Podolski should blame himself, not criticise Wenger, blasts Matthaus

Thegoalmac can reveal that Germany legend Lothar Matthaus has reignited his war of words with Lukas Podolski and hit out at his compatriot’s criticism of Arsene Wenger.

Matthaus, who enraged Podolski after saying that he "tweets more than he plays", believes that the striker should not have hit out at Wenger and is still guilty of blaming others for a lack of game time and success in recent years.

"Podolski should finally look at himself and ask himself why he was not a success at big clubs, at Bayern Munich and now at Arsenal," Matthaus told Sport1.

"There have to be reasons for it and it is not always the coach who is to blame. He showed it again by hitting out against Arsene Wenger. You don't do stuff like that. His reaction on Twitter was again a reaction over nothing."

He added: "I have no problem with Podolski but, if he knew my career a little, he would know I won championships as a coach more often than he did as a player. That says a lot.

"If I was him, I'd focus on the stuff that matters. I hope he'll do that because he wants to prove a point to some people. He surely wants to play a part in the national team, too, and the competition in his position is fierce."

Podolski scored 19 goals in 60 appearances for Arsenal, though struggled to hold down a first-team spot, but started his first game for Inter in Sunday’s 3-1 victory over Genoa.