Lehmann Questions Official Arsenal Hype

Lehmann issues threat to Wenger

Lehmann is not happy at playing second fiddle to Almunia
Arsenal keeper Jens Lehmann has warned he may publicly air his grievances with Arsene Wenger if he does not play soon.

Lehmann's errors and injuries at the start of the season gave Manuel Almunia his chance and he is now first-choice ahead of the fit-again German stopper.

The 37-year-old told German TV channel Premiere: "I think - and this is aimed at my dear manager - one shouldn't humiliate players for too long.

"It's possible that some day I'll feel like talking about the whole issue."

Lehmann's comments came after he was left out of the Arsenal squad against Bolton last Saturday - a game he expected to play in after impressing for Germany earlier this month.

But Wenger, who dropped Lehmann after he gifted Blackburn an equaliser in the 1-1 draw on 19 August, stuck with Almunia and put young keeper Lukasz Fabianski on the bench.

Almunia was once again in goal for Wednesday's 7-0 win over Slavia Prague, although Lehmann did return to the bench.

"At the moment I'm just swallowing it all as part of the humiliation. That's something one has to take in, " Lehmann said.

"But I'm an Arsenal player and I won't just fade away quietly."

Wenger was asked about Lehmann's outburst following his side's demolition of Slavia.

"I don't want to humiliate anybody," said the Gunners boss. "We have three world-class goalkeepers and we can only play one."

But Lehmann is bemused by Wenger's assertion that he has three "world-class" goalkeepers to pick from.

"One of them must be me," he suggested. "The other two have proved their class by winning titles? If I think about that, I can't recall any. I guess today you're nevertheless world-class."

Lehmann won the Uefa Cup in 1997 with Schalke 04, the Bundesliga title in 2002 with Borussia Dortmund and the Premier League with Arsenal in 2004.

And he made it clear he feels he should still be the number one at the Emirates Stadium.

"I'm convinced that I'll be playing again. Almunia has not yet showed that he can win matches for us," Lehmann added.

"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."

Rabbit wrote:http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/arsenal/7058711.stm

Lehmann issues threat to Wenger

Lehmann is not happy at playing second fiddle to Almunia
Arsenal keeper Jens Lehmann has warned he may publicly air his grievances with Arsene Wenger if he does not play soon.

Lehmann's errors and injuries at the start of the season gave Manuel Almunia his chance and he is now first-choice ahead of the fit-again German stopper.

The 37-year-old told German TV channel Premiere: "I think - and this is aimed at my dear manager - one shouldn't humiliate players for too long.

"It's possible that some day I'll feel like talking about the whole issue."

Lehmann's comments came after he was left out of the Arsenal squad against Bolton last Saturday - a game he expected to play in after impressing for Germany earlier this month.

But Wenger, who dropped Lehmann after he gifted Blackburn an equaliser in the 1-1 draw on 19 August, stuck with Almunia and put young keeper Lukasz Fabianski on the bench.

Almunia was once again in goal for Wednesday's 7-0 win over Slavia Prague, although Lehmann did return to the bench.

"At the moment I'm just swallowing it all as part of the humiliation. That's something one has to take in, " Lehmann said.

"But I'm an Arsenal player and I won't just fade away quietly."

Wenger was asked about Lehmann's outburst following his side's demolition of Slavia.

"I don't want to humiliate anybody," said the Gunners boss. "We have three world-class goalkeepers and we can only play one."

But Lehmann is bemused by Wenger's assertion that he has three "world-class" goalkeepers to pick from.

"One of them must be me," he suggested. "The other two have proved their class by winning titles? If I think about that, I can't recall any. I guess today you're nevertheless world-class."

Lehmann won the Uefa Cup in 1997 with Schalke 04, the Bundesliga title in 2002 with Borussia Dortmund and the Premier League with Arsenal in 2004.

And he made it clear he feels he should still be the number one at the Emirates Stadium.

"I'm convinced that I'll be playing again. Almunia has not yet showed that he can win matches for us," Lehmann added.

"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."

All we hear from Arsenal is 'world class' this and 'world class' that, but one man at the club has got his head screwed on properly. Well done Jens...

jonathan de guzman wrote:As Public Enemy said, Don't Believe the hype.

Before the season started the hype was; Arsenal are doomed without Henry. Thought that was ridiculous as I've written countless times on this board (I'll win all bets I made on Arsenal).

Suddenly after a string of wins, everybody jumps on the Arsenal bandwagon & starts overrating the achievements of this season (beating Slavia 7-0, says f@ck all about the matches v Pool & the Mancs). It's only October, we hardly played top opposition yet. Imo the Mancs are still favs to win the EPL & don't think we're favs to win the CL either. Think we have a decent chance in both competitions, but that's it.

I expect a lot in the future from our selection, but this season I don't expect any silverware.

Sheffield gunner wrote:Fair points. We played very well last night but it won't make much of a difference to our chances of beating Liverpool and Man Utd. As always, people go over the top both in terms of the positives and negatives. Wenger has already commented on this so hopefully the players won't get carried away.

Lehmann is correct to say we don't have three world class goalkeepers, we don't have any at the moment.

Johninho wrote:So, the upshot is that lemon was a good keeper, lost his place, knows he won't win it back, so complains to the public in general and can leave, saying wenger humiliated him, that's why he left, when arsenal fans know the real reason is, as was so aptly put «he's past his sell by date».

jonathan de guzman wrote:As Public Enemy said, Don't Believe the hype.

Before the season started the hype was; Arsenal are doomed without Henry. Thought that was ridiculous as I've written countless times on this board (I'll win all bets I made on Arsenal).

Suddenly after a string of wins, everybody jumps on the Arsenal bandwagon & starts overrating the achievements of this season (beating Slavia 7-0, says f@ck all about the matches v Pool & the Mancs). It's only October, we hardly played top opposition yet.

Imo the Mancs are still favs to win the EPL & don't think we're favs to win the CL either. Think we have a decent chance in both competitions, but that's it.

I expect a lot in the future from our selection, but this season I don't expect any silverware.

Rabbit wrote:

jonathan de guzman wrote:As Public Enemy said, Don't Believe the hype.

Before the season started the hype was; Arsenal are doomed without Henry. Thought that was ridiculous as I've written countless times on this board (I'll win all bets I made on Arsenal).

It was ridiculous. Even I conceded that selling Henry was a good move and that he was holding the team back.

Suddenly after a string of wins, everybody jumps on the Arsenal bandwagon & starts overrating the achievements of this season (beating Slavia 7-0, says f@ck all about the matches v Pool & the Mancs). It's only October, we hardly played top opposition yet.

Well, you've played Man City and Spurs, who can't defend for some strange reason.

By Christmas I might be willing to change my mind but I maintain that Arsenal will not win the league this year. I may yet lose my bet with COTR that you'll finish out of the top four. But we'll see. Sven is a better manager than Wenger.

Imo the Mancs are still favs to win the EPL & don't think we're favs to win the CL either. Think we have a decent chance in both competitions, but that's it.

The CL is a bloody lottery. A lot of strange results happen in the Champions League, so I never try to predict who'll win it.

I expect a lot in the future from our selection, but this season I don't expect any silverware.

I dunno, the FA Cup is always worth a punt. Arsenal's set up and style of play makes them a very good cup team.

Agooner wrote:I really think we deserve the hype we have been getting. People keep on saying we haven't faced any decent opposition yet, excuse me! getting results against spurs, west ham and blackburn away isn't easy. We won't get harder fixtures than that away from home apart from against the top 4. And as we learned last season, it doesn't matter that much how u do against the top 4, it's results against the other 17 teams in the league that will determine whether you'll be crowned champions or not.

I get the feeling a lot of people are still underrating us( which is a very good thing btw), it's a bit like Manu last season even after starting very well a lot of people( including me i have to admit) didn't think they'd go on and win the league.

The-Frank-Tavern wrote:in fairness they battled through against west ham who are dirty and played dirty

L r d wrote:

Agooner wrote:I really think we deserve the hype we have been getting. People keep on saying we haven't faced any decent opposition yet, excuse me! getting results against spurs, west ham and blackburn away isn't easy. We won't get harder fixtures than that away from home apart from against the top 4. And as we learned last season, it doesn't matter that much how u do against the top 4, it's results against the other 17 teams in the league that will determine whether you'll be crowned champions or not.

I get the feeling a lot of people are still underrating us( which is a very good thing btw), it's a bit like Manu last season even after starting very well a lot of people( including me i have to admit) didn't think they'd go on and win the league.

Do you think getting a draw at blackburn was a good result then? it's dropped points so i don't see that as doing well. West ham and tottenham both play open football. Arsenal struggle more against the big pyschical teams in blackburn bolton etc. So we shall see when your away to them and everton and the like

Agooner wrote:

Parks lives wrote:

The-Frank-Tavern wrote:in fairness they battled through against west ham who are dirty and played dirty

They got very lucky with the offside call.

Agooner wrote:

Parks lives wrote:

The-Frank-Tavern wrote:in fairness they battled through against west ham who are dirty and played dirty

They got very lucky with the offside call.

not as lucky as u were against liverpool and fulham away last season

Parks lives wrote:

The-Frank-Tavern wrote:in fairness they battled through against west ham who are dirty and played dirty

They got very lucky with the offside call.

Rabbit wrote:

Agooner wrote:

Sven has a proven record in several different leagues and has won European trophies. Wenger has been successful at only one club of any note and has never won a European trophy. Or back to back league titles, which I think Sven has done (though I could be wrong).

Agooner wrote:

Rabbit wrote:

Agooner wrote:

Sven has a proven record in several different leagues and has won European trophies. Wenger has been successful at only one club of any note and has never won a European trophy. Or back to back league titles, which I think Sven has done (though I could be wrong).

winning league titles in portugal and sweden means f@ck all about your competence as a manager. He has only won one european cup to my knowledge, Wenger has been to TWO european cup finals and has done consistently well in a very big league.

Agooner wrote:

Rabbit wrote:

Agooner wrote:

Sven has a proven record in several different leagues and has won European trophies. Wenger has been successful at only one club of any note and has never won a European trophy. Or back to back league titles, which I think Sven has done (though I could be wrong).

winning league titles in portugal and sweden means f@ck all about your competence as a manager. He has only won one european cup to my knowledge, Wenger has been to TWO european cup finals and has done consistently well in a very big league.

Parks lives wrote:

Agooner wrote:

Parks lives wrote:

The-Frank-Tavern wrote:in fairness they battled through against west ham who are dirty and played dirty

They got very lucky with the offside call.

not as lucky as u were against liverpool and fulham away last season

What decisions are they then?

Parks lives wrote:Lost all 3?

Parks lives wrote:Lost all 3?

Sheffield gunner wrote:

Parks lives wrote:Lost all 3?

Yep. Wenger and Arsenal both seem rather bad at European finals.

Agooner wrote:

Rabbit wrote:

Agooner wrote:

Sven has a proven record in several different leagues and has won European trophies. Wenger has been successful at only one club of any note and has never won a European trophy. Or back to back league titles, which I think Sven has done (though I could be wrong).

winning league titles in portugal and sweden means f@ck all about your competence as a manager.

He has only won one european cup to my knowledge, Wenger has been to TWO european cup finals and has done consistently well in a very big league.