Because a goalkeeper has a unique job, he is subject to a lot more scrutiny than Arsenal’s outfield players, and although Petr Cech made one comedy error against Man City in the opening game, not to mention a couple of dodgy passes yesterday, he is still learning Emery’s new tactics as much as the rest of the squad. The fact is that (bloody stats!) he saved 18 out of 24 shots our opponents made on his goal in the first three games, and yesterday his pass accuracy was 63% (as opposed to Cardiff’s goalie which was 32%), so his couple of bloomers can only be expected when you are learning a new system, if you are in a reasonable mood….
Every one of our outfield players make mistakes much more often (Xhaka!) but it hardly gets noticed in the grand scheme of things. The important thing for Cech is that Emery sees how good his overall performances have been and he defended our Number One after the game. “He’s progressing,” he said. “He has experience and he is intelligent and he is doing what we want to do to win with our jobs and work on the pitch.
“It’s very important for me to continue doing this and improving. If you play every time long balls, you lose possession and momentum.
“We take risks in moments of the match, but when you break their pressing on the pitch you can find space for attacking the opposition.”
So if Emery is happy with Petr, why should the pundits and fans attack him when he is obviously doing a good job? Arsenal fans should start looking at the bigger picture…..
Admin
Cech should have been shipped out in the summer.
Arsenal should be about preparing for the future and not living in the past.
Cech has had his day – in fact, his day was had several years before we signed him.
Give Leno the No 1 jersey and lets plan for the future…
No, he has been doing good since Leno came
His experience has been helping us and we would see how Leno performs in the Europa League
The article author is spot on, we should look at the bigger picture
I still think his reflexes was slow Cech seamed a split second slow at trying to save the second goal by Danny Ward,
Arsenal always use to started with possession from the back so i really don’t know why Emery is confusing the team,
as a team we have a lot of strength going forward other teams should fear us but we also still have stupid defensive mistakes, i think Bellerin and Monreal play too far up front they are never available on counter attacks and thats because we don’t have natural wingers in midfield , i still think Danny Wellbeck would do a real good job on the left wing and that will stop our left backs from venturing our to far but there are no one on the right wing, keep Ramsey and Mkhitaryan sell or give Ozil away and buy a natural r/winger that way we can get rid of Belerin who i think has nothing to offer
Yeah,wandering how its as if we have been playing long balls,we always build attack from the back under Wenger too.can anyone tell me how Emery’s style is different and making it difficult for check and co.
@Shekar233 make’s a good point below, the further back we start the further the opposition is from parking the buss in their box like they always do for us and that will free up space for the likes of Ozil who don’t like to have any opposition players around him to play football
Leon,I think it’s very difficult to drop a goalkeeper who makes saves every week,I mean good saves,cech has been our best player this season
Passing the ball straight to Arter!! Thankfully it didn’t result in a goal! He nearly scored an own goal the other week…. playing this way clearly doesn’t suit him!
Sounds like we’re going to have to persevere with this then…..
Still trying to get my head round the fact that we’ve let in 8 goals already! 8!! ?
Since Cech is a left footed player why when players are passing the ball back to him put it to his right foot which means he has to take a touch to put it onto his stronger left foot to clear which gives the opposition players opportunity to put him under pressure that’s when mistakes happen.
Cech & Sokratis putting each other under pressure like that is not pretty!
Good post Admin-Did I read somewhere that Arsenal have allowed more shots on goal than any other Premiership team?Of so then that is the issue not Cech who has played well in every game this season except when asked to play the ball out from the back.At 36 he is very unlikely to turn himself into Johan Cryuff overnight with the ball at his feet so we should not be blaming the keeper should we?I agree with Emery decision to keep Cech in the side because he has not played poorly this season.He has probably been our most consistent player if you look at the total stats.Leno will come into the side at some stage no doubt.When he does I am interested to see exactly how good he is with the ball at his feet and how he can consistently build play from the back.
I understand what Emery is saying which is “Break the pressure they put on the keeper and we are then free to attack”.But I still believe it is more the fact that it is very difficult to pick out the players to pass it to if they are all being tightly marked close to our penalty area.This was very noticeable yesterday in the first half so what option did Cech have at times other than to launch it forward?
This squad is still a work in progress and Emery will no doubt be wanting to bring some more players in the next few transfer windows ( funds permitting of course) is it’s certainly going to be interesting.Both CB’s look just as uncomfortable as Cech but I would say all credit to them all for attempting to play the way the Manager is asking.Its a pity it’s making them look worse than actually are.
8 goals conceded already is a major problem and to be fair most of them our own doing in trying to implement Emerys new tactics. Getting the old habits out of the players after Arsenes tenure is going to be the hardest job of all for Unai.
Cech is 36 & for him to learn a new trick isn’t going to happen in 2months or maybe at all for that matter but dropping him will happen when Leno is ready. Out of respect I think from Unai, plus he’s our on field captain too as to why Cech remains no1. To be fair he has messed up a few times from passing out from the back but has kept that goal difference down a good bit with some great saves already this season. This is his last season with us also.
Torreira has shown in his small cameos that he’s ready for the fight & has to start next game away to Newcastle. Who starts beside him though? I’d give Xhaka another go alongside Lucas & see how it works because as soon as he came on yesterday, Granit along with the 2CBs seemed lot more comfortable with that protection infront of them.
Auba & Laca ready to rock up front so Mesut in the AM role behind them could be a real threat as the goal yesterday was played from Mesut to Laca, flicked on by him to Auba & then Auba finishes with an Henry of old type of finish.
Again we miss a natural winger to open games up & make the pitch big to play our football but Welbz has me thinking he could do a good job or do whatever have all asked put Lechsteiner at RB then Bellerin on the wing.
Great to get the win, it will take time for this all to work & clique but we have to be patient with everyone as this is all new to them, so a nice win before international break was what we needed.
Sean, I totally agree; start Torreira as DM and Lichtsteiner as RB and Arsenal’s defense will improve greatly. Xhaka does play better alongside Torreira. Welbeck and Bellerin as wingers is an option; Welbeck will press and won’t let the team down defensively and the revised back four under Lichtsteiner’s leadership can concentrate on defending.
I just can’t understand why Emery won’t start Torreira or acknowledge the leadership and solidity to the defense Lichtsteiner can bring.
i have started to see some improvement in the player applying the tactics of emery. It still look disjointed and ugly at times which is responsible for the high number of goal conceded but also some beautiful play when everything fell in place.
Four league matches in.Not one clean sheet.Same defensive problems as we had under Wenger.Reason? Apart from Socratis, Emery is fielding the same players who failed us last year.Solution? Emery to bring in the signings he made in the close season at the expense of Czech,Mustafi , Bellerin and Xhaka.Simple?Nothing to do with the big picture.Focus on the facts the four players mentioned are not good enough individually and collectively.Give young Man a chance.He is the one centre back on our books with the stature and speed to be a success in the Premier League.
Our defence has been back, hence making it difficult for Cech. I know the team would grow with time.
Emery always knew he needed defenders.. He is not a fool… He knows the problem of arsenal but he needs money to sort that defense out…..i know he would still buy another left footed cb and a winger…i just feel if we can get those two excellent players we are good to go… He would give koscielny and the other centre backs time to prove themselves…..but deep down I pray mavrapanos does well in the Europa league….if you watch the match yesterday you would see why lichstenier can never start ahead of bellerin in the league… Emery values bellerin pace and uses him like a rb/winger since we don’t have a natural winger… Lichstenier can never offer that.. So let’s calm down on this lichstenier/bellerin debate and hope that Bellerin keeps improving his all round game
Sorry but Lichtsteiner has proven at Juventus and in the Swiss National team that he is a class above Bellerin as a RB. He would provide the leadership, tactical awareness, discipline and mental strength that is currently missing in Arsenal’s back four. Also Lichtsteiner has looked good going forward inthe international matches I have sern him play.
Torreira must start as DM.
Not only that ozziegunner, he would bring stability while we get to grips with the idea of playing out from the back.
Really cannot understand why all five new signings have not been seen once this season playing together.
I assumed we bought these five to improve the squad!
Still I guess we will have to trust in Emery’s selections for now, can’t help thinking there is more to come from this man.
He certainly believes in doing it his way and seems to have the players behind him that’s for sure.
Both emery and fans who are supporting cech are either not aware of the facts or chosing to conveniently ignore them.
The whole point of passing from the back is tje find spaces up the field. If you look at either city or liverpool they do play from the back …but the goal keepers have excellent passing range. Unfortunately cech doesnt have it…
This is exactly the reason why Hart was replaced with ederson at city.
When you pass from the back it is to invite pressing from the strikers(and midfielders dont press), which creates space for our full backs who are at the half way line.
And if the opposition also allows thier midfielders to press along with the strikers that opens up spaces in midfield which has to be exploited by the GK by passing over the top to one of our midfielders and eventually should be passed quickly to the wingers who must start making runs even before the midfielder recieves the ball.
This is exactly why liver pool are so succesfull.. Allison invites strikers to his feet and passes it to CBs who again invite the opposition midfielders to press which will create space in midfield and the ball goes back to allison again who eventually passes to either keita or wijnaldum. Suddenly the ball is played down to either mane or salah who are super quick.
And the same goes with city…but the added advantage city have is that ederson can find the strikers with and excellent long ball as well which allison is not quite good at yet. Best example is the ball to aguero agaisnt newcastle.
The same cant be said about cech… you can look up all the 4 matches and see that every time he passes(or kicks) up the field with his feet he rarely finds our players ..its almost zero success rate.only option he is comfortable with, is the short passes to CBs or FBs.
Even in the half time show the panel of experts consisting of glenn hoddle and tim sherwood were surprised about why this type of passing from the back is played week in week out even after repeatedly beimg caught out… Hoddle said “What is the point of passing between the GK , CBs and inviting press when you are unable to find your midfielders who are in space?”
Spot on analysis if you ask me…
Leno should be given a chance atleast now…take the pressure of cech for a few games. And play cech in EL and try thjs passing style in EL with him when we play teams like vorslka and others…not against PL teams.
Another point i am baffled with is the inclusion of xhaka in the starting line up week in and week out.
What exaclty do they see in him? First it was wenger and now it is emery. He is the reason we are struggling in midfield.
He doesnt offer strength in midfield like matic nor is he quick to track back. He gives away the ball too easily when he is pressed tight and sometimes even when not pressed as well… Not good in air, used to have a good long shot when he joined and seems to have lost it with our obsession with sideways passing. So what exactly does he offer ?other than those short passes to the player just 5yards away from him and those long passes across the field to the flanks? I think coaches have ro work on xhka to increase his agility and mobility …he is extremely heavy footed.
Our best midfield would be to use guendouzi and torriera…they both have a natural instinct to pass the ball forward than this xhaka and ramsey who are convenient in passing the ball to the CBs or FBs.
Good comment.
You can add, that we lack attacking players, who can win the ball, if Cech (or another goalkeeper) kicks it long and high. Lacazette is the only one likely to win a heading duel, and that is a missing piece, at the moment.
good comment,
its becoming obvious that Ozil has lost the plot and cannot link midfield with forwards anymore he looks like a broken man and hates his trade
Excellent Analysts Shekar and absolutely correct
Playing from the back is risky for all goalkeepers. Alisson (Leicester v Liverpool at the weekend), Hugo Lloris at the World Cup. So Cech is not alone.
Sure, Allison made a mistake but he still looks competent when playing out from the back, Cech looks a bag of nerves every time the ball’s at his feet.
Usually, even with the top teams, they begin games carefully, and never do what Peter Cech did against City, Chelsea and Cardiff. Nobody starts the game off passing to players who are on the edge of the box and being pressed. It’s not possible to be more stupid and suicidal. If it’s an order from Emery then I am flabbergasted. Drop Cech and Xhaka and the team will get it’s sanity back.
With respect Admin, you don’t learn a simple thing like passing the ball to one of your own players, it’s a natural thing that all footballers can do. If you take him out of the goal and he’d be better off as a male model. He just can’t play outfield. The sooner Unai replaces him with Leno the better.
Kenny, “male model”? You must mean Hector Bellerin surely?
Right Ozziegunner, What was I talking about? having one of those moments, especially with the skull cap on. Trying to think the most opposite to a footballer.