Petr Cech spoke to Sky Sports after Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat to Man City at the Emirates today and said it would be a useful learning exercise for Unai Emery’s team.
The Gunners were playing a noticeably different way, using the veteran keeper to build moves from the back and while it wasn’t always perfect – and at times a bit scary – the 35 year old insists it’s necessary for the kind of football the Spaniard wants his team to play.
Reflecting on the game in general, he said, “It could have been worse, could have been less as well. I thought in the second half we managed to force them to make some mistakes with their build-up and we had some opportunities to counter attacking.
“Unfortunately we couldn’t find the killer pass in the last 30 yards. We lacked a bit of invention to have a good touch and finish the action off, but when you play against a team with such quality and confidence from being champions last season it was always going to be difficult.
“We tried to keep the ball, not to let them control the ball the whole game, and inevitably you can make a few mistakes. I thought we did pretty well but we couldn’t finish some of the half-chances in the second half.
“Overall it’s a defeat and we’re disappointed but we realise it was our first game together, with a new manager, with a new way of playing and that will help us to grow.”
And with more touches of the ball than any outfield player other than Matteo Guendouzi, Cech was heavily involved, something he seemed to enjoy in spite of the outcome of the game.
“I have to say I enjoyed it because I played with other managers and I was always asked to play it long but this is a pleasant change for me,” he said.
“It’s also very useful when you want to be the team who controls the game through possession. You need to create this superiority at the back and for that you need to use the goalkeeper.
“So today they are very used to playing a high press and they did it really well and put us under pressure. I would say we did pretty well over the course of the game.”
Cech has been playing well in preseason but I don’t understand why leno isn’t starting if we want to play out from the back
Ederson is one of the best goalkeepers when it comes to playing with his feet. How many passes he missed and gave us a chance? Imo he made more mistakes then Cech. His performance shouldn’t be based just on one blooper. Overall he was great today. We played against the best pressing team in the league. Every goalkeeper would have problems. I am not really fan of playing out of the back for all cost. It is not good for my heart.
Liverpool will have something to say about city being the best pressing team.
Which is why Liverpool won the league by a record breaking margin last season and smashed the points total while they were at it
Playing out from the back requires quality at every position. We always have a player who does the wrong thing and makes us lose possession.
Still ways and ways to go.
For Emery’s first game, it wasn’t wise to challenge city at what they master.
We should’ve parked the bus and played on the counter.
He came closest to scoring out of all our team.
pep said twice that emery has to figure out himself about the tactics in epl.I wish emery would understand quickly that cech has never being comfortable with ball and starting from the back against team like city,pool and spuds with cech would be an disaster waiting to happen.
Though petr cech kept the score line respectable and he was immense but above reasons….
It’s going to take time, patience needed people! I would like to see Torreira and Leno start against Chelsea though. No offence to Cech but I think he would be better suited to playing out from the back
a lot of people bashing Cech’s passing, but other than the one that went wide of his post, i thought he did very well. He was amazing at shot stopping today too. Can’t fault him for either goal.
Ramsey was woeful for me. Laca unlucky not to have a couple today….
It’s tough to judge this game because of the amazing quality of Citeh.
I also thought Ramsey was quite poor. Team seemed much more balanced with Lacazette, he and Auba linked nicely a couple of times.
Ozil and Xhaka were worse than Ramsey but when Ramsey went off we were definitely better.. Don’t know what Elneny has to do to get in the team…
Ramsey always seems to take a few games to get going when he has been out
Cech was wery good but he can’t play with the ball at his feet. We need to either you go with Leno, who might not be as good as Cech, to be able to play out of defence or we hoof it with Cech.
A lot of positivity in this team…..
Judge them at the end of the season……
COYG
Unai is the right man
What was really missing was the pass to bypass the press. The idea is a good one. Obviously this bit is still a work in progress. Cech did alright otherwise.
Its Wenger’s team
With Wenger’s attitude to winning and Wenger’s philosophy carved into it.
It will never change.
The team needs rebuilding..
Help us grow…This is from Wenger era. You should be grown up by now. Most are on 200k per week and cannot put a descent shift. Shame on them…
Dusko sighting a players wages does not change the fact that as a team you still have to grow and learn, not a bad start against the best in the country. Infact much better than last season where after watching us vs city (with the players earning the same ) we looked a million miles away. Not so today.
Obviously there are those who are happy with todays results.
The same idiots who no doubt wanted Wenger to stay…
What?
i think micky had a poor game today. in order to play with Ram behind the lone striker, he has to make late runs into the box, and we’ll need both our wingers to be on song in playmaking for that to happen.
Otherwise we’ll need more firepower and have both Auba and Laca, with Ozil and Micky supplying 2 finishers.
Ozil retired from Arsenal the same time he retired from the German national team.
He never announced it just made it clear in his performance today..
A season of carrying that bug eyed prick…
Micky was like out of his dept today. He seems not to be fully fit, or is it something else..?
Cech actually had a good game today.
So reality bites: we are miles away from the quality sides which will challenge for the title. Dick has a mountain to climb to make us really competitive. Here’s what he needs too do:
1. Hope that Monreal and Kos get fit quickly. We are an accident waiting to happen at the back.
2. Start with Torriera.
3. Tell Ozil, Ramsey and Xhaka to all fuck off and bring in players with passion.
4. Think again about the pressing game.
It’s going to take years.
Fatgooner stick to the burgers and leave the football to those more able.
I’m sorry but the pressing game forced Man City into mistakes, long passes or for bits of luck/skill to get out.
It was the best thing about today.
1. Why do you keep saying Dick?
2. Agreed. But he’s late back from WC so wasn’t ready.
3. I thought Ramsey showed passion and Özil was working really hard. Xhaka wasnt very effective but I wouldn’t call it lack of ‘passion’.
4. The pressing CAN work. This season. It just needs to be executed correctly by EVERYONE. Practice is needed for a few months to perfect it.
Thought we looked a lot better than last season and had Lacazette made that shot or our link-up been better in the final third (or gotten a penalty when Mustafi was fouled) we would probably have gotten something out of this game. Cech was okay, probably will start against Chesea too with his experience but can see Leno take over sometime during the season. Would like to see any midfield combination apart from one that includes Xhaka, I don’t think he can play the ball fast enough forward to play Emery’s style. Our back 4 were solid but would have… Read more »
I wish Arsenal players would avoid the media.
All we learned today was how far behind we are.
So many arsenal players just kicking around and grabbing huge wages each week for doing nothing.
I like Emery – he did a great job for Sevilla and PSG but I see the only solution to Arsenal’s woes is to sell most of these players and rebuild.
You want a team of players that will fight to the end, who are organised and technically skilled. Not players like Xhaka, Bellerin, Ramsey, Cech and god knows how many others…
Yes City were quite clearly the more cohesive team and yes they could’ve scored more. But no they weren’t as flawless as G Neville was making out. My main frustrations were the amount of times out pressing actually worked by forcing turnovers only for us not to make use of the attacks. I really think a more accustomed team could pick City apart, I honestly wasn’t that impressed. We’re very unlucky to be trying out a new team and manager against them. Hopefully we learn and take lessons to the Bridge. Laca and Torreira to start. Also maybe give Leno… Read more »
City, Liverpool, man united, chelsea, spurs. …. thats 5 too many teams ahead of us. I demand title winning performances ASAP otherwise I promise a riot
Agreed.
Not our best performance today but given the fact that we played one of the best teams in Europe, We showed good potential and this gives Emery some time to work on the mistakes at the back and a way to get the best out of the players going forward. We have what it takes to beat chelsea in our next game so let’s stay positive. Hopefully Lucas will get to play the full 90 in this one and Monreal can be back in his natural position just to add more confidence at left back for the Gunners…
The majority of times playing out from the back is disastrous, how many times does it have to go wrong before they change it?…