‘Arsenal plays too cautiously, then you don’t win any prizes’

Will Arsenal win its first league title in twenty years? Jens Lehmann, goalkeeper of the last team to achieve this, doubts it and sees differences Invincibles of which he was a part.

With that Arsenal, Lehmann remained undefeated in his first Premier League season (2003/04). He was on goal in all 38 games, during which the gum-chewing keeper kept fifteen clean sheets and conceded 26 goals.

Jens Lehmann as goalkeeper during his Arsenal days.

The current Arsenal is also dominant, but Lehmann (now 54 years old) sees big differences with his team. ‘They play very differently – more careful and slower on the ball. They do run a lot more and at a higher intensity, but they don’t play faster than we did because we were one hit. They all hit the ball three or four times each time. If you’re too careful in football, you won’t win any trophies. The bravest teams usually win the competition,” the German said in conversation with The Daily Mail.

Of course, Lehmann acknowledges, Arsenal is a top team again. But according to him, more is needed to be a real superpower again. ‘Here’s a guy speaking who loves Arsenal, who wants them to win everything and not just compete. I was very disappointed in the way they lost to Bayern Munich in the Champions League. Then they responded great against Chelsea and Tottenham. But if you want to be a big club, you have to win trophies. It’s been 20 years since we won the league title and I hope Arsenal can do it. But they are not in control and that is a weakness.’

Another difference with the Invincibles is that Arsenal did not have one regular goalkeeper this season. After the winter break, international Aaron Ramsdale left the team for Brentford loanee David Raya. “I never understood that decision,” says Lehmann. ‘If you have a good English goalkeeper with guts at a top English club and then you field a Spanish guy who has never played for a top club at that level… that just doesn’t make sense.’