Former Goalkeeper Jens Lehmann believes the German duo can shine for Arsenal.by AM
Lukas Podolski joined Per Mertesacker at Arsenal this season after signing from German side Koln. Both the German internationals have had massive impacts at Arsenal so far this season. Mertesacker initially got into the team after Koscielny was injured but has not looked back since. The big defender has added physicality to the Arsenal defence and might keep out Koscielny from the starting eleven as of now.
Podolski on the other hand seems to have settled down very well in no time at all. He has already scored two goals and one assist in four appearances and has added a directness to the Arsenal attack which they have lacked at times. Jens Lehmann, Arsenal’s former custodian, has praised Arsenal’s ‘approach’, stating that considering the fact that the Gunners probably had the smallest budget among the top teams in England and Europe, the way they have performed so far is admirable. Lehmann was also confident of Arsenal winning something very soon and hoped that the German contingent in the squad can play a big part in it.
“I’m quite optimistic about the current season and hope of course that Arsenal will win something,” he said in the Mirror. “All right, there are some teams like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Man City, Chelsea, who come into the game with big money in the bag, and only one of them can win the trophy.
“That shows you that you have to be better at little details in knowledge, wisdom and approach of your team and of your set-up.
“Arsenal always had a great approach, they always made it into the top four with probably the smallest budget of all the big teams now, and so why should it not happen this year that all of a sudden, when nobody expects them to win something, all of a sudden they go on to win something.
“Now with Podolski and Mertesacker they have two German players who are very experienced because of their caps in the national team of Germany, I think they’re near 100, both of them are near 100 and still at a young age.
“They are expecting of course to see them performing three times a week on a high level, so far my impression is that everybody’s quite happy with them, but everybody knows that they still have to improve, to adapt to the English football and to adapt to the pace of the game there.
“Lukas and Per are both mentally strong and they have definitely got the potential to perform and to improve their game.”
It would be interesting to see how long Wenger continues with Mertesacker in the starting eleven with Koscielny, who was perhaps Arsenal’s best defender last season, waiting in the wings. The upcoming fixture against Manchester City will answer that question along with whether Arsenal are really title contenders this season.
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