When Arsenal signed Petr Cech from London rivals Chelsea it was regarded as a major coup for Arsene Wenger’s side. Cech was expected to reinforce the Arsenal back line, to make the defensive aspects of the team much stronger. Pundits and players alike recognised that Cech would win us an extra ’10-15′ points a season with his strong performances in goal. Cech did save us from dropping points on many occasions last season, although it still wasn’t enough to guide the Gunners to the title.
Speaking to the media, Cech stated he was disappointed with how Arsenal turned out last season and he had expected better from his new side. Cech said: ‘We were disappointed. We thought that we were good enough to challenge for the title and to be in the title race until the last game. Unfortunately, Leicester did remarkably well and it was a historical achievement for them. We couldn’t match them but we finished second which was the best finish for Arsenal for a long time. There were a lot of positives from our last campaign but obviously we would like to carry that on and improve for the next season because we finished empty-handed and that is not what we wanted.’
Although Cech is disappointed with Arsenal’s performances over the course of the campaign, we must not forget that he was at fault himself on a few occasions. Cech is a world class goalkeeper, arguably one of the very best worldwide. However last season he proved on more than one count that even he has to own up to a mistake every now and then. Cech largely disappointed on the opening day against West Ham, as well as made a few mistakes over the second half of the season.
Hopefully Cech and the rest of the squad have their wits about them come the first game of the season this year, so we can build on for a strong and successful start to the campaign. But I think we can all agree that we will only be able to go the distance if we get that top striker that we didn’t have last season.
Let’s NOT be disappointed this season.
AH