To be fair to Lehmann, replacing Seamen was not easy and only a strong character could have done it. Obviously a larger part of his character was that he was a nutter ... and with that you get rash moments like the ones mentioned. He still helped us go unbeaten in his first season though.
And while he sort of spoiled the WHL 04 thing a bit with his antics ... it did give us the comedy moment of Spurs fans celebrating because they thought the draw had stopped us winning the title at their shithole ... only for that to be totally and utterly wrong .... meaning our boys were out there dancing around on their pitch for ages with our fans, celebrating winning a title there for the second time in our history
The 2004 CL criticism is fully justified. But while I understand the slating he gets for the 2006 CL final ... if it wasnt for Lehmann we might not have got there in the first place. I remember that he made a fucking outstanding save again R Madrid at Highbury in the 2nd leg that stopped them levelling things. And of course he saved Villarreal's last minute penalty in the semi final 2nd leg that took us to Paris after what was an abysmal team performance.
I know its a cliche but the problem for keepers is that mistakes get remembered more than the saves. Seamen was the hero in the 1995 CWC semi, then made a brilliant save in the final itself ... but now all that most remember is him floundering backwards after that freakish fluke from that
Nayim.
But anyway yeah I get why Lehmann gets criticised but I liked him. The good far outweighed the bad and I dont think you can say about our other keepers since.
If any of you met him you would go weak at the knees and only congratulate him on being part of the invincibles
