Jens Lehmann thinks Arsenal’s new German stars can win trophies

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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Arsenal legend blames the Board for lack of trophies

The ex-Arsenal star Freddie Ljungberg has just retired from football at 35 years of age, and he has taken the opportunity to celebrate his glory days at Arsenal, where he won two League titles and three FA Cup Winners medals. But he remembers that Arsene Wenger used to buy in top stars every year, and thinks that the Frenchman doesn’t get the same support from the board as he used to in those wonderful times.

‘I am a fan like everyone else and I want us to win trophies,’ Ljungberg said. ‘That hasn’t happened for seven years and maybe Arsene Wenger doesn’t get the funding.

‘All I know is that when I was at Arsenal, every summer he was able to bring in a big signing, a proven winner.

‘Thierry Henry came as a World Cup winner, and then Robert Pires arrived. He was also aWorld Cup and, like Thierry, a Euro winner as well.

‘We were able to get Sol Campbell, who was one of the best central defenders in the world at the time.

‘They were people who knew what it takes to win. It happened like that every year. We had a really squad, but Arsene was able to make it better, make it stronger.

‘That doesn’t seem to happen now. It is unfair to just blame Arsene because he is a fantastic manager.

‘I just hope that he can be given the money to fund the transfers he wants. I wouldn’t know if the board is giving Arsene the money to do that.’

‘We were a special squad. Everyone was an established star in his own right, but we worked as a team, as a unit.

‘It was a great time to be at Arsenal. I just hope those days come back.’

It is easy to look back with rose-tinted glasses at the end of your career, but he must also see the improvement in the ground and the facilities that have been put in place for the future at Arsenal. It’s not all doom and gloom Freddie!

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Vermaelen – Arsenal can still win trophies without Van Persie

Posted on August 16, 2012 by admin

The new (surely?) Arsenal captain Thomas Vermaelen has admitted that he has is very disappointed that the Gunners (former) captain Robin Van Persie has left to join another title rival, but he still thinks that Arsene Wenger’s team still has the firepower to end Arsenal’s trophy drought.

“I am disappointed because I wanted him to stay at the club,” Vermaelen said. “He was fantastic for us in the last year, scored lots of goals and I am disappointed he is going, but we have to focus on the next season with Arsenal. We have to fight and I am confident we have a squad to win something.”

“We start Saturday and this is all clear now, Robin is leaving and we have to move on,”

Wenger has already admitted that he won’t be buying a replacement for Van Persie, but now Arsenal fans surely want the attention turned to Alexander Song and Theo Walcott. Wenger said that he had “no choice” but to sell RVP as he hadn’t signed a contract extension, well Theo is in exactly the same position so does that mean he will definitely be sold as well……

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Van Persie – You DON’T need trophies to be a Great Player!

Do great players have to have won trophies? by SV

This article may seem a little off-topic to many, but it is a question that has been nagging my mind for some time. When people are arguing about who is a better player (Ronaldo or Messi, Henry or Drogba, Adams or Ferdinand…you get the idea), the statistic of how many trophies these individuals won is always pulled out.

This is, in my opinion, a ridiculous way of comparing or judging players. First and foremost, as a team sport, any trophy won is due to the contribution of the whole squad, not a single player. The best footballer in the world could be playing for an average team and so not win any trophies. So how is it fair to compare individual players like that? Let me give you an example. Last season, Romelu Lukaku won two prestigious honours, the FA Cup and Champions League; Robin van Persie, on the other hand, won nothing. Does that mean that Lukaku is a better player? Of course it bloody doesn’t.

Secondly, and this only really applies when you’re comparing players across nations or time periods, some trophies are far easier to win than others. In Scotland, for example, there were only really two teams in for the top honours, and the quality of football is generally lower, so a SPL League win really can’t be compared to winning, say, the Premier League. I say this matter-of-factly, by the way, and am not disrespecting the Scotland in any way (having lived there for a large part of my life myself). So the number of trophies a player, or even a team, has won is often no indication of their strength, as a number of these trophies could be worth relatively little. Think about it, we as Arsenal fans could say how may Emirates Cups we have won, but it won’t really be seen as impressive.

Finally, I’d just like to point out a few players who, despite not being hugely successful, are still classed as great players. Think about Alan Shearer, his only trophy was the Premier League in 1995, yet he is still widely recognised as one of the greatest ever Premier League strikers. Think about Paul Gascoigne, he is touted as the greatest EVER English player, and yet he one five trophies in his career. Bear in mind, though, that four of these were during his time in Scotland, which, as I said before, can’t really be compared to major league honours.

Basically, what I’m trying to say, is that when judging a player, please don’t use the lazy statistic of ‘how many trophies they have’, it really is most infuriating.

If you liked this article, you can follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SVGunner.

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Wenger – Arsenal are much stronger than last season and ready to compete for trophies

Posted on August 13, 2012 by admin

The Gunners boss Arsene Wenger is convinced that Arsenal are in a much stronger position right now than they were at the beginning of last season, when they had hardly started doing any business in the transfer market (except for Gervinho) and were also set to lose two of their biggest stars.

This time around Wenger has already brought in Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud, who have had the benefit of pre-season with Arsenal, and also the arrival of the talented Spanish international Santi Cazorla, and Wenger thinks the squad is now ready to compete for trophies.

“We want to compete for honours and we have a desire to. We are up for it and what we want is to come out of the season and know we have given our best,” Wenger said.

“I feel we did that last year, finishing third with the start we had. The first target is to do as well as we can in every single game and see where we stand at the end of the season, but of course we want to fight for the championship.”

“We are in a much stronger position now because last summer we lost (Samir) Nasri and (Cesc) Fabregas, and on top of that we lost (Abou) Diaby and Wilshere (to injury). We lost four players at the start of last season and that is not the case this time.”

Arsenal had a dismal start to last season and you can practically feel the new-found confidence in today’s squad. All Gooners can now look forward to a bright start to the new season.

Come On You Gunners!!!!

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Wenger excited but wants to win trophies ‘The Arsenal Way’

Posted on August 10, 2012 by admin

Arsene Wenger has paved the way for three World-Class players to arrive at Arsenal this summer, and he thinks that the Gunners are in a good position to be ‘the surprise of the season’ this time around, after having a turbulent time in the previous 12 months.

“I find the situation very exciting.” Wenger said. “I was very, very worried last year for a long part of the season and very anxious for a long time because we faced such a tough competition.

“Now I am excited because we have learned from last year, we have a new start and a new opportunity.

“Hopefully we can be the surprise of the season because we have stability and stability is important.”

AS for his aims for this season, he (naturally) agreed that Champions League qualification will again be the first aim, but he is hoping that the Arsenal way of playing football will bring the club the elusive trophy that all Arsenal fans and players crave for…..

“We are now 15 years on the trot in the Champions League and I believe that shows that our business model works,”

“On the other hand we are very ambitious, we want as well to win trophies.

“It’s not enough just to be in the Champions League and we are focused on that of course.

“I am confident that we have to be faithful to what we believe is right in football and in the game – the way we play football.”

With the three new attack-minded players that Arsenal have bought it should certainly make for an exciting season for all Gooners, but I really wish that he hadn’t mentioned the business model. That makes me think of the players he may sell to balance the books….

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Arsenal hero Petit tells Wenger: You have only ever won trophies with experience

Arsenal hero Emmanuel Petit has questioned Arsene Wenger's transfer policy.

Arsenal face Liverpool on Sunday knowing they need to win to keep up the pressure on Manchester United.

Petit said: "I tell him (Wenger) that it's been more than 10 years since he's been with Arsenal and he's built the majority of his successes on the experience of the players he had in his possession.

"There was Steve Bould, Adams, Keown, Winterburn, Dixon, Seaman, just English players. We had 60-65 percent English players but we were all between 27 and 32 years of age.

"He then banked everything on youth to format them in the image he wants to make of a team.

"I think there's also a big problem within this squad because to reach your objectives you need a competitive spirit. What does that mean?

"It means that in the good and the bad times you have to be able to get back up, so that you don't crumble.

"In the sprint finish, they've collapsed a bit. I think that, before the elimination against Barcelona, the Carling Cup final against Birmingham was where the real rupture happened, where they really gave this final away on a plate.

"Although they have made a lot of progress this team when you see the youth on display.

"With an average age of 23, compared to practically 27, 28 for Barcelona, you realise that they're the only team in Europe which has such a low average age and still gets pretty impressive results — even if there's no trophy at the end of it."