The 2015/16 season is just about to start in earnest – with the curtain raiser at Wembley between Chelsea and Arsenal competing for the Community Shield this afternoon. With Mourinho hogging all the headlines for his latest rant at Wenger, you may be forgiven for thinking that this match is important only for him.
One more player who would feel the importance of every minute on Sunday would be Petr Cech. The former Blues keeper joined Arsenal early this transfer window in a deal that many thought would be the game changer for the North London club. For years, this has been a problem position for Wenger. Cech brings with him experience of winning 13 major trophies spanning 11 years at the Stamford Bridge.
Wenger will be happy that he has Cech on his books at the third time of asking. He tried to sign the youngster from Rennes in 2004. Then, in 2013, there was an enquiry to his status when Thibaut Courtois was heading back to Chelsea. He was knocked back both the times.
This time, Wenger sealed the deal. The icing on the cake was the inability of his arch nemesis Jose Mourinho to prevent it. Cech enjoys a great rapport with the Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich. Mourinho wanted to sell Cech abroad – so that Wenger doesn’t get him. Abramovich was far more cordial and believed that Cech earned the right to decide his next move after so many years of service.
With Courtois already making the goalkeeper position his own at Chelsea, Cech did not want another season on the bench. For all his talent and experience, it certainly is not the right place to ply his trade. Now it is revealed that Wenger is the real reason that Cech decided to become a Gunner.
It’s also true that staying in London suited Cech and his family. But, that is not the primary reason for joining Arsenal. A conversation with Le Prof sealed the deal. He then moved on to showcase his talents on the training ground.
Cech said: ‘It will be an unknown feeling for me to play against Chelsea. Once I am on the pitch there is no other option — I want to win.
‘The only concern I have is whether I can win the game for Arsenal. That’s the way it goes and obviously I have a huge connection with Chelsea football club from the 11 years I spent with the club. But for those 90 minutes or 120 minutes — however long it takes to play the game — there are no friends.’
There is no doubt that Cech is a world-class keeper and still has some years of service left in his body. Spending almost the entire last season on the bench should have done wonders to his fitness because he can prolong his career now.
All it remains to be seen is if he can bring his clean sheet record to the Emirates. His obsession with keeping clean sheets is well known for the Blues. If he can replicate that at Arsenal, Wenger can finally smile against Mourinho.
Sridhar
OFF TOPIC
we damn need a TOP TOP TOP striker…. theo walcott is not physically and technically mechanized for that position. he will definitely perform against a mediocre and average team like the spuds but not against a formidable team in any country. however, i have a wry smile on my face whenever i read fans agitating for theo to fit into that over size shoes and a huge vacuum which eclipse is natural ability to perform against a world class team. he’s best a winger even cazorla ones acknowledge theo should stick to the wings. Wenger can promise heaven on earth but he will never utilize theo on a permanent bases but a temporary occasion.
Benzema will be an upgrade to some extent but i hope we acquire a Lewandoski or a cavani. Fingers crossed…… COYG it’s high-time Arsene shut that maweeeno to the oblivion
In what kind of dream world do you guys live in to think we can get Lewandowski or Benzema or Reus for that matter. They simply DON’T WANT to move clubs this summer. They themselfs and their agents have said it noumurous of times. Plus their is no way either of the clubs is selling. None of them are in desperate need of money.
So do yourselfs a favour and stop with this top top striker nonsens, its not Happening.
There is a chance we could get Benz but no lewy or cavani. Plus cavani is not as good as most fans here think he is. The best option for us would have been Jackson Martinez. We missed out on him cuz Wenger does not want a new striker. As simple as that. If he wanted a striker he would have signed Martinez without any hesitation. And don’t give me the crap about Martinez not being good enough. If he wasn’t good enough a big team like at.Madrid wouldn’t have signed him so early.
You dont Rate Cavani but you are the one who thinks Giroud is good enough for Arsenal, Right?
We could get Cavani (if we are actually looking for a new CF!! Which I doubt). Depends if Zlatan moves on. If he does Cavani will get the central role he desires.
And whoever thinks Cavani is not that good/overatted etc..try checking out his stats first.
Except for the fact that Theo has a great record against the best teams.
we need a new manager and give wenger ghost work to keep him busy at the emirates or maybe appoint him to a more senior role because we just cant fire him…arsene is just not hungry for success as we are and therefore we need someone who shares our hunger…now am very optimistic about our chelsea game but the bare fact that arsene has never beaten mourinho in 13 games makes me think twice…this clearly proves that wenger doesn’t know how to develop new tactics or ideas and takes the same approach no matter what game we play…the final piece of the puzzle will surely be a new manager….save these AKB’s and after our game slate, mock or say whatever you want to me…i know that wont happen because we the enlightened know exactly what will happen
Plastik, I second that. Time for a change. If Wenger doesn’t win the bpl this year it’s all over. Pep would be available next year,or klopp or Martinez a host of names ready to take over at the Emirates. I’m sure they won’t be scared to sign new players and get rid of players like flamini and arteta. Until when do we have to go on with this crap system?what’s up with one WC player each window???why can’t we just sign 3 WC players in one window??? We have the fkin sources ready!!!
@seancali
LMFAO…Like it’s you all who decides…
@seancali i see light at the end of the tunnel coz the old man is aging fast now…with the increased pressure in the premier league, erectile dysfunctions and a host of other age related ailments am happy to announce that we will not wait for another like 10yrs to see a new manager in the club…time is on our side here and a little more patience is all we need….we are almost….here we come canaan!!!!
great business anyway
Posting about how we need a top top striker when we are discussing about Our goallie,won’t make the striker available.
Anyway,Cech, lets go for BPL trophy this season, nothing less.
acc to Spanish media AS Arsenal are an attractive option for Karim because of Arsène Wenger & the presence of the FRENCH core in the team
Alfredo Relano: “The logic is leading to Cristiano being Real Madrid’s “9” this season & Benzema on the bench as a result Rafa Benitez prefers Ronaldo as a striker & he is asking the club INDIRECTLY to get a RW IF Real Madrid can manage to sell Karim for €65m, then they have a chance of investing that money on a SUPERSTAR .”
IF Benzema does leave the club, Aguero, Llorente, Mayoral & Morata are the candidates to replace him even reus is also an option for Madrid
65 mil Euros for benzema???? Are you kidding???he’s worth 55 Max!!!!why didn’t we sign Jackson???why????
would rather prefer reus he is 26 while benz will be 28 soon
Reus doesn’t want to move to the Emirates. If he wanted to move it would be for real or barca. Let’s just pray real get him so we can at least get benzema. I seriously bwould have preferred Jackson. He is a deadly striker. Perfect fit for us, but we didn’t take advantage of his availability and fked it all up.
he already turned down barca that’s why they signed turan Madrid depends if they want him we have a good chance & we were close to signing him last season till his injury happened wenger is big fan of him
For God sake this team is almost complete, all we need right now is a top quality STRIKER and an upgrade to Mikel Arteta !
Please cut the usual stories and get it right this time.
Also good to see Petr Cech means business.
COYG! Arsenal 3 – 1 Chelsea come the end of the game……. I’m optimistic!
Spot on petr! Coyg!
Get used to Wembley, Cech. We go there a lot at Arsenal.
All eyes would be on Cech when he take the pitch. Hope he shows us what we have been missing but we also need our Defense to be on their very best to protect him from unnecessary attempts on Gaol by Ch£l$€#.
As we all know Arsenal
is a rich oil club and can
afford just about any one
so I am still expecting a top
attacker and a DM before Sept.
We all are expecting a striker and DM but Wenger has other ideas. He thinks flamini and arteta are enough to do the job for us. If I was in charge I would fking release flamini. Would sell him for 500,000. Anything we get from him would be a win situation for us.he’s that useless at the moment. I still can’t believe Wenger offered arteta a new deal. Weshould have let him go. Big mistake!!!!
we should stick to tradition with charity-shield matches, teams always had one or two youth players and we should do the same today,
Bellerin 19
Iwobi 19
Chambers 20
Gnabry 20
Hopefully a couple of these young
players will make the squad for tomorrow.
@jeff which record?
he will only give you flashes here and there, critically access is performance over a 90min tensed, physical and technically demanding game he’s either struggling or finding is foot before hitting the ground running. scoring a goal doesn’t justify is all round performance on a particular match, he basically does more harm than good. literally saying he is prone to many mistakes for instance goal misses (1 on 1), retaining possession, hold up play, poor goal conversion rate against a “formidable team”, inaccurate passes, struggles when backing a defender(s) and he’s not good in the air.
do a index performance report on theo’s performance when top striking you’ll realize he’s not as efficient as being utilized in his natural position and it makes the team unbalance physically and cohesively.
There is so much wrong with this comment. Are you even talking about Walcott anymore? Have you actually seen this guy play or are you confusing him with some other player?
@ceezee
Its the truth Tidan.
As for now as we are we are good enough for the 4th place, so i think that Wenger wont get us any new big player in. The moment it gets tricks and our cl money is in danger, only then we will get new players.
I know you disslike to hear it. But a team who wants to win the Epl and not just pretend to do push from the start. They dont say maybe we will win, but they do say we will win it. Arsenal is all about the maybes and the Ifs.
If we had top striker we would maybe win the epl. If we had a back up dm we would maybe win the leuage. If my ount had some balls i would call him uncle. etc
My aunt has balls and weirdly she is called fanny!
Lol
Van Gaal said they would win it?
Pelligrini said they would win it?
I’de even love to see the quote where the arrogant one claimed he would win it this coming season.
@ tidan
YEAH! in accurate fact for the past 9 gracious years. he’s the only player after slice bread revolution to be given the whole 9 yards to develop in Arsenal. over hyped, over celebrated and very inconsistent. Look he’s not an henry esque or a striker is best shot to a top player is at the wings and i indulge you to stop day dreaming ! at 26 he is not gonna become a world class player any time soon however he is a confused player, he belief he is a striker where as all is attribute suggest a winger. we don’t need a rocket scientist to actualize is phenomenal style of play or where he best fit in.
Not sure what his 9 years “of development” have to do with any of this discussion. Or his age for that matter.
You said he can’t be a striker because of what you have seen in his performances, and that we should all examine his 90 minute performances to see ourselves. Well, how many times has he actually played as ST, and how many of those times was it for a full match because I can’t remember many at all. There were only two last season and he scored 3 in one and 1 in the other.
Now, knowing there isn’t really enough matches to assess his ST ability, I presume you mean how well he has done as RW and what qualities as RW could be used to assess him as a ST.
“not good at 1v1s”, are you seriously trying to suggest that a player who gets plenty of 1v1s should be criticised because he doesn’t convert enough of them into goals? You do realise that even Aguero and Costa only have a conversion rate of 25% at best.
He’s not a target man so hold up play and heading don’t really apply.
“He doesn’t score goals against formidable opposition” – just look that up yourself, he has scored plenty of goals against the top teams so this is just a blatant lie.
struggles with back against defenders – no kidding, when does he ever attempt to do this, he is always looking for the run.
Hope Petr has a blinder.
Would be good for him to make a superb save early on to get the crowd and team fired up!
@ tidan
Get a tape or stream the emirate wolfburg match it highlight most of my claims. it is not a witch hunt but the brutal truth. yes! i may be critical about theo but i observe him passionately and closely to actually wanting to share fans sentiment.
Apparently, like you have said he hasn’t been given enough chance to prove is striking mettle as a top striker which i can confidently tell you that it is because Wenger doesn’t see him as a formidable and deadly striker. he is good but not as good as his religious follower eulogizes him, he was suppose to be the next best phenomena after the great henry but he is yet to fulfill that media/fans messi like forecast.
i am an optimist with a realistic view, i want the best for Arsenal and i want the best for theo and i want both to succeed that’s a deadly two prong attack but theo as THE MAIN STRIKER IS A NO NO.
I did watch that match, Walcott had 3 great chances and converted 1. This is what happens in most of his matches; the reason he “goes missing” is because he doesn’t demand the ball and try to get into the build up play, he only tries to offer runs behind the defence, he only wants the ball if it directly leads to chances.
Completely agree that in the past Wenger didn’t think he was ready but I think he is changing his mind slowly, he will still be utilised on the wings with Giroud upfront but more as a inside forward (I think that’s what the name is, plays on the wings when defending but moves central in attacks when he wants) and sometimes alone in the front.