So far it is looking like Petr Cech will be Arsenal’s only high-profile signing of the season, and after our embarrassing defeat to West Ham it was looking debatable as to whether the predictions that he would gain us 12 points a season were to become true.
It was not a very good start by the big Number One, but Per Mertesacker, who is playing just in front og him every week, is absolutely certain that Cech will improve from that worrying start. Per said on Arsenal.com: “He is very experienced,”
“You can feel that, he has lots of things to say in the dressing room he gives us a great lift.
“Even when we lose a game, he has some great ideas on and off the pitch. He is very important for us and a good addition.
“He is experienced enough to think about what went wrong [against West Ham], you don’t have to tell him. My feeling is he comes back even stronger, so there is no doubt he will be a great addition for us.
“There was not just one mistake [against West Ham] – when a goal happens, there are always three of four small mistakes a lot of the time. It was more down to us to analyse what went wrong in general, and there was a lot.
“Last week was a reminder to ourselves to be aware that everywhere in the Premier League there is big competition.”
“The interaction between the goalkeeper and the back four has to be top to compete in the Premier League,”
“Petr came and had that understanding from the start, we both communicate well and understand each other as someone who has to talk and is really responsible. We match our ambitions on the pitch, and so it is great to communicate with him.”
We hope Cech doesn’t have to think about what went wrong when we lose very often, but it is obvious there was a lack of communication with the defenders during the Hammers defeat. There were definitely less mistakes against Crystal Palace, but we are not talking about a game against a team like Man City. The jury is still out on Cech as far as I am concerned, and with the opening day loss he is now going to be hard pushed to match Ospina’s record last year.
Who still thinks he can win us 12 extra points this season?