Confident, Exposed, Jens Is Back
Mar 29th, 2011 by 'holic
You pays your money, you takes your choice. Seeking news of Jens Lehmann’s return to goalkeeping duties for Arsenal’s reserves at Wigan, I am presented with a selection of opinion. According to the official club website, Jens “put in an assured display to reassure Arsene Wenger that he is ready to be called upon if needed.”
“One stunning reaction save, expert handling throughout and a confident display – this was a valuable outing of the 41-year-old.”
Reassuring indeed, and somewhat at odds with one Ed Balllard over at the Telegraph. “Lehmann’s lack of match practice was exposed throughout his first appearance for Arsenal since he was coaxed out of retirement to answer Arsene Wenger’s emergency call.”
“On today’s evidence, however, Almunia, whatever his faults, is still the best option Arsenal have.”
Now I suppose it is fair to say the truth is somewhere between those two extremes, or maybe too much was expected of a ‘keeper making his first appearance since retiring at the end of last season. If he is to figure in the first team he does need some match practice, and today’s match was an ideal opportunity to give him that.
I don’t think for one moment that he was brought back to the club to start any matches as a first-choice, but knowing our luck (or rather, lack of it) I would put more than one ‘holic pound on Almunia getting injured between now and the end of the season. Jens has been contracted to cover this possibility, and in as much as he has experience, has kept himself in reasonable shape, and is a proven winner with the club, that is a better choice than picking up a third or fourth choice from another club.
I’ll take Jens with a reserve game or two behind him over an emergency signing of a ‘keeper unlikely to get game time at a lesser club.
Welcome back, you mad bugger!
46 Responses to “Confident, Exposed, Jens Is Back”
Bonjour Mr ‘holic. Large glass of Burgundy please? great column as always, i’ll take the mad bastard over a fourth choice too!
The truth is Arsenal keepers have very little to do most games, which proves how RUBBISH Almunia is because his shots to save ratio is appalling. People talk about the West Brom howler, but a better example was the FA Cup tie at Orient when he is called upon just once, in the 89th minute, to make a save from a shot right at him – and he lets go under his body. Lehmann wouldve saved it. Get him in and get that idiot Almunia OUT
I don’t wanna be the one to ruin everybody’s mood, but RvP got injured.
I was watching the Holland – Hungary game and the most harmless tackle in the world crocked him. He played through till HT (the tackle was on 43 minutes) but was limping and held his knee after passing the ball. He will probably be replaced at HT, hopefully it’s just a bruise and not something else but with his track record, I don’t see him playing on Saturday.
He was replaced by RvN at HT.
LJ@2: Almunia is not a very good keeper, but the shots to saves ratio is a completely useless stat.
And as crap as Almunia is, Lehmann is NOT a better option at this stage.
Snir: why are we not surprised? 🙁
TS, message received and understood. Will reply when I know full details about Saturday.
Lars – I don’t think Almunia is a better option than Jens, no matter how long he hasn’t played for.
I love RvP to death but I’m starting to think it’d be better if we sold him and got a new top striker that can actually play for more than 10 minutes a season.
Then again, we all know RvP won’t be sold and I don’t know what team will sell their top striker.
TS – “You’ve got mail” 🙂
Luverly – yeah, but the Orient error didn’t have a hugely adverse effect in the end as we won the replay, whereas the West Brom one did.
I was cursing every God that ever was invented about RVP, but in the last ten minutes my daughter has been rushed to hospital with ruptured appendix, I have to stay at home to look after my son.
Perspective, kinda gets you.
Sorry to hear that Roses.
Fingers crossed for her here.
If Jens is picked ahead of Manuel we will be the laughing stock of football. It will possibly the most embarrassing moment for decades. As much as I will always love mad Jens the talk of him coming back from retirement to take the place of the man who started the season as our number one will be just too shocking to contemplate.
RVP injured? In a nothing tackle? In a friendly international? You don’t say???????????????? Hands up anyone else that is not surprised.
Stoney, good luck. Been there with my little lady so know how you feel.
We should not be blaming Almunia for his poor performances. He tries his best and wants Arsenal to succeed just as much as every other Gooner.
If you want someone to blame, blame Wenger… Wenger should have invested in a world class keeper a long time ago. Almunia has always struggled to perform in the big games and Wenger is aware of this. Yes Wenger has tried to sign a new goal keeper in the form of Pepe Reina, but it appears too little too late. Almunia should have been sold off the minute Wenger saw that he didn’t perform in the big games. This was clearly apparent a number of seasons ago.
Wenger is a great manager and has done many great things but persisting with an error prone keeper is clearly a mistake that needs to be rectified.
Your thoughts?
‘Holic, I see at amazon.co.uk that Peter Storey’s book, True Storey, will be available in paperback starting in September, and I will be sure to order from the link on your website if it makes a difference to you. Stone Roses, with a 6 year old daughter myself I certainly feel for you and wish your daughter all the best for a full recovery.
Steve T., laughing stock of football or no, it’s time we put our full faith behind the players wearing the shirt.
i honestly think almunia is in a better position than lehman bt almunia has let us down in nearly every game he’s played……almunia should b chased out of arsenal cz nobody will b willin 2 buy him……lets give lehman a chance though he’s out of form bt i believe can still use his head unlike others…….ALMUNIA MUST LEAVE ARSENAL among other players to……..a gunner mi seh!!
8 ball. I have always backed our players. Week in and week out. At home and at many away games. My point was simply that if we pick someone who we have pulled out of retirement ahead of our number one from the start of the season then it is laughable. That does not mean to say that I wont be backing whoever runs out on the pitch on Saturday. Or any other day for that matter.
I agree entirely with Anelka. It is not Almunia’s fault. Not at all. I have never seen him give anything less than 100% for the cause. But in my humble opinion he has never ever been good enough and in my humble opinion it is a situation that should have been addressed 2 seasons ago.
It wont stop me giving it large on Saturday though.
Agreed that given all the big mistakes he has made, Almunia is not an ideal no. 1 but he was a pretty good no. 3 to pull out of the bag when Wojciech was injured at Barcelona. Almunia is our no. 1 for the time being and he and Jens are the only ones we can support.
Soccernet is not complimentary about our former No.1. Airshot in the 1st half plus “shaky play”in the second 45.
Aliadiere turned out for us too. What’s going on? The return of DB 10 anyone??
Manchester United have beaten out Ryan Air and British Gas for the title of the most hated company in Britain. I would have hoped the margin would be larger, but the details may be found at: http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/oddballs/859274-man-united-voted-most-hated-company-in-britain
Fingers crossed that RVP is not crocked enought to miss Saturday..
Someone tell CG that the trouble is indeed in Barcelona.
I’d love to be able to teleport as I have absolutely no idea what level of confidence we can have on the person over there. Hopefully he’s got his brain on at least.
I’ll have another strong coffee please to help me go through this day.
Stone Roses, fingers crossed here as well.
Stone roses,
hope all ok with your daughter, fingers crossed here as well
Here too SR.
Howdie do Holics,
I missed the last set of drinks.
My take upon it as usual is that sometimes concepts are misinterpreted. Having mad Jens at the club is similar to having Sol or the much anticipated returns of Paddy or TT. His experience is more vital to the squad and the dressing room than his playing time. I agree that he cannot be judged upon his first game after retirement almost a year ago.
I think you hit the nail on the head Holic when you say that he is not supposed to be the answer to our goal keeping issues (whom happens to be out injured), just to ease the frustrations of the inpatient.
However I’m sure that when called upon, his experience will compensate for any obvious lack of match sharpness!
Drinks all round as per usual Holic!
Hope all goes well with your Daughter SR
‘Holic,
Couldn’t agree more regarding our very own MG. If Almunia gets crocked, TMG is the next best thing for us no doubt whatsoever. In the meantime, I’m keeping everything crossed that ‘Arsenal’s #1’ will be back in a couple of weeks. Also thanks for the note about yesterday’s message, will wait patiently for a reply 😉
SR,
Please drop us all a line in the drinks when you can to let us know that you daughter is OK?
Snir @ #7,
Message rx’d and response sent.
Charlie Nick @ #18,
I have it on good authority that ‘God’ is definitely not in the building 😉
ANELKA,
Pretty much agree. Le Boss is fallible, aren’t we all? Like you, I find it hard to blame Almunia for the position that he/we are in. TMG is an acceptable emergency patch until TMP (who will become a world-class keeper) returns.
I think poor team defending has been the culprit for a lot of perceived GK cock-ups in recent years. Watching the highlights package on ATVO, both goals came from situations where we committed too many players forward and got undone by a simple ball between the defenders or down one of the channels. Sound familiar?
Second goal you would expect Jens and many other keepers to concede, given the complete lack of shape in our defense. The first goal to me looked like the Wigan player slipped trying to cut the ball back, which put Jens off and the ball bobbled fortunately for the Wigan man.
All that said, he looked rusty. Hopefully he can get a few more of these run-outs and sharpen up. I don’t trust our luck with injuries or sendings-off and we may need him.
oh, and three fingers of scotch neat, my good man.
I started typing then realised I might not be sober enough to comment.
See you tomorrow ‘holics………freaking interlull is robbing us of the ‘Holic.
‘holic is away, the mice will play …
Thank you everybody for your kind words and thoughts. It means a lot. Rebecca is doing fine minus her appendix.
Brian C. is that three fingers only? I didn’t see the highlights but we can’t expect the man to be rust-free after half a year without competition. Of course, Almunia is destined to get a first half injury against Blackburn so we will really get a chance to see how rusted Jens is or is not. Four fingers please, barman.
SR, Rebecca sans appendix! Vive la difference.
Great news SR
Excellent news TR.
Things improving here. There was some fuckwittery in Madrid, but nothing tooooooooooo bad.
Just the usual Spanish fuckwittery, I’m more and more of the opinion that in many way Spain is a bit like India in Europe.
Anyway, alea jacta est, as someone once said, and tomorrow morning I should more or less know if today’s strain has been entirely worth it.
Testing day, but seems to end well.
Feeling quite drained, so pick-me-up of your choice, barman, thanks!
It’s getting a bit warmer outside too.
When i say ‘things improving’, of course I mean work, i didn’t require any operation. Perspective and all that.
Looking forward to the interlull being truly over. I feel a bit far away from everything when I’m on work trips anyway, so this one was quite well timed!
Barman, a San Miguel please, and another to cool off our man in Madrid. Ollie, are you planning to try some bullfighting while you are there?
Ollie, If you will still be in Madrid on April 5, the Ferias de San Isidro bullfights will be on at Las Ventas. http://www.las-ventas.com/
SR – all thoughts for your daughter and her full recovery.
Ollie – snickering quietly to myself! Spanish fuckwittery…. welcome to my life!! Mind you, they DO free pour…. 🙂
Evening all.
Thanks for the update SR. You know you have our best wishes here for you and the little one, and her speedy recovery.
Quick update. Just spent a couple of hours very watery-eyed, the reason for which you will have to wait another three hours to discover.
Ollie, good to hear your better news today. We’ll have that Guinness on Saturday. (I haven’t forgotten you TS. I’ll sort my timings out tomorrow).
Just like three new signings!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1371728/Arsenals-title-hopes-boosted-return-Cesc-Fabregas-Theo-Walcott-Alex-Song.html?
Nasri – Thanks
The squad seems healthier
Goonertown, Anytime I can find such a positive article I’m glad to share, and you’re right I think the two weeks have done us good.
Hi all holics,good to belly-up again.
I’m sure Almunia will start on account of being the best we have on hand. I saw the reserve game and Jens was rusty so I hope we don’t have to rush him back for at least a couple of more games.
Almunia though, is not the answer. He is in fact one of the big questions and though he used to be better he’s not now. I’m tired of hearing how Jen’s coming back might undermind his fragile confidence. If he were better at the job his confidence would not be an issue.When I fuck up at work I hear about it and nobody seems to worry about how this affects my confidence. Like everyone else I basically have to get on with it.
Almunia’s confidence is low because he’s screwing up big time. I’d be more than happy for him to prove me wrong this weekend and I will be rooting for him but, I did that against the Baggies a fortnight back to no good affect. Terrible to hear about Rocky though,a very hard way to keep perspective I guess. He belongs to the ages now and we should take greater devoution for it.
8 ball, didn’t want to be too greedy, but hell, if he’ll leave the bottle..
as for the rust, I certainly expect it, and am glad it showed in the confines of a reserve match [and down to 10 men] rather than one of our run-in fixtures.