Well Jens Lehmann has ended speculation about his future and has agreed a years extension to his current deal, meaning that this is the third successive one-year contract he has completed with Arsenal.
We all know Jens can be quite mad at times but I’m glad he’s decided to stay at Arsenal. Premium goalkeepers are hard to come by and there’s no way I would be comfortable with Manuel Almunia in goal for Arsenal for an entire season. It would be like having Zinedine Cygan in to replace William Gallas!
Jens’ form hasn’t been great in the last few months, but you would say that has been alongside a lot of Arsenal players who have under-performed during the same period. The antics against Spurs showed that his tendency to be erratic hasn’t got any better though and hopefully he can be more focused next season.
And a word on the sad news that former Arsenal player Alan Ball who passed away yesterday. He played for Arsenal from 1971 to 1976 and many Arsenal legends have been paying tribute to him on the official Arsenal website.
He scored 52 goals in 217 appearances for Arsenal in all competitions and only played more games for Everton in his career, and of course was part of the England team that won the World Cup in 1966. Our condolences go out to his friends and family.
Its good for Arsenal that Lehmann is staying because he is a quality keeper and they are hard to find.
He occasionally makes mistakes as he is vulnerable on crosses especially from dead ball situations and his sprees outside the area leave a lot to be desired. However he is an excellent shot stopper, his positioning is very good and his record on one to one situations is not bad either.
He is also very experienced and this is very important for Arsenal at the moment as there is a distinct absence of wise heads in the dressing room and on the pitch!
Also do not forget that he will cost nothing whereas his replacement will cost from 3m upwards.
Im not sure im happy with Jens staying or not yet?I agree on his day he is a class keeper but you cant ignore his temperament, i think every player in the premier league has cottoned onto the fact he is actually mental & almost every game you see him lose it or come close to, so far its not cost us to much but it probably will do one day. i agree that we need experienced heads in the dressing room but we do also have henry, gilberto, freddie even kolo to guide the young’uns, so id like to see arsene sign a younger keeper like Carsen or poss even Shay Given but i cant see that happenning now.
I have to agree with you all that he is class. He should be over the hill by Prem standards now but we tend to do that at Arsenal…Dave Seaman was about 57 when he left wasn’t he? Lehmann is a top keeper and a total loon…week after week I see him find some new way to keep us on the edge of our seats and 90% of this stuff doesn’t make match of the day!!! AA tells us that he has a wize head hahahahahahahahah you must be joking mate! Do you go to the games? Did you see the CL final? He’s a 100% nutter and I think even though he has cost us games and points he has also pulled off many world class saves and kept us in the hunt. We do need a young gun but Arsen either can’t or won’t shell out for one. Why?