Podolski Suffering from "Football Culture Shock"

Culture shock is often referred to as the experience an exptriate or tourist travelling to a new country goes through.

Did you ever think culture shock could happen to a premiership footballer?

There are many well documented examples of footballers experiencing culture shock in terms of moving to the UK and not being accustomed to the language or people.

However, the Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger has exposed another form of culture shock - football culture shock.

German striker Lukas Podolski has been under attack as he doesn’t seem to be coping with the physical intensity of English football and thus not performing as he once did.

Recently, the football player, who was signed from Köln for a little under 11 million pounds this summer, has been "a bit less fresh." 

However, Wenger thinks we should give Podolski a break because he is simply suffering from 'football culture shock'!

According to Wenger, football in Germany is a little less physically demanding, while players in England like to speed things up a little.

Wenger does think Podolski will overcome his initial shock: "He has a very good spirit and he wants to do very well… he will get used to it."

Maybe it’s time for "football cultural awareness training"? :)