Arsenal America

I know many may disagree, but I believe keeping Lehmann for one more season is very crucial.

I have a firm believe we will launch a serious charge on the Premiership title next season. In order to achieve that, we cannot afford to experiment a new ‘keeper in one of the most crucial positions of the team.

I always believe goalkeeper is the most difficult position to replace. Take Man Utd, it took them several years to properly replace Schmeichel. Ferguson had tried many different goalkeepers, all with less success.

This is a position we cannot afford to try the youngsters. A promising young ‘keeper may be able to shine from time to time, but the key of a good goalkeeper is the CONSISTENCY. Alex Manninger, Richard Wright, Stuart Taylor of the past, they all had that ability to pull off some remarkable performance every now and then. Yet the more matches they played, the more they got found out.

It’s the same with the young keepers today like Green, Foster. Their performance against us at Emirates were sensational. Yet they also made a lot of mistakes over the course of a whole season with their clubs.

And the bottom line is - if you are playing for a team fighting for a title, you can’t afford to make mistakes.

And mistakes could destroy a young goalkeeper, especially when he’s playing for a big club. Richard Wright is the classic example. He made his debut at Ipswich at the age of 16, showing a remarkable potential… until he arrived at Arsenal. Made a few high-profile errors. Ever since, he’s no longer the same player he once was.

One major asset of Lehmann is the man got an attitude. He could make a horrible blunder in a match, yet not bothered by it at all. This soft of confidence is extremely important for a goalkeeper playing for a big club.

Therefore, Arsenal, or indeed Man Utd, reknown for developing youngsters, none of those clubs produced a single home growth ‘keeper to be their No. 1 during the past 20 years.

Unless we can afford a Buffon, otherwise it’s better stick with the tried and tested.

I have my own theory of the poor form of Lehmann this season. The World Cup effect as I call it. I wasn’t really surprised he had has his best season with Arsenal last term. Back then he was fighting for a starting place in the World Cup with Olive Kahn. In order to achieve that, he needed to give his best, his all for Arsenal to impress Klinsmann.

Now that he had achieved his goal and did himself proud with his performance in the World Cup Finals, there was always a chance this season would turn into an anti-climax season for Jens.

So personally, I hope he will stay, for at least one more season. Let’s win something next year, to take the pressure off Wenger, in order for him to keep building on his project. Otherwise, no matter how much improvement our outfield players will make next season, if we are going to have a new ‘keeper who are taking time to adapt to the team (plus adapting to the country if he’s a non-English player), developing understanding with his back 4… there would be every chance we are going to take another step back.