German has the goalkeeper blues

 Now national team stalwart Jens Lehmann has found himself on the Arsenal substitutes' bench and his number 2 Timo Hildebrand is in the same position at his Spanish club Valencia.

 In addition, some youngsters who rose to prominence last season have blundered over the past days, most notably Schalke's Manuel Neuer and Bayern Munich's Michael Rensing, normally a reliable number two behind Kahn.

 Raphael Schaefer is feeling the heat as well at struggling Bundesliga champions VfB Stuttgart which he joined last summer from Nuremberg.

 "He needs a big improvement and he knows that. He has so far not performed as well as in Munich," said Stuttgart coach Armin Veh about Schaefer.

 But according to Schumacher, the German number one in the 1980s, none of the young 'keepers should be discouraged.

 "All great goalkeepers have gone through this," Schumacher told Friday's edition of the Bild daily.

 Neuer, 21, blundered last weekend in Rostock and on Tuesday in the 2-0 Champions League loss at Chelsea, letting Florent Malouda's ball slip through his arms into the net early on.

 Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech also sprung to the support of Neuer: "He will get up again. Manuel Neuer has played well this year. He must forget this mistake quickly."

   Lehmann, by contrast, has a difficult time at Arsenal as some early-season mistakes followed by injury have relegated him to the bench.

 The 37-year-old Lehmann claimed this week he felt "humiliated" by this move from manager Arsene Wenger, but German football icon Franz Beckenbauer warned the goalkeeper to hold his tongue.

 "Lehmann must not make the mistake and start a confrontation with Wenger because he will not win it. Wenger is a fair coach who does not immediately take out a player when he has a bad day," insisted Beckenbauer in a mid-week interview with the Premiere TV network.

 The criticism will not enhance Lehmann's standing at the Emirates Stadium and only fuels speculation that he could be leaving during the winter transfer window.

 That even more if he continues to be benched.

 Lehmann got an unlikely ally in Bayern Munich general manager Uli Hoeness who said Lehmann should remain German number one at the Euro 2008 finals if if he plays only sparsely.

 But national team general manager Oliver Bierhoff disagrees.

 "It is important for us regarding Euro that we have a goalkeeper who plays frequently. If that is not the case I would advise him to look for a new club so that he can play next year," Bierhoff told Kicker sports magazine.

DPA