Personally I think Almunia should replace Lehman for at least two games because:
1. In the Amserdam Tournament he kept things very simple.
2. He has a cool head
3. He kept Albecete in the league
3. Conceded fewer goals than most teams including Real Madrid
I think Lehman has made one too many errors that have cost us dearly especially in the Champions League. He reminds me a bit of Barthez, you will never know what Lehman is going to show up on the pitch. At times it seems like your going to have a heart attack when a ball come surging towards Lehman becuase at times you worry whether his going to fumble. I just think that with Almunia, it will be like a fresh start and that as a goal keeper you need to keep a low profile so that people don’t expect to much.
But maybe thats just my opinion, what do you say and one more thing although he has conceded fewer goals, I think it is partly due to the fanastic defensive unit in Lauren, Cole, Kolo and Sol.
43 Responses to “HANDS UP WHO THINKS THAT LEHMAN SHOULD BE REPLACED BY ALMUNIA?”
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August 26th, 2004 at 2:16 pm
So we had the best defensive record last season…
We have gone 43 games unbeaten…
Lehman made two outstanding saves against Blackburn….
and you want to change the keeper?!
August 26th, 2004 at 2:18 pm
The thing about Lehmann is : when he made mistakes, because he’s playing for Arsenal, with all the spotlight on, it became a high profile errors. But the things he did right, and the number of times he saved us, nobody is going to mention.
Same applies on Seaman. Before he retired, everyone was so keen to point out his “blunders”, failed to mention big Dave had been one of our (and England’s) most consistent performancers over a decade. I always thought one day ppl are going to miss him when he no longer around…
I mention before, Lehmann is crucial to the way we play. Some ppl do not like the way he tends to rush out of the penalty box too easily. But look at the way we play, the most likely way our oppositions are going to play against us is to pack their defence and try to hit us with the break. As our full backs often commit themselves to high up up the field, it left our defence exposed to some quick counter attacks. Lehmann’s playing style is like a “goalkeeper cum sweeper”, time and time again he swept the ball away when the oppositions are count attacking us. Surely he had made his shares of mistakes, but the number of time he had saved us from an one-on-one situation has never been mentioned.
August 26th, 2004 at 2:29 pm
Ummmm… I RESOUNDINGLY echo the statement above…
We have gone 43 consecutive matches in the league without a defeat…
and have the best defensive record in the league last season… just posted a clean sheet against Blackburn yesterday…
and you want to change the keeper???
I just don’t get it…
why not change HENRY up front while your at it… I think he is passing too much!!!!!!!
August 26th, 2004 at 2:30 pm
LEHMAN has other assets that get little mention; he is very dominant in the box claiming the kind of high balls that most keepers avoid; the defence has complete confidence in him, the speed and quality of his distribution in kick starting new attacks is also fundamental to the way we play; he’s almost worth an extra outfield player with these attributes and the sweeper attributes mentioned above.
I would also expect him to have a much better season this year; he has now adapted to English football including learning some hard lessons and it was always going to take a tough character to follow Seaman.
August 26th, 2004 at 2:30 pm
I have also seen Lehman make some outstanding stops. Stops that I think other keepers would not have made. Also, he commands the area on crosses and corner kicks. I may be in the minority but I think he has saved far more goals that should have gone in that let in goals that should have been dealt with.
Also, name another keeper who has never lost a league match? Would we have accomplished what we have with Taylor, Shaaban or Stack? I think the key to our having the best goals against record last year was Toure`….and Lehman.
August 26th, 2004 at 2:59 pm
I haven’t seen much of Almunia but on the basis of the a couple of matches I’d go for Lehmann any day. I remember looking at some stats towards the end of last season - catches, punches, etc., i.e. his goalkeeping record, nothing to do with the defenders in front of him - which showed that, contrary to what the media were saying, his record was actually pretty good. The thing about Lehmann is he’s incredibly flamboyant. Unlike quiet keepers - Sorensen, say - who have a reputation for reliability, when Jens makes a mistake, it really hits you in the face. He’s bad for the nerves; you never feel safe. But that’s no reason to ditch him for someone less good.
August 26th, 2004 at 3:12 pm
WWWD < ---no, not nearly my prediction for the start of the season, but "What Would Wenger Do?"
While Lehmann has some outstanding qualities, and apparently fits in with Wenger’s grand design of covering for our high positioning and being a vacuum for balls in the air in the box, I think we all know that he makes these enormous, head-scratching, “mental” mistakes. They have been a problem. The question is, “are they worth it?”
No one doubts his atheltic abilities, but when the pressure is on, is he going to gaff us out of an important game? So WWWD? Wenger probably realizes that, much like the circumstances with Savage in an earlier post, to get that style of player you have to accept what comes with it. Evidently, Wenger thinks its worth it.
August 26th, 2004 at 3:32 pm
While I understand that you feel uneasy about Lehman’s clown like tendencies (my friend and I hold our breath when he waltzes out of the box) I feel that he’s should really be number one. The errors during the Champions Leauge were just one of those things that happen. The errors against Boro were due to the fact that Cygan was infront of Lehman and not Sol. The second Boro goal was entirely Cygans fault and his own miscommunication. The third Lehman rightly expecting a cross and his own mistrust of Cygans ability moved him out of position. And like most people have said he just got a clean sheet, he’s a good shot blocker and he’s the best goalie in the entire leuage when it comes to crosses and corners. Plus last year he won the Golden Glove. Nah keep him where he is.
August 26th, 2004 at 4:25 pm
Great point! come to think of it, it’s quite remarkable Lehmann still yet suffer a single defeat in the Premiership! a fact being largely neglected.
August 26th, 2004 at 4:37 pm
Everybody was talking about replacing Lehmann last season but he had 100% backing of coach Wenger and that’s good enough for me.
August 26th, 2004 at 5:18 pm
No.
— Geoff
- No.
August 26th, 2004 at 5:24 pm
Firstly it is spelt Lehmann. Secondly, yesterday night, Lehmann was outstanding yet again. His two crucial saves stopped us going one down. He has been excellent with the exception of about 4 goals last year. You find another keeper that made less than 4 mistakes. The difference is that a goalkeepers errors get highlighted. The ratio between Henry missing a one on one goal to a Lehmann error is glaring in Henry’s favour. That doesnt mean Henry is a liability or a bad player (of course not!). He scores so many goals. Just as Lehmann saves so many. Henry misses some chances, Lehmann makes the odd mistake. Its people like you who irritate me. We are unbeaten in 43 league games, enjoying the most fantastic football I have ever seen and you just want to moan. Appreciate what we have got, what we are witnessing and support every player. Lehmann is part of this success and deserves far more credit than ill-educated people like you provide.
August 26th, 2004 at 5:29 pm
first of all i did not say that Lehman should be ditch, i clearly stated that Almunia should be given at least two games. i do agree with all your comments about lehman being a good goalkeeper, he is confident with his abilities and yes he did keep a clean sheet but he has only achieved this in the premiership. i think the record of going unbeaten is FANTASTIC but it will not count for anything in the future if we don’t win the champions league and i think that was the competition that he really messed up in. ADMIT IT ALL OF YOU, when we lost against chelsea in the champions league even the players, the manager and the fans were NOT enthusiastis about the unbeaten record because it felt as though it became a sought of drop in the ocean. AND IF Lehman HAD NOT fumbled when trying to get the ball off gudjohnson in the 1st leg of the qualifiers a lot would have changed and if he did not drop the ball for chelseas goal in the 2nd leg we would have probably one. now don’t think i hate lehman, because i do love him as a goal keeper but we have to be honest with ourselves and think back to the time when we were watching champions league matches, i bet you some of you were screaming down the television at lehman.
and finally, i will say it agian lehman is a brilliant goal keeper but he does make his fumbles and like it all not ppl will always remember goal keepers for their mistakes. look at seaman during the 2002 world cup against brazil. i cried on that day becuase i am british and my goalkeeper was blamed for the brazilian goal. but the difference between lehmans mistakes and seamans mistakes was that lehman usually gambles at the wrong time and seaman usually didnt.
August 26th, 2004 at 5:34 pm
you act as though i am not an arsenal supporter, i didnt say i hated lehmann i love his attitude and his goal keeping abilities but his mistakes have cost us dearly and i think judging by the way almunia played in pre season he is a goal keeper who keeps it simple. again i did not say i hate lehmann. and at the end of the day you do not have to be educated to have an opinion because 2 thirds of the pundits did not even make it to university and i am sorry if i appect you but every one is entitled to their own opinion. and you can not compare a striker to a goal keeper because they have the opposite of abilities, positions and jobs on the fields.
August 26th, 2004 at 5:41 pm
Rubbish. Seamans mistakes in the latter part of his career were sadly down to ageing reflexes. Seaman is the greatest goalkeeper Arsenal have ever had and possibly will ever have, but I think that an error like Lehmann commits is “better” than the ones Seaman did. As Lehmann said himself, 4 of the 5 goals he made errors with were to do with kicking. Something that he said he needed to learn from and hopefully he has and eradicated from his game. They were not technical errors, just silly ones. A real technical error is Tim Howard against Porto. Lehmann doesnt make those. Your right, he gambles. But so many times the gambles pay off and occassionally they dont. Such is life. There is no point in giving Almunia 2 games. It would be a vote of no confidence to Lehmann and if he was to take time to adapt to the league here, then it would put us in a difficult position. Lehmann has helped our defence so much. They respect him and they listen to him. He talks a lot, tells them off when they are not doing things right and is a positive influence on the defence - hence last season in the league. Granted he is a nutter, but that is part of his thing. We have to accept he might get sent off once in a while (although none to date) but he certainly gives away less penalties than other keepers. And to be totally honest, at Chelsea last season I didnt shout at him - I thought of all his “errors” that one was not really one. He did what all keepers would have done - tried to get to the ball before the striker and was actually unlucky. If you were gonna pick one in particular, Dinamo Kiev would surely have been the one to pick!
August 26th, 2004 at 5:56 pm
first of all i didnt i say i love seaman, and didnt i say i cried when everybody blamed him for the ronaldinho goal. didnt i? but your making it seam as thought i said the opposite. i loved seaman infact i though seaman should have been our goalkeeper in the coming seasons even though he was ageing. and suppose Lehman gets injured during training and yes it is possible for goalkeepers to get injured. we need a solid goalkeeper and it is best Almunia gets some experience now while we face teams like Norwich, Fulham etc. the thing is if seaman never had a good cover in taylor and when he got injured taylor didn’t deliver and i just think lehmann needs that too. and lehmann would understand becuase at the end of the day he needs the same competition ljungberg and pennant have, clichy and cole have, reyes, pires, henry and berghamp have. i think he almunia gives lehmann a run for that no 1 jersey it will really improve his game a lot. AND AGAIN I LOVE LEHMANN, I DO NOOOT HATE HIM ALL I AM SAYING IS THAT ALMUNIA SHOULD GET A CHANCE TO PROVE HIMSELF. AFTER ALL WE TRUST WENGER’S PURCHASES. YOU WILL NEVER KNOW HOW GOOD A GOALKEEPER IS UNTIL HE GETS HIS CHANCE. AND HE MIGHT EVEN BE A BETTER GOALKEEPER THAN LEHMANN. and i didnt say that i was only shouting at the goal he conceded against chelsea, i toas talking about all the mistakes in the champions league. if he is not good with his feet, then he shouldnt use them. let his hands do the tlkin.
August 26th, 2004 at 6:03 pm
He does.Your just too blind to see it! Which is why he gets a rapturous reception home and away from our fans. End of debate as here in England it is late and I surprisingly have better things to do. I still fail to understand how at the moment, any true Arsenal fan still attempts to find a fault to pick up on. ENJOY THE RIDE - NO-ONE SEES FOOTBALL LIKE WE DO. WE ARE AMAZING, THE BEST TEAM IN THE WORLD AT THE MOMENT SO LETS GET BEHIND EVERY MEMBER OF THE TEAM AND ROAR THEM ON TO EVEN GREATER THINGS. And by the way, getting injured in training is far less of a confidence dampener than actually being dropped. Of course injuries happen, but dropping someone can have just a tiny different effect. Anyway, enough said, Lehmann is number one and the best thing to come out of the debate is that by the end of your last post, you had learnt how to spell his name properly. Amen.
August 26th, 2004 at 6:09 pm
i know its late too but i just have to sayt this your telling me it is fine to drp reyes, pires and other team members but it isn’t for a goalkeeper?
and anyway we are not perfect but we cant ignore our weaknesses otherwise we will never improve. we all have our weaknesses and if someone doesnt tell us we will not become better. and its not that important whether i can spell his name right or wrong, it still sounds the same!
August 26th, 2004 at 6:21 pm
They were not dropped. Do me a favour. It was just a rest and anyway, Pires wasnt fully fit from the start of the season - picked up a slight strain in pre-season. Reyes was rested as he had played all pre season, all games so far, community shield and an international (and we had a proven player in pires replacing him). Lehmann is a goalkeeper without a proven world class player to replace him (and that is no slight on the Almunia, but lets face it, he isnt world class). Goalies hardly need resting anyway and he didnt play all pre season anyway. Leaving HIM out would be DROPPING. As I have said once, not really a confidence boost to a keeper who has hardly done anything wrong, especially this season to do date. Obviously anyone should address weaknesses. But Lehmann is not a weakness and it seems from the answers to your post so far, that you are in the minority. And that is proved week in week out, home and away when he gets a superb reception from us travelling gooners. If we felt any different, then he would get an apathetic response. 3000 fans at Everton or however many of us at Norwich know a touch more than you do (with respect of course). That tells a lot. And is definately where I am ending this debate.
August 26th, 2004 at 6:22 pm
i dont get you all, when it came to vieira in the summer you all were against him when all he was doin was thinkin about what is best for him when vieira did nothing wrong durin the eight years of service but when i see a fault in lehmann which you all see. you all jump the gun at me
August 26th, 2004 at 6:23 pm
Correct.
August 26th, 2004 at 6:30 pm
ohh please i am not ending this debate because i don’t see why lehmann should be booed when he is clearly love by all arsenal fans including me. and henry had an achilles tendon but he wasn’t dropped or as you say “rested”. at the end of the day players will get dropped on the bench regardless whether they are fit because will only be 11 people on the field and we clearly have more than 11 excellent players. and what is it you have against me i am just voicin my opinion.
and you say he has done nothing wrong?
August 26th, 2004 at 6:30 pm
get lost
August 26th, 2004 at 8:28 pm
I think it is OK to have Almunia play a few games in place of Lehmann but those should be in the FA and League cup. If Lehmann is not injured or out of form, it is better to have him for EPL and Champions League games. I am sure Lehmann felt the brunt of the criticism levelled at him for his mistakes in the games against Chelsea and should be looking to improve in this years Champions League.
August 26th, 2004 at 10:35 pm
Joanne…
I can’t speak for everyone else…
but I SUPPORTED VIEIRA on this site ALL SUMMER. I still have to STICK up for him. To me THAT is incredible… I don’t think PV did much wrong at all.
The goalkeeper seems to OFTEN get the blame as well… but what you need is a stable unit at the back… as much as possible, the same 4 with the same keeper. For YEARS Arsenal did this and it definitely paid dividends.
While Lehmann has had a few gaffs, ALL keepers do… I just don’t think they warrant giving another keeper a chance. What if Alumnia posts a few scoreless sheets in a row… then what? Lehmann is out of a job??? It would cause chaos.
I understand where you are coming from in theory… I just don’t agree with the theory!
August 26th, 2004 at 10:37 pm
AGREED!
Alumnia should get the Carling Cup matches, and maybe… if we draw a 1st or 2nd division team… an FA Cup tie. Lehmann should continue to play ALL League and CL matches.
August 27th, 2004 at 2:06 am
wow joanne, not a bad response, 26 comments so far. i also belong to those who is never convinced with lehmann, pretty much because of his aggresiveness and sweeper role, which as some pointed out, brought disaster sometimes. but you got to agree that it helped our game too. and when somebody shoot, i would think “please, save it man” instead of “no worry, he will save it”.
but we got to agree he had some very good saves made last season.
and most importantly, our defensive line TRUST him. doesn’t matter if my heart beat faster everytime i see lehmann in action. what matters is sol, kolo, lauren, and ash have complete trust in him. and they have grown in understanding each others also. that improves their decision making, positioning and all that. that’s vital to our defense.
try throw in buffon, and i can assure you we will become worse instantly. almunia may be a better keeper, who knows, and given 1 full season to play, he may improve our defense more than lehmann could. but, no guarantee rite?
it takes time for keeper and defenders to link, and since lehmann is doing ok now, none will see the reason to replace him, even for 2 straight games.
you can rotate your strikers as you like and if it does not work, at worst you’ll fail to score.
but you cannot replace your defensive lineup, esp keeper, that way. if it does not work, opponents score. and you lose.
two games or even a run in league cup will not be enough to tell how good almunia can be anyway. joanne, thats why you got a lot of harsh comment i think.
there is only one way almunia can get the nod to play, and that is when lehmann got injured. or maybe, when lehmann retire next2 season. but this guy seems to have so much strength in him to carry on like big dave.
in fact he is very much like big dave. both are never outstanding in their reflexes (nothing to do with age). but they are good in their command of area. dave has great positioning too, and very strong upper body to catch strong shots instead of parry them away. lehmann, has outstanding aerial abiliy and bravery.
August 27th, 2004 at 4:43 am
Bit harsh Joanne telling me to get lost. Not that mature really. I take it that she has conceded on her point as she failed to form a cohesive response and about time too. It was a very ill-educated point and one that I think has been shouted down with far more well balanced and reasonably founded points. Lehmann is a superb keeper who has improved our team no end over the last season and a bit. He doesnt deserve to be dropped, and I am sure that Arsene will not drop him. There is no doubt Almunia will play in the Carling Cup - Jens didnt play in it last year so there is no reason to suggest that he will play in it this year. Remember, Arsene has won more doubles, titles, cups etc than you Joanne. If he doesnt see fit to put Lehmann on the bench, then I dont think that many people shoudl debate that.
August 27th, 2004 at 7:48 am
That’s all that needs to be said.
August 27th, 2004 at 11:16 am
cool
August 27th, 2004 at 11:22 am
i am goin to say this for the last time i did not say that lehmaannn should be dropped for the whole season and i did agree that he is a fantastic keeper there is no doubt about that, and the only reason i told you to get lost was because you kept telling me that my comments are ill-educated. again you dont have to be eductated to have an opinion.
August 28th, 2004 at 5:30 am
An ill-educated opinion is not something that I take seriously. Damn you, you have reverted to spelling his name wrong again. Will you ever learn?
August 28th, 2004 at 7:07 pm
please leave me alone ok. lehmann, are you happy. and so what if i can’t spell, for goodness sakes grow up!
August 29th, 2004 at 7:19 pm
Another wonderful performance by Lehmann on Sat. You probably didnt see as you were doing your nails or blowdrying your hair, but let me assure you, he was once more magnificant. Enjoy your manicure.
August 30th, 2004 at 10:46 am
yes lehmann put a brilliant performance, and i did watch the game actually on sky sports footbal first. why do you keep hitting back at me, what have i ever done to you?
August 30th, 2004 at 1:47 pm
Put out a silly point that got shouted down by everyone. I have just carried it on as you carried on with me by telling me to get lost.
August 31st, 2004 at 4:11 pm
alright i am sorry, i should have never told u to get lost
September 1st, 2004 at 9:43 am
That’s just balls. Almunia over Lehmann?!! OK, OK, I get a flutter in my heart when we have to defend opposition attacks cos I’m not too sure about Mad Jens, but the defence trusts him. He has the ability to make outstanding saves, deals very effectively with crosses and is a fantastic shot stopper. So, sorry joannegunner2, I ain’t with you on this one.
September 1st, 2004 at 8:37 pm
I have two comments:
Firstly, I think that lehmann was good last season although the attack stole the limelight. But I don’t think I ever saw him look comfortable with crosses in the air last season, he either seemed to fumble them or punch them unconvincingly. However I think he was an exceptional shot-stopper last season.
Also he is quite OLD. He’s not going to be around 10 more years so Wenger has to try someone new to give that person first team action or loan them out like he did with Graham Stack. Almunia has done a good job in Spain so i think he deserves to have a chance, perhaps against teams like Crystal P. and West Brom.
September 2nd, 2004 at 11:27 am
Actually, Lehmanns handling on crosses is superb. He didnt make one error on a cross last year or to date this year. His errors come from kicking (except lampard goal in champs league).
September 7th, 2004 at 12:30 am
Wow! Normally you have to post something like “Arsenal should sell Henry” to get a response quite like this.
While your first three points about Alumnia may be quite true, they don’t particularly mean much since he has absoulutely zero experience in the Prem. Jens has a 42 game unbeaten streak in the Prem on his own. So he goes bonkers every now and then, who cares? I think our back line plays better knowing that “Mad Jens” once took a swing at his own teammate for a particularly boneheaded error! Crazy keepers are what makes the world a better place.
As for your “second” third point, please: who didn’t give up fewer goals that Real Madrid last year? Their defense was simply HORRID! And Real knew it, too. That’s why they went out in the transfer market and bought….another striker. “Hey, we gave up a zillion goals, but damn if we don’t have 4 great strikers…who we can’t get on the field at the same time…”. Wait, they did go and buy Woodgate, so they thought about it, a little.
Here’s to another 42 in a row from our keeper whom so many want to banish!
September 12th, 2004 at 11:00 am
How can you blame Cygan for so much? I think Cygan is far better than people give hum credit for.
Sure, he had a bad start, but since then he has improved considerably. His (undeserved) reputation for being a bad defender is down to muppets like yourself who want to make him a scapegoat for everything the team does wrong. For example, the second(?) goal against middlesbrough was all Coles fault. He missed the ball, leaving it to fly past Cygan before he could do anything. But i suppose fools like yourself find it so much easier to blame it on the teams scapegoat than a hero like Ash.
September 12th, 2004 at 11:05 am
We cant drop mad Jens! Just think, in so many matches in the run (and in th CL at times) when the game has been 0-0, he has pulled off remarkable saves. Remeber against Bellamy up at Newcastle? Hes more responsible for our unbeaten run than Henry, Solossus, Vieira or Kolo.