Petr Cech says he’s pleased Arsenal found a response to snatch a draw with Bournemouth after going 3-0 down, however, he also admits the manner of the performance and dropped points represent a ‘big but’ on a roller coaster night at the Vitality.
The Gunners looked dead and buried when Ryan Fraser scored the Cherries’ third of the evening but found a way to salvage a point courtesy of goals by Alexis, Lucas and Olivier Giroud.
Reflecting on a tough night, Cech told Arsenal Player: “It’s a great reaction from the team. We were 3-0 down but we found a way to play our game, open them up and score goals.
“We were decisive in the final third and we showed great character to come back.
“There’s a big but, though, because the first 60 minutes was very disappointing from ourselves and it isn’t the win we wanted.”
While the boss was quick to criticise the fixture schedule for the Gunners being slow out of the blocks, Cech was more magnanimous towards the hosts.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Bournemouth because they were fighting for every inch of the pitch in the first half.
“They scored a goal, then won a penalty and I thought they outran us in the first half too. They played better than us but it was also a little down to us as well because we gave them too much space with the ball.
“We went 3-0 down in the second half but then we started doing exactly what we wanted to do.”
We’ll be honest, by this point in the article we thought we’d have managed to shoehorn in more Sir Mix-A-Lot ‘Baby got [come]back’ references.
It’s not for want of trying…
Another thing he cant deny is his slightly dodgy record when it comes to penalties
According to the below article he is still waiting for his first save for Arsenal?
http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/petr-cech/elfmeterstatistik/spieler/5658
Does anyone know f this is correct? Seems odd for such a good keeper?
He has conceded all eight penalties he’s faced in an Arsenal shirt (six this season). We should stop conceding penalties. It’s not conducive to winning football matches easily.
6 already this season! Almost like the referees are keen to award them against us.
Almost like we keep fouling inside the box. Shocking!
Last night’s penalty was not the ref’s fault – Xhaka made the unnecessary foul at the edge of the box.
Wilson was smiling when he saw Cech dive out the way of his poorly struck kick.
If Xhaka’s push was a foul, so was the push on Bellerin for their 3rd goal
No ”If” Xhaka’s push was a foul, period.
4 out of that penalties were conceded by xhaka and monreal. so it is not unlucky or any kind of agendas agiainst us by the referees. its a clear pattern. monreal has become a bit slow and xhaka has been clumsy at times.
One little correction: Monreal is not a “bit slow” but rather that Bellerin is “too fast” and opponents are likely targeting Monreal as the slightly easier defender to break on.
Not an agenda per se, but while our defending has been a bit lacking at times I think it’s fair to say the refs have been a lot shit this year, and not just in our matches.
When you have the usually diplomatic alan smith saying something on TV that we’ve been saying for years about Mike dean… the best thing a ref can do is not be noticed. That wasn’t the case yesterday, as the linesman (on the side we were attacking in the first half) made some pretty reactionary calls.
So we can buy an average GK with good penalty record, or tell Xhaka and rest they should not do stupid fauls in penalty area.
Or we can bitch on social sites, that our goalkeeper is not catching penalties.
I dont get it. I am used to hear a loads of complains about Arsenal players. But why Arsenal fans always find the most idiotic reasons to complain?
And? Good players will score penalties. There’s a reason fans cheer when penalties are given, because more often or not they will be scored, and they should be scored. What is it, like 4 in 5 get scored or something? He’s dug us out of many a hole, to critisise him for the fact he hasn’t saved a penalty yet is the least of our worries. If we give away penalties, blame the team for putting him in that position in the first place. He made one great save last night in a 1 v 1. If anything, his weaknesses… Read more »
Start Ospina please…
Blogs, I see an increase in the creativity quotient for your headlines. You ok ?
Arteta, Flamini & Rosicky all left the club. Mertesacker, Cazorla, Welbeck all banjaxed for the season. Jack & Campbell off on loan. Then there is the dead wood like Debuchy. That’s 9 players that were replaced by Xhaka, Mustafi & Perez.
A fish rots from the head down.
I did not know that about fish.
And this is why I read the (sometimes toxic) comment section. Tragedy and Time.
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/fish-rot-from-the-head-down.html
Actually it is the guts that rot first, though the phrase has a deeper meaning.
The best use of your account username yet.
Some more interesting facts about fish
– Fish have been on the earth for more than 450 million years.
– Fish were well established long before dinosaurs roamed the earth.
– There are over 25,000 identified species of fish on the earth.
He needs to get his big butt denying a few more opposition attempts on goal.
Their are trees that hit the ground faster than Czech does now.
True, but why does he fall so slow? Dont every human fall at the pace of their weight? Should cech get fatter? No seriously we have yet another goalkeeper problem.
Keepers do not fall, they dive or propulse themselves onto the ground, sort of.
Yeah, we know that. But how can cech do it so slowly, that is the issue?
Perhaps we should also hire a club physicist to analyse the issue? Relocate and play at a lower altitude for more gravitational force so that he falls faster?
For me Cech has been poor this season, he has a serious problem with his near post and his 1 on 1 spread. I believe Ospina must be very close to being given a run of premier league games.
let’s be honest, Cech got to play in the best defence in the league for a long time (especially under Maureenho). I think we could be providing him with a little more protection as well. The defending on the first goal was Sunday league stuff…
I agree that Ospina could rotate in more, he’s been great this year.
That’s it ^ Obviously his reaction stops have suffered with age, not a real surprise there. But the idea is that his experience and leadership will marshal the defense–and he has, time and time again. He also still makes big saves quite often. Overall, Cech is still a great keeper, but with slower reflexes. Obviously the solution is then to stop him from having to make reaction stops from a disorganized defense. That’s also on Cech, but also on our four defenders, who are all asked to basically just pick a target, win 1v1, and press past the half line.… Read more »
The best attacking sides usually seem to have 2 outstanding defenders who can mop up the stuff that gets through.
Mustafi seemed to be giving us that before he got injured.
Problem is too many times we leave only 4 players to defend. For instance, Ramsey spotted Bellerin out of position for the first goal but did absolutely nothing to offer protection. There are too many situations where we could protect the defenders much better as a team. Iwobi runs back to cover without actually trying to tackle. Xhaka, Coq need to take chances and bring players down before they get into the box (that penalty could have been a freekick if the foul was commited 1 second early) the penalty against Sp*rs could have been avoided if we didn’t let… Read more »
Lot of talking there by Cech. I would like to know his views on his own performance on the night. He seems to be susceptible to getting beaten on his near post.
Arsenal needed a motor in the back of their Honda in the first half.
Typical…all they do is talk, talk, talk and flop at the merest hint of pressure and when pressure is off, they play like gods and give us false hope for the next season. Wenger has to leave…We need a new coach…someone to light these over pampered players asses up…they’ve been cuddled long enough by Wenger. Get Allegri or Tuchel in this summer.
Wenger will go down as our greatest manager of all time, but it’s time to quit.
Or maybe the bloke’s just answering questions.
I have to agree with everything you said, unfortunately.
Saving penalties should not be a criteria but apart from that I feel cech could have done better on few goals we have conceded. His kicking has also been dodgy too. When you have a quality keeper like Ospina I believe he could have been used in this hectic schedule just to provide some freshness. Also, I would like to comment on Sanchez’s attitude in the recent games. Although I appreciate his sheer desire to win but I feel there is a certain line a player should not cross. He has been disrespectful towards his teammates on the field and… Read more »
To the contrary, I believe they should all bomb down the tunnel with their heads down to show they care.
Cech has been figured out. HEs too slow to get down to stop anything low. Near post far post, the opposition striker need only hit it close to the ground and he can’t stop It. It’s Ospina from here out for me.
Cech has been disappointing this season…his shot stopping abilities has deserted him.. too slow to go down for shots. It also doesn’t help he’s left exposed by our defence. He still is useful at going for crosses…this is the sole reason why he’s starting over Ospina.
Weird, I seem to remember him making cat-like reflex saves very low this very season. Shots from close that I was sure was gonna go in, but he got down fast as lightning.
I dunno, maybe the problem lies somewhere else with him, cos he’s sure not playing too great these days.
But for certain, Ospina deserves a chance by now, as brilliant as he’s been in the CL.
just like the rest of the team cech is overrated.
And apart from sanchez none of our players is near world class level
Ozil, Bellerin and Kos spring to mind. Some of the others are not half bad either.
No chance Bellerin can be considered world class yet. He was shocking yesterday & has looked cumbersome/tired last few games, which is due to the fact there is no decent cover for his position.
They can’t play under pressure both physically and mentally. It’s no coincidence we only got back into the game after Bournemouth stopped pressing.
There’s no chance whatsoever of winning the league now and I expect Bayern Munich to turn us over quite easily. Which leaves the FA Cup and trying to get into the top 4 YET AGAIN. Neither of which really interest me anymore.
There’s still half the season to go BUT we keep saying the same old thing that we will learn form our mistakes…and we never seem to. 19 games in hand , assuming we get nothing from 4 games (That’s 12 points dropped from losses or draws – say 2 more losses 3 draws) We can still get 45 points from the remaining 15 games but we MUST win. Anything short will put us in severe jeopardy. As is it is a huge risk as we are reliant on 3 very good teams ahead of us to shed (one to shed… Read more »
I think one massive plus was the way Lucas came on and played off of Giroud really well in a 4-4-2. I’ve said it before that Lucas I feel is better closer in the middle. This could be a good role for him playing off the big man. Again, Giroud’s lay off for Lucas’s goal was immaculate, almost a piece of art and the finish itself was superb. I like the way the two of them were communicating as well slightly earlier when Giroud took a snap shot from the edge and Lucas signaled to him he was doing a… Read more »
I don’t think we are good enough to win the league sadly.
Thumb up if you agree and down if you don’t.
It doesnt look that way right now no, but its too early to say
When we are not even in the top 4, only the deluded fantasists would be talking about winning the league.
Three points to second, 8 to first, 20ish games to play
I’m loving the optimism of the thumbs downs and having watched Chelsea losing to the Spuds maybe it’s on?
What I do know is, that it’s in the mind, like the way Bournemouth stopped playing like Barca and reverted to a shit Bournemouth and Arsenal visa versa in that match.
This will hopefully knock Chelshit…? COYG!
If ospina has kept at goal for arsenal in champions league matches and did pretty well what says he will not do as well in the EPL matches? I think cech has lost his agility and excellent reflexes which he had at Chelsea. see how he is easily beaten at his near side in recent times, can he ever make a penalty save. it is time Wenger started giving ospina a run in EPL.
Big buts and words from Cech.
BUT, after issuing the team with a challenge to amass 80+ points he’s hardly doing his bit is ?
Cech out, Ospina deserves a good run in the team.
But has his other brother, Chuck, issued a denial yet? I suspect he cannot.
Cech is still a good goalkeeper. Commanding in the air and doesn’t do do anything crazy like Szczesny used to. He is no longer outstanding.
However against Bournemouth we could not cope with their high press. Then Bellerin totally forgetting how to defend twice and Xhaka having one of his moments.
Cech is not the problem, and Ospina is not the answer.
I agree that Ospina is not the answer but, is the “Hockey Cokey” what it is all about?
You gotta laugh at times like this? 🙂
Ospina could be the answer after all.
I dont remember him being any worse except during the initial period after he got a good run.
Alexis’s frustration and outbursts in the last match..not seen him like that before since Farcelona’s last few games.
I for one am not sure whether it was frustration/anger at the team(including his) performance and inability to win the game or just frustration at the team members and the team he thinks are not good enough to win the league once again.
Guess we will never know, although the precedent with him doing this points to a departure from Arsenal.
To catch penaltys goalkeepers must know the shooter and work on a psychological level over them, intimitating and bluffing. AND Cech is to nice guy for that dirty job, haha
Remember when we thought our goalkeeper issue was over when Cech signed? “He’s world class…our own Van Der Saar” Lol
He’ll save 10th and 90th-minute penalties in the Champions League final as we blow Leicester away 5-0 at Cardiff to complete the league/FA Cup/CL treble. That comeback from 0-3 down was superb. Did OG’s equaliser come off his left shoulder and sneak inside the post? Guts equals glory. Or we might fuck it up again so Alexis gets Big Money in Little China. Just pay him $300K a week. Manure do. Chelsea do. Man City do. Why are we waiting? Fuck Spurs, but thanks for crushing Chelski. It’s on like OG’s dong.
Cech is exactly right, we gave them way too much time/space, especially down the their right side, during the first half. Where is the pressure on the ball to prevent the cross that resulted in their first goal? Alexis could not be arsed to defend much at all during the first half. I would have been happy to see him subbed off for the Ox after 20 minutes. Understandable to some extent given the fixture congestion, but still poor. Of course, he redeemed himself later with the goal.
What about cechs aerial ability? We’re quick to judge him getting down but would we rather start conceding headers on goal again like the Almunia and shez days.. Even ospina likes to drop one in the net and couldn’t kick a ball past the half way mark?.. ospina is a great keeper and yes we should be rotating a lot more.. Maybe he’ll get the FA Cup run? Our defence needs to wake up..
I’m confident Oooooospina would’ve saved one of those goals. Especially the one through his legs!