Jens Lehmann doesn’t know when to stop talking, so perhaps we should take his comments with a pinch of salt. In a way, it’s refreshing to hear a footballer shoot from the hip, when so many players say relatively nothing when being interviewed. The former Arsenal keeper’s latest gem concerns Liverpool striker Fernando Torres, who had the audacity to nick the ball past Lehmann to win Euro 2008 for Spain, something a certain Barcelona striker used to do all the time at Highbury and the Emirates.

The Daily Mail reports that the shot-stopper is not content with laying into Sunday night’s referee for being so biased as to let lucky Spain beat their superior opponents (!), he’s also quick to belittle the Reds striker, whom he claims has got a long way to go before he can reach Thierry Henry’s level.

But when asked about Torres’s quality, Lehmann said: “Well, he scored and that’s what you have to do as a striker but you’re asking someone who played together for years with Thierry Henry and he was a God, performance-wise, when he was in England.

“So when you take him and compare him to other strikers, there’s a difference and Torres is definitely still not at Thierry’s level.”

While the Frenchman was one of the greatest players to ever grace the Premier League, surely Torres is virtually on a par with Henry right now? Pace-wise, there is little to seperate them, while it’s hard to imagine that Thierry would have done any better than the Liverpool striker during his first season at Anfield. Is Lehmann talking codswallop or is he on to something here?

You have to hand it to Jens Lehmann, he does come out with some belting comments. My favourite of last season [Read the rest of this entry »]

There can be very few Gooners who thought that [Read the rest of this entry »]

Some of you may have noticed that Germany were held to a 2-2 draw against Belarus on Tuesday, despite dashing into a two-goal lead by half-time. It hardly bodes well for their chances of winning Euro 2008, although everybody’s favourite keeper Jens Lehmann claims that his error-ridden performance for Joachim Low’s team was down to the new ball that will be used for Euro 2008. Makes a change from blaming Manuel Almunia all the time.

Sporting Life reports that the Arsenal keeper continues to speak out against the many injustices which are clearly stopping him being the greatest shot-stopper the world has ever seen.

He told Kicker magazine: “The ball is very difficult for me. I only trained with it for the first time a week ago. It is once again different to the ones before it.

“I had a situation in the first half (against Belarus) where I wanted to hold on to the ball – and then it started to move around.

“I hope in the coming days, when also my freshness will come back, that I then have a bit of time for a lot of shot training in order to get more familiar with the ball.”

How can the ball be that different to the ones used previously? It’s round, the same size and surely roughly the same weight? It might be perfectly plausible to cite a lack of first team action as a justification for a rusty performance but not a match ball. Arsenal fans will be all-too aware of Jens trying to hold on to the ball and seeing it move around!

Jens Lehmann has certainly been a colourful character during his five years in England. Above anything else, he’s been a fantastic goalkeeper for Arsenal, and it’s only this season where he’s fallen out of favour with Arsene Wenger. The German has also been involved in a fair few altercations with opposition team players who have dared to invade his private space, the most notable being Didier Drogba last season where the pair indulged in a top class game of handbags.

The official Arsenal website reports that Lehmann isn’t bitted and twisted at being left on the sidelines this season and actually got quite emotional on Sunday after his final match at the Emirates. Bless his cotton socks…

“I had one or two tears in my eyes,” he said afterwards. “It was a great farewell for me. This farewell will always stay in my heart.

“The boss told me before that he planned to get me on. It was a very warm welcome on the pitch and I was very fortunate because the team didn’t let me down before, just in case it had been 3-0 or 2-0 for Everton, it would have been a different reception.”

“It was the right decision from the start to the end, to come here,” he said. “Not only in terms of football but as well for my family. My children now are talking, are speaking better English than German, and they don’t want to go back.

“My wife and myself, we learnt the language quite well and we learnt about another way of life. A very respectful, very kind way and that’s a little bit different to Germany. There are a lot of similarities between English and German people but there are some differences as well.

“As for the football I was part of a team which was playing probably the most attractive game. It was really good.

“In the first two years we won something, unfortunately in the third year we were very close to winning the Champions League, but failed in the end.

“My biggest memory was probably the Real Madrid game at home, when we played 0-0. Then of course the FA Cup Final and then there was the game we became champions at Tottenham.

“I was together with Sol Campbell we were the only players who felt disappointed in the dressing-room because we didn’t know we were champions by this time. We had conceded a goal just at the end and it finished 2-2. That was a very, very emotional moment for me.

“But, I said before, there are more memories than only just playing, there is the reception of the supporters. The respectful kindness of the supporters.”

It’s probably fair to say that Lehmann and Manuel Almunia won’t be staying in touch after this season has finished. The latter recently went on record as stating that his predecessor ‘hates’ him, something which Jens immediately denied.

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Well, according to him anyway, although Manuel Almunia may beg to differ. After all, there’s no reason why Arsenal’s Spanish keeper would make up a lie about Lehmann’s hostility towards him, especially as he’s Arsene Wenger’s number one pick these days.

Nevertheless, The Guardian reports that the German cat has denied that he hates anyone, apart from Chris Moyles and Sharon Osbourne (understandable in both cases, COS thinks). The big cuddly bear that is Jens reveals he had a little chuckle when he read Manuel’s comments.

“I do not hate anybody in the world,” said Lehmann. “I saw Almunia’s comments and they made me laugh more than anything else. I was just disappointed that I could not have prevented the defeat at Manchester United.”

Yes, it must be really funny sitting down at the breakfast table, tucking into some cold meats and cheese only to read that your team-mate suspects you hate them. Here at COS, we’re disappointed that Lehmann is leaving England in the summer as he’s provided us with plenty of entertainment. However, it’s safe to say that these sentiments won’t be shared by the majority of the Arsenal squad.

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Arsenal’s mentalist maestro and sometime ‘keeper is reportedly stalling on a transfer window move to Borussia Dortmund, because he’ll have to take a 15 grand a week pay-cut. Guttersnipe press rodents The Sun claim that:

“Dortmund coach Thomas Doll was hoping to unveil Lehmann, 38, today but has not yet been able to convince the Arsenal keeper to sign.

“Now Doll wants a decision by next week after making a final £30,000-a-week offer.

“That is £15,000 less than Lehmann earns at Arsenal and he is reluctant to rush a deal with three weeks of the transfer window remaining.”

But with Germany coach Joachim Low insisting that Lehmann has to play first-team football, “the Mental One” may have to sign on for a paltry £30,000-a-week. Awww, Diddums…

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Jens Lehmann may have played his last game in an Arsenal shirt if The Guardian are to be believed. The German keeper, who has fulfilled a substitute role for the Gunners since the early part of the season, has had an offer from Bundesliga club Wolfsburg and is aware that jumping ship might be the only way to keep his place in the national side.

“I should know more in a week so that I can make a decision in the first days of the new year,” he said.

Manuel Almunia further cemented his place in the Arsenal team after saving Robbie Keane’s penalty in Saturday’s North London derby.

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It seems that Jens Lehmann rations out portions of his lunatic personality to the press on a daily basis. Today’s morsel of mentalism from the Arsenal keeper comes courtesy of The Sun, with Lehmass saying:

“It is very frustrating. If I see the performances on the pitch, I am very angry and have to make a fist in my pocket. I am a football player every day and don’t like watching if someone is playing who has not got my class. And if nothing is changing, I grow angry.”

It’s insulting enough to be playing second fiddle to a Spaniard with a ropey moustache and a distinct lack of ‘class’, but even the coaches won’t put the German back in the side. Lehmann continued:

“I had a conversation with my coach last Saturday. I asked him for it because I thought I’d be playing against Chelsea. My coach confirmed my impression that he judges Almunia by different standards. It was a very short conversation. He said we will analyse the situation by the end of December again. This now forces me to rethink my situation. I could be playing elsewhere in January.”

Arsene Wenger is a man who demands precision and total control. He has the temperature on the Arsenal team bus set to perfect levels for oxygen intake into the blood; he even has his training pitch measured to exactly the same dimensions as the Emirates pitch. So why is he still letting this loopy German hang around like a bad smell?

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