are to challenge Manchester United for the league - and nobody else looks likely to do it - they're going to need Lehmann's preening arrogance to do it. His "poor early form" was really just two errors in two games. He's played well for Germany since then. And I can't believe I just wrote a post supporting him.
0 comments:
Post a Comment