Arsenal keeper Petr Cech will return to his former club Chelsea as sporting director after the Europa League final at the end of this month according to reports in the British media today.
It was hardly a surprise but the timing of the appointment does raise a very significant question.
Should Cech be selected by Unai Emery in the final?
Now, I covered this exact topic just a few days ago here and concluded that Emery should start Bernd Leno, however, that was based on ability and before this announcement was made.
If Cech was to start I would still trust him to be professional and play to his best ability but the situation is now very different than what it was just yesterday and creates a whole new set of distractions and complications that we do not need in the build up.
There is already a reaction on social media with some fans convincing themselves he will play below par and favour his former club as well as questioning how he will perform if the game goes to penalties and so on.
And imagine if he was to make a mistake in the final or be at fault for a goal, you just know how some fans will react to that.
Of course, we will not know the team until an hour before kick-off but Emery could easily come out in advance and clarify the situation one way or another.
It is bad enough that Henrikh Mkhitaryan will not be part of the squad due to the utter incompetence of UEFA and now we have to contend with the fact that our potential starting keeper will be joining our opponents after the final, I mean, you could not make this up.
In fairness to Cech, he has since come out and tweeted that he will make a decision after the final but to me, that just seems a bit of cover your ass and was absolutely void of any denial. You can take it to the bank he is joining them and his tweet was simply an exercise in distraction, which is the point I am making.
Despite the news today as I had already said to everybody before , I’ll make decision about my future after the last game . Now my sole focus is to win the EL with @Arsenal .
— Petr Cech (@PetrCech) May 21, 2019
So, in my opinion, Cech is now a distraction that we do not need and while I agree he should be named in the squad, he should not be selected as the starter by the manager, he is not our number one keeper, he is not as good as Leno and is a complication we can do without.
Unai Emery must do the right thing and do what is in the best interests of Arsenal football club and not Petr Cech.
I doubt if any player would want to put in a bad performance in their last ever top tier game.
The fans are so fickle
Cech has more reason to win than Chelsea. For one he will get a winners medal in his final top flight match. 2 Chelsea have already qualified for the champions League, whereas his current club have not used in it for the last 2 seasons. Yes it’s bad timing and has probably been leaked by a Chelsea fan in a weak attempt to cause exactly the scare mongering that people like admin are doing now. But personally I see this coming out as boost, because Cech will now have the eyes of the world on his professional integrity.
My team
Cech
Sokratis koscielny monreal
AMN Torreira Xhaka Kolasinac
Ozil
Lacazette Aubameyang
Leno, lichsteiner, Jenkinson, mustafi, elneny, Guendozi, iwobi, Welbeck, willock, nketiah, saka, holding (if fit) if not ameachi
Good reasons
Cech surely knows he would be condemned by both clubs’ fans and punished badly by the authorities if he supports match fixing
Favouring Chelsea will be too risky for him. Dropping him would also be damaging to the team’s morale, because Cech was the one that fought with them till the semifinal, not Leno
Good reasons? what do you mean good reasons, the truth is Cech’s not good enough. Can’t understand so many stupid posts on here with people wanting to play Cech. It’s a European final, Champions League at stake. Unbelievable the amount of people who post on these pages who know nothing about football. Sentiment don’t win you nothing.
Kenny…a voice of reason in the debate.
What I want to see happen is that Leno plays, UE comes out and explains that, despite being offered a role at Arsenal (That’s what I read) he has decided to go back to his club of choice, putting extreme pressure on both him and our club for the final.
This is, surely, a wonderfully timed leak from Chelsea, ensuring that it causes the most upheaval to our squad just before the final…let’s play them at their game then and announce imeediately that Leno will start the game.
You have to give it to Chelsea though, timed it just right in my opinion.
It must mean they are worried about us and if we look at the two league games, they certainly need to…Leno for me anyway.
Suicidal! To reed Cech in your team ends all hopes. When Man U won it, they played De Gea for the final, not before seminfinals…The best team must bé played, Leno is in it.
Cech is too close to Chelsea, I think his son already plays there in the youth setup.. This is our biggest game of the season therefore we should play our strongest lineup which would include Bernd Leno I wouldn’t worry too much about Cechs feelings, after all he’ll be rejoining his beloved Chelsea after the game. Also He’s already won the Champions League and Europa League so Leno should start as he might never have this opportunity again!
?
He can’t be trusted now. If he drops a clanger whether intentionally or by mistake, no doubt there will be allegations concerning match-fixing. If loanees cannot play against parent clubs, then of course Cech should not be allowed now that it has been revealed he is off to Chelsea. Why should we even play him anyway? He is retiring, has no incentive to keep his position or get the number one from Leno. He should be dropped.
Courtois played against Chelsea in a CL semi while on loan at atletico from Chelsea, didn’t put a foot wrong 😉 but then again Cech is potentially playing his last match against his future employers so there’s room for error that will cost us dearly
Exactly. 2 reasons to not play him, Leno is safer and Cech goes to Chelsea. Crazy to announced this now but good’; we do not have to play him. The all team must feel weird now, not reassured, they think about it for sure, it is major news. Players have this in mind, scared already as we are. Not fare from him towards players and fans to not consider this and not resign since news leaked. Do we need to all pray for an injury before game.Mr Chelsea director? Resign!
This is just a mind game deployed by Chelsea hoping to cause distraction… I believe Cech mind has been made up on his future and there might be an agreement already… Cech coming out to disband the rumor is not enough. There is no smoke without a fire… He should be drop if concern about him is this much, apply same to him as applied to micki if there can’t be guarantee as the match is not just an ordinary match… He Cech is a one man not the whole squad there is someone better than him in Leno start him and avoid what might come next…. Arsenal as a whole needed the match to be won than Cech would ever want… He is a Risk as of now…. Irrespective of his great sportsmanship… We are all humans Emotions can be swayed
Cech is professional
He will be fine
The phycology of Cech could slip up during the final…its human…..so Leno is obvious for me…..wish Cech all the best but not for this final
I think there can be no doubt that Emery thinks Leno is his best keeper. To me, this means he should start Leno in the most important game for Arsenal this season and for our future.
Could Cech be only 99% motivated? Possibly. Could he have just a little bit of a feeling, that if we loose, at least the club closest to his heart win? Maybe.
Those doubts should be taken seriously, and he should be benched or maybe even taken out of the squad. Arsenal should show intent, not compromise.
Dropping check is an insult
That simple paint it how ever
U may like but his our Europa
Keeper and no reason to be
Dropped who said Leno can’t
Cause us the match with his
Errors… it’s about the squad not
About cech
Leno indeed… We already have enough defense issues. Cecz will mise us this game. Chelsea wants this trophy Bad. Hazard wanna offer this to his fans before to go…
Think cheq would never let us down intentionally
But they will be too much pressure on him to not make a mistake , anyways it will be good for leno to play in a final ,
Bring on cheq for last 10mins when were 2 up
Pointless taking any risk…we do not know where his loyalty may be,he spent over a decade at Chelsea and now a potential sporting director standing the post for us, oh no,we have better option than taking the risk. If I were Ptre ,I will not accept being the keeper because any mistake no matter how little will not be taken lightly by the fans
If I was Cech I’d graciously step down. Can you imagine the fans fury if he made a genuine howler?
This is a situation that I can relate to both sides.
A true dilemma. Glad UE has to decide not me.
Quite unfortunate that we are in this situation and I am sure Emery is equally confused.
We need to be in the champions league and this is our only hope,therefore we must play our best available players in every position.Which begs the question,who is our best keeper?the answer is Leno.Secondly,who will be around next season to enjoy the benefit of playing champions league if we win?(Leno).Then Leno has it.Sounds unfair to Petr but he should understand our situation.
And that sums it up in a nutshell, especially the part about next season…Cech will be plotting to beat us in every game we play 2019/20, let’s just be ruthless and sensible about this for goodness sake!
Exactly Ken, throw the sentiment out the window along with the sentimentalists. All these idiots feeling sorry for Cech. Call themselves Football fans, Huh, laughable
I find it hard to believe that so many gullible fans out here are calling for Cech to be left alone.
One very important question I want to ask is this: Did Guardiola use another GK for other cup ? No he relied on Ederson. Same goes with liverpool. See please let’s call a spade a spade, Cech has been offered a deal with Chelsea and this is an opportunity to replace him with our best goalie.
I pray Unai Emery sees this, our win is important than any risk he decided to take so if he picks Cech and we lose then he should know that he will never be forgiven. He has been warned!
Drop Cech