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…..
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