German goalie Jens Lehmann has confessed that he is struggling to try and come to terms with the new ball that will be used in the Euro 2008 finals.  

Lehmann, who has hardly featured at all this season for Arsenal, let in two goals in the last half hour as Germany squandered a two-goal lead against Belarus to finally draw 2-2, again raising the questions over his number one position for the finals in Austria and Switzerland.

Defending himself, Lehmann told a German football magazine that he was finding it very difficult to judge the movement of the new ball as it flies through the air. He also revealed that he has only been training with the new ball for a week and said that once again, as seems the case for all major tournaments nowadays, the balls are totally different to the previous ones.

He hopes that a few more days of shot stopping during training will be enough to help him adjust and be able to become more comfortable with the ball.

 

 

Germany coach Joachim Löw has admitted that the Arsenal keeper is still quite short of actual match practice, but also dismissed rumours that he was about to drop him. He also explained how he still trusted Lehmann and said he will definitely play against the Serbians on Saturday.