Jens Lehmann is quite the teammate

If you were to take a gander at the English Premier League table today and you were to read it from top to bottom, the first name you would come across would be Arsenal. The Gunners have not lost in their first nine games and are two points atop the table. This might not be news to you, but apparently it is news to their disgruntled keeper Jens Lehmann.

The Mad One is indeed mad that he isn’t getting the opportunity to blunder away in goal much these days.

“It’s possible that some day I’ll feel like talking about the whole issue,” Lehmann told German pay-TV broadcaster Premiere in an interview to be broadcast on Tuesday night. Lehmann was left out of the Arsenal squad in the Premier League against Bolton last Saturday. “But at the moment I’m just swallowing it all as part of the humiliation. That’s something one has to take in. But I think — and this is aimed at my dear manager — one shouldn’t humiliate players for too long.

“I’m an Arsenal player and I won’t just fade away quietly.”

Just to prove his point about not fading away without being a complete and utter asshole, Lehmann takes a shot at his fellow keepers Manuel Almunia and Lukasz Fabianski – you know, the ones that have helped his club get off to such a good start.

“Wenger spoke of three world class goalkeepers,” Lehmann said. “One of them must be me. The other two have proved their class by winning titles? If I think about that, I can’t recall any. I guess today you’re nevertheless world class.”

“I’m convinced that I’ll be playing again. Almunia has not yet showed that he can win matches for us. I’ve experienced this situation before and know what the others are expecting from the goalkeeper. I can’t imagine he’ll be able to handle that.”

It is kind of fun when Lehmann gets into his yearly catfights with Oliver Kahn because Kahn’s ego is probably even bigger than his, but watching him slag his own teammates when he has nothing to slag them about is almost as pathetic as watching him go up for a ball in the box these days.

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Category: English Premier League, World Football