Saturday, October 5, 2024

Cech: Arsenal have handed advantage to rivals

Petr Cech admits that Arsenal have handed the advantage to their title rivals after two defeats in a week left them nine points adrift of leaders Chelsea in fourth place.

Despite taking an early lead the Gunners endured AMAIM (another miserable afternoon in Manchester) as Leroy Sane and David Silva scored in the second half to seal the points for Pep Guardiola’s side. The 2-1 scoreline echoed that of Tuesday night’s defeat at Everton where Arsene Wenger’s men also surrendered a lead.

“We are very disappointed,” Cech told Arsenal.com at the Etihad. “We had two games away and we wanted to get as many points as possible, and we have none.

“We are disappointed with that, we’ve given the other teams that are on top the advantage. But there’s a long way to go and we can come back, ideally win the next game and then get on a run.

“Anything can happen so we need to concentrate on ourselves, go back to winning games and we’ll see what the others will do.”

Cech also had his say on whether or not his view for City’s second goal, a strike by Raheem Sterling that beat him at the near post, was impeded by an offside David Silva; something Arsene Wenger raised in his post-game press conference. 

“I have to say that there were players in front of the ball, so I didn’t even see the shot,” he reflected.

“To be honest, there were people running across and I don’t know if one of them was David Silva or not, but I didn’t see the ball because it was behind the players.”

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MeSoHornsey

It was two Arsenal players, not David Silva.

Monreal was poor for that goal and Bellerin was poor, especially with his pace, for not tracking Sane for the first.

Not a good day for our full backs.

Alex

No, no, i disagree, it was Özil’s fault all the way! Sell him, bring back Jack, give a huge pay rise to Dear Alexis and all will be fine again! It’s as simple as that if i believe the fans and the media and the pundits, so why not doing this? After all we all saw based on ten seconds of the 90 minutes that Özil is crap!

Sajjad

Agree about selling Ozil and getting Wilshire back in January. But we should use the Ozil sale to buy Greitzman

clins

ozil was poor . i dont know what game are you watching. he never helps the team defensively which helps the opposite team to dominate the midfield because we are essentially playing with a man down in midfield which finally results in opposition team to win the game. this is what happens everytime we face a top team. its not a coincidence that ozil is poor everytime we face a good team.

monreal had a poor game too. city just destroyed him

oly

Why the eff does Wenger not drop this Ozil or sub him?

JustAGooner

I thought it’s gonna be a different season, world class players that can challenge for tittle blah blah. It turned out to be an annual deja vu…

saps

Stayed off social media to cool off, have some perspective. Kos and Xhaka had shockers, couldn’t make the fabled medium value pass in the 2nd half. Appeared nervous throughout. Cazorla may never play a full season again,missed his technical security. The alternative: Get a ball carrier, will break press! Coq is combative, does great, but bombing forward not his forte. Jack is Jack, will probably get crocked driving forward- with all the subsequent flying tackles. Ramsey, not durable/ physically imposing. We miss a fully fit and firing Diaby/Vieira type player. Any such player in the academy or available via transfer… Read more »

clins

it easy to say jack is not good and all, but this was one game we could’ve used him . we needed someone to carry the ball forward and keep posession and somehow pass it to sanchez. xhaka and coq are def midfielders . they cant do that. while our midfield were struggling at city jack wilshere just had one of his best displays in near futue against a solid team like southampton aginast we struggled again with the same players. he completed 7 out of 9 takeons , provided an assist and had a masterclass performance.

Mpls

I didn’t see enough to say how his performance was relative to others he’s had, but I did notice one detail about Jack’s play in the match v Soton: He repeatedly took simple 1 move dribbles past or away from the opposition players, kept his head, and made a good pass, similar to Santi. Not the hell-for-leather run straight into leg-snappers we’ve seen too much of. It’s almost like he’s getting useful advice and putting it into action. If he can further develop that as a regular part of his game, he’s going to be far better, far healthier, and… Read more »

Dial Square

I watched 2nd half of that game (Cherries vs Saints) so that I could watch Jackie.
Wilshere would have been crucified by the Emirates crowd by half time. The stats showed that he had the most touches, but lost the ball ten times.
In the second half it was more of the same, the librarians at the Emirates would have been horrified

Rambo's Thai Retreat

From what I saw he was really pretty poor against Saints. He gave the ball away far too many times, and while he did get an assist he invariably looked to be doing too much/trying to hard like usual.

oly

If whinger can not find another Vierra like player he will never win the league again!
This might sound odd, but I would actually get someone like Nzonzi or at worst Fellaini, and just ask him to sit, in front of the back 4, and help at set pieces, so a wanker like Ozil is not defending corners!

Ex-Priest Tobin

The chelsea reject should have done better with both goals. Bring Ospina in, he’s a great keeper, Cech is just living off his reputation – a very common problem at our club.

beNZed

Silence dick.

Thanks.

Paternus Shauri

Ospina is the best at the moment but the full back is not physically and tactically strong and every match played show their inconsistency on preventing attacks from our opponents and let them take possession of the ball in our 18 yards,easily penetrate with the ball allowing goals conceding.

lol

He should definitely be stopping the second goal. I hope people keep this game in mind while calculating the number of points he saves us this season. I agree on letting Ospina start now.

Pardews Peaches and Plum Emporium

So he’s gone from the golden glove winner to the a terrible goalkeeper in a couple of months? Well, nice to see people aren’t being over-the-top with their reactions

Vonnie

He’s been living off his reputation for a while now and he’s not the player he was last season. I’ve never seen any goalkeeper put so many goal kicks into touch, deliver them directly to the opposition or even straight through to the opposition goalie. He doesn’t seem to be able to save at his near post and he doesn’t play to the whistle. If he saved first and complained about offside afterwards he might have saved on of those goals. David Ospina is a better goalkeeper than this off form Petr Cech, and I would hate for us to… Read more »

podb

It was all Cech’s fault. All of it. Every loose pass, every shirked tackle, every tactical implosion. Nine pts adrift of a team playing once a week mostly. Shit. Pse Santa, bring us a new bike. The chain has fallen off this one. Most disappointing thing was being dominated by Man City. They are seven pts behind Chelski. NO Aguero, No Fernandinho. Monreal made Sterling look world class. Bring back Gibbs. He won us the FA Cup three years ago. Now win us the league Kieran. Sobs quietly into his morning coffee. Fucking grinch is on us.

cazorla's smile

So people who are down-voting this disagree that he is a chelsea reject? The reason he was out of the first team was performance nothing else.. I don’t mind him being here.. but no he has definitely never been AMAZING for us.. he has had great games.. but all keepers have great games.. but the truly great keepers have very few poor ones.. not so with our Czech Cech.

Bould's Eyeliner

Sorry but unless you’re going to add numbers to those claims, it’s rather meaningless. e.g. In 2017: Courtois has played 23 matches, winning 8, allowing 29 goals. De Gea has played 34 matches, winning 17, allowing 33 goals. Cech has played 33 matches, winning 18, allowing 31 goals. He’s been more than amazing. We’re quickly forgetting how often those ‘1-2 big saves per game’ went to the back of our net in the past. We’re forgetting and getting too used to the authority he provides in the back, etc. He’s been great. I would rate him as the second best… Read more »

Mpls

I agree with you on Cech overall. But it’s hard to watch the near post goals and formality PKs.

I know PK’s are unfair when assessing keepers, but I don’t know that I’ve even seen him get somewhat close to one this season.

oly

I agree, even if whinger signs Manuel Neuer, with our shitty DM and CBs the guy will be made to look ordinary. Whinger is done!

Dial Square

Czech clearances were horrible.
Ospina’s clearances are very very good

Lord Bendnter

What we need is the leaders in the dressing room to scream at the players and the overall performance. We need to get it through our heads that even if we lose, we don’t give up on the pitch. We don’t consider ourselves inferior to ANY opposition. We are THE ARSENAL! It’s time to put away that downbeat mentality of those days of financial trouble way behind us. March thee to that title embarked in glory and flare and slay thy enemy from every corner. Let them fear thee and be amazed by thee, don’t ask for respect, steal it… Read more »

Bergkamp's Chips

We didn’t just hand advantage to our rivals, we’ve pretty much went full Santa to teams above and below us in the table.

Buzzy Gurkha

Hahaha ah yeah let’s go on a run and come crashing down.the ups and down.
Quit playing games with my heart .BSB.

spinner

In other news… bears shit in the woods.

Jacob

Maybe he could have done a little more with the first but he can’t be blamed for the second. And in fairness, he has saved us enough times to be given the benefit of the doubt. Quite sad to see so many turning on him.

A bigger criticism for me is his distribution. As with many aspects of our play, it’s hard to tell how much is a players decision making and how much is an instruction from the manager, but I just don’t see the sense in constantly knocking it long to Sanchez.

Bould's Eyeliner

It was a bit senseless, but when your midfield cannot string three passes together, what else is a keeper going to do? Wenger’s thoughts: “I’ll sub in Ox, for his directness to help deal with their press–space will open up.” “It’s not working, Cech needs to keep going long to relieve pressure to help our team shape reorganize, let’s put on Giroud to win the ball more.” “Oh now, Ox is injured and Giroud has changed jack all. Now I see everyone but Sanchez wondering when the pitch is going to swallow them whole. We need our midfield back. Elneny.”… Read more »

Rambo's Thai Retreat

I thought it was interesting that Pep had commented on how important the seizing the second ball is in the PL, and that was something in the second half they seriously dominated. I found it almost comical at times how one-sided that winning of the second ball seemed, and it can only be down to how much more intent City were on battling to win it. We simply fell short in that desire.

emmanuel ndiokwere

I’ve always said it, there’s something wrong with this arsenal team. I’ve always been sceptical about their commitment and fighting spirit, even when they seemed to be winning. Something is definitely missing in this arsenal team, what it is I don’t know. 2 matches in 5 days, same results same pattern! You start well, score a goal, withdraw into your shells and in the second half you allow your opponents to over run you. You surrender, capitulate! I’ve always wondered if Ozil is really as good as he people think of him. A world class player usually shows up when… Read more »

Alexis The Beast Of London

Rewind back a week ago, it was great being a gunner, even after the champions league draw, I was so optimistic. Fast foward a week later all that is gone. I feel we have throw ourselves out of the premier league in just a week. Plus, if we are going to defend against city how are we going to play bayern? Wengar likes to say we are an attacking team why then dont we do what we know best against the tougher opponents?

Gooooooooooooona

City vice captain Zabaleta wasn’t playing up to the level required and the team was suffering as a result so Pep took him out at half time. Fabregas who is Chelsea’s most technical midfielder couldn’t get a game for Chelsea up until last week because his work rate isn’t good enough. He’s playing with as much passion as he ever did for us and is performing brilliantly. It was so obvious that ozil was suffering from bad form and he needed to be taken out of the firing line for at least a game but Wenger is too worried to… Read more »

Chamakh

None of our players (or any football player) are worth 300k a week but I get your point about not offering crazy money to Ozil.

clins

i’ve been saying the same thing. ozil is a luxury player , the faster we dump him the better . i’m not saying he is talented . he is a brilliant player with ball at his feet. but without it he is a liability . the same thing we always used to say about walcot till last season . never puts the shift in, we cant carry him anymore. against lesser teams it will not harm us but against superior teams he will cause more harm than good. as you said a worldclass player should step up when others fold… Read more »

Gooooooooooooona

No Ozil is a brilliant world class player and possibly the best playmaker in the world at the moment. All I am saying is given the situation we are in with his contract and the power that gives him, if offering him 300k is the only way to keep him then it’s not worth it. I think that would break the wage structure at our club, and before you know it Oxlade Chamberlain will be demanding 200k a week. No matter what we can’t lose both Alexis and Ozil and they both have to stay till their contract is done… Read more »

Jack

Anyone notice that every single goal kick Cech takes will either go to the opposition or out for a throw in?

Chamakh

Yeah his distribution is bad but he is aerially more dominant than Ospina. Ospina is faster though and seems like more capable of stopping shots and coming out of his goal for a through ball.

You can’t blame Cech for the loss but atm teams just need to press our defensive players so that we can’t play from the back which results to long balls to Alexis and Ozil, which they never win.

samoo

He is very poor with the goal kicks. He can’t play a good pass to his players

BromleyGooner

Who do we have out of front four front four who can win a header to save their lives?? Sanchez might be the only one who could in theory but he is up against centre halfs twice his size.

Diarra

Well…um….we have this one guy called Olivier Giroud who is probably one of the best target players out there.

BromleyGooner

And how many games has this Giroud you speak about started in the league this season

InTheNorthBank

Cech deserves respect. He’s a very classy professional and seems like a very decent bloke. He doesn’t deserve name calling and immature backlash. That said, I don’t think he’s of required quality to win us a league. I don’t recall many occasions on which he has won us 3 points. A couple, over the last few season, of course. But it’s not week in week out like it has been with De Gea over previous seasons and Lloris. He lets in a worrying number of shots at his near post; his inability to stop low shots from range is well… Read more »

Little Mozart

I agree with some of what you say but Big Pete does make a lot of successful long passes, as well as his numerous short ones.

Weaknesses considered, there still aren’t many keepers who can contribute as much as Cech to winning a league title.

cazorla's smile

^^^ This

JB

Cech was clearly instructed to punt long every time he got the ball, but surely someone should have realised it was a shockingly bad tactic to just keep giving them possession. This wasn’t a question of poor kicking, but lack of height to the first ball and lack of desire to get to the second ball.

When something is not working 100% of the time; change.

George

Exactly, it was suicidal and very frustrating to watch. Basically, that was a tactic tailor-made for Giroud.

Little Mozart

This season is a long way from over. Get the bad results out of the way now and crack on with winning our remaining fixtures. It’s too easy to embrace the negativity that surrounds this club and it’s tiresome that every bad performance is met met with this kind of reaction from fans. 21 games left to play in the league, with a possible 63 points up for grabs, so the crucial thing here is for our players to go out and play their best to win the remaining matches. If Arsenal were sitting nine points clear at the top,… Read more »

Anonymarse

Very true

Kwame Ampadu Down

People like you talking about an over reaction (as if the reaction is just to one bad result/performance) & about others embracing negativity…well, that to me is much, much, much more tiresome than people having a rant after another stereotypical, gutless Arsenal performance in a big game. Yes, we all love the club and yes Arsene has been fantastic for us & yes, we will probably never see his like again….but we have seen what happened yesterday over & over again. ‘x points down with x games to go, how can you give up on the league’ is such a… Read more »

Anonymarse

A few weeks ago chelsea were out of it and man city were running away with it

Not sure who we will be able to get who is better than Wenger … it looks to me like he is just as good is he always was.

The players are letting him down right now … it’s poor

Kwame Ampadu Down

The difference being Chelsea, City, Liverpool all have new managers. If they fall away a bit, their fans can still hope that the manager will turn it around. On all the evidence available, we know Arsene won’t. Our title challenge is done. Really curious why you would say he looks as good as he always was….could you expand on it a bit. As for the players letting him down….why ? Are they not good enough ? Or fit enough ? Or motivated enough ? Given Arsene is the manager who bought them all, trains them every day, selects them &… Read more »

Wengerballz

So no mention of the disastrous Cech free kick that led to city’s first goal? No-one?

santori

It all stems from midfield the engine room. INsufficient protection leads to pressure at the back and eventually things will go pear shape. Granted we may lose a goal (the equaliser) through some freak deflection but we should have it thereafter to take it to them We did not. The midfield were poor holding possession and keeping the ball. They provided no outlet for us. And we gave away cheap passes. Coquelin was very poor for his usual standards. The keeper and defense need better protection. That would be the midfield fighting to get the ball higher up into their… Read more »

vnet

We will be top of the leauge by the end of Jan or atleast have a chance to when we play chelsea in feb.

Alexstratz

Anything can happen, sure. But will we benefit from it? Or will it be City and Liverpool? Given the scenarios of the last 12 years, I know what I would bet on.

I AM ARSENAL

I think Cech himself should start to come in for criticism..I like him and think he is a great keeper…But both Everton Goals were headed in the 6 yard area…This is a keeper who must know we are not particularly great in the air or defending in general..Yet fails to command his box.
Gets beat from distance fairy regularly and at his near post on several occasions..

santori

People getting a bit carried away with criticism of Ozil. He was POOR on the day. But he is who he is and I don’t think he is going to change. He is excellent when the team is purring. He is not the sort of player that will dig the team out of a hole. Its not a question of replacing him (Its ludicrous to think Jack is without faults either) BUT IMO, we need an option in that position to use when Ozil is not up to a scrap. Ramsey IMO is a player who attacks in the final… Read more »

santori

As far as points are concered, we haven’t done ourselves any favours. Instead we have as per usual shot ourselves yet again in the proverbial foot. BUT it isn’t season’s end and there will be plenty of twist and turns even for the teams ahead of us yet to come. The only thing to do is keep plugging away and get our results. We need to work on our deficiencies and that includes Wenger making sure he is more atuned to pressure on the pitch and intervening in a timely manner to alleviate the pressure for the team. We can… Read more »

emmanuel ndiokwere

It is physical fragility. That’s arsenal’s undoing. Give them space and they will turn you inside out. But press them hard, tackle them hard, choke them and they will capitulate. A good study of two games against Everton midweek and man city Sunday will buttress my point. A good coach tells his team at half time: be physical on them, don’t give them any inch of space. That’s what happened at Everton, same at man city. Arsenal players, with the exception of Alexis run away from 50:50 balls, they are afraid of injuries,but these are the balls that determine the… Read more »

AliDInit

Same o’l Arsenal…allowing no more of my hopes to be raised, the heart can no longer take it!! 🙁

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