Goalkeepers since David “Safe Hands” Seaman by ken1945
One of the things I really like about Just Arsenal, is the difference of opinions from dedicated Arsenal supporters.
One of these was the claim that Jens Lehmann, one of our Invincible players, was described as being “never much of a keeper” and was a disaster in his first season, when we were Invincible.
I looked at the keepers we have signed since Safe Hands hung up his gloves and was surprised at how many there were.
Jens Lehmann – Emiliano Viviano – Runar Alex Runarsson – Vito Mannone – Matt Macey – Matthew Ryan – Lukasz Fabianski – Manuel Almunia – David Ospina – Emi Martinez – Bernd Leno – Peter Cech – Wojciech Szczesny – Aaron Ramsdale…. A total of 13 (14?) keepers!!
That also made me look closer at the view that Lehmann was “never much of a keeper” and was a disaster in his first season – the season he played every PL game for the Invincibles.
During that epic season, he let in 26 goals, the lowest in the PL and the following year (when he “improved”) he let in 36 goals.
He cost The Arsenal £1.5 million.
Jens has 61 international caps for Germany and holds the record for the most consecutive clean sheets in European competitions (10) and was voted UEFA Keeper of the Year twice.
Of course, Jens had his weak areas, including his, often volatile, temper tantrums both on and off the pitch.
But there can be no doubt, in my opinion, that he commanded his area, played his part from the start of his Arsenal career and upset many players of our opponents.
One such example was when he won a duel with Terry Sheringham, only to be called a c*** by the forward. Not knowing what it meant he asked for clarification at half time!!
Any Arsenal player who upset Teddy, is a hero as far as I’m concerned.
In summary, I have always believed that there was not a single weak link in the Invincible squad, and every player had their personal style that AW honed into a squad that got their strength from each other.
Jens Lehmann was an integral part of that brilliant squad and I suggest one reads the interview that he had with Martin Keown in order to see how Jens was viewed by Martin… quite an eye opener.
Of course, I appreciate that others might have a different opinion and, as I said above, that’s what makes JA such a great site… I hope Aaron Ramsdale has the same kind of career stats that Jens Lehmann had.
Would love to read pjennings thoughts on Lehmann by the way.
ken1945
A happy Arteta enjoys great win over Chelsea and refuses to give up
