Jens Lehmann has called for Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger to extend his contract with the club beyond the summer, despite the devastating results in the Champions League in recent weeks.
The North-London side slipped to their worst ever defeat in our new stadium last night, when Bayern Munich took full advantage of a controversial red card to beat us 5-1, matching the score from the first leg in Germany also.
Lehmann was the only player to play every minute of the Gunners Invincibles season under Wenger back in 03/04, which just so happens to be the last time the club won the illustrious Premier League title.
Lehmann has now moved to defend his former manager, giving the fans a swift reminder of all he has done for the club over the years, whilst reiterating his desire to succeed.
“I think he has to stay now – he’s done so much for the club,” Lehmann said. “People are talking about his age and they want a new manager to bring fresh air but it’s very difficult to replace intelligence.
“He’s still got the fire and for what he’s done he deserves not to go out on such a bad result.
“Next season it could be a completely difficult situation,” he added.
He then commented on the refereeing decision to send Laurent Koscielny off, and believes that although the result should have been tighter without the red card, the situation simply highlighted a weak player mentality within the squad.
“The referee has influenced the result a little bit. It could have been very close – yesterday’s result.
“On the other hand it has shown the group of players are not yet up for the big competition in the Champions League.
“Some players give you the impression that if it’s really getting tough they don’t care anymore.
“That’s a big difference to us but the generation now seems to be like that,” he said.
It is hard to defend the manager so fresh in the face of our biggest ever defeat at the Emirates Stadium, but does anyone agree with some of his points?
Pat J