By Walter Broeckx
Welcome Petr and goodbye…. whoever will leave us this summer from our goalkeepers. Let us start with the latter. I don’t think having 3 top quality keepers hanging around will be the ideal scenario so I think one of Szczesny and Ospina will leave us. Either one leaving us will be a sad moment for me.
I love Szczesny because he feels very much like one of ours and his comments on social media have always shown him to love the club as a fan would do. And OOooooooossspina… well what can you say about him. Apart from his first match in the league cup he looked a great keeper.
He has one of the highest shot stops numbers from keepers in the PL and he also had the same (highest shot stop %) in the current copa America. I loved his calmness and the way he played very much. So if one of them will have to go, I will feel sad about it and whish him the best in the rest of his career.
But the boss has decided that he wanted Cech and so Cech came. The story is that Wenger wanted Cech already when he was still playing in Sparta Prague but that it went wrong in those days. Cech then went to Rennes and in 2004 joined Chelsea.
Well he won all that could be won when the oil or should I say gaz money came in to Chelsea. He is a great keeper and has always been a great keeper in the PL till last season when he lost his place to Courtois. A player that I would have wanted at Arsenal when he came above water in Belgium and where he was amazing in winning the title for Genk in his first season. Well who knows in a few years time we might see him also make the cross over to the red part of London…
But Cech it is for now. 33 years old and that is not too old for a keeper but still most of the time you might think he will lose the sharpest reflexes. But on the other hand Van Der Sar was even older when he joined United and was a wonderful keeper for them all these years. Will we be as lucky as United with him on board?
He won the CL, a few league titles, the FA cup a few times, the league cup and he also won a few personal titles. Three times the golden glove and one of them he had to share with Szczesny. He was voted Czech player of the year seven times and he played 114 times for the Czech national team. He will probably break the record of Poborsky in the next season.
Tomas Rosciky will now have a compatriot at Arsenal with Cech. One can wonder what the influence of Tomas was in this transfer of course.
I think over the last 10 years Cech has been one if not the best and most consistent performer in goal in the PL. Of course playing in front of a team that has been built on strong defensive tactics all these years will have been helfpul to get good stats. We now have to see how he will cope with playing for a team that is going to attack more and defend less or in fewer numbers.
I do admit that for the first time I am not overwhelmed with joy about a new player signing for us because of the reason mentioned at the start of this article. But that he was a keeper that would have cemented a place if he had joined us some 10 years ago, of that I am sure.
His style is the somewhat sobre style of goalkeeping. Not a flashy one but he looks, just like Ospina, usually in control and calm. I hope he can transform that on the defenders so that they feel sure with him behind their back. Something that you have to work out and see how it will go in the future.
One of the really interesting things is that in just over one month his new club (Arsenal) and his old club (Chelsea) stand at Wembley to dispute the community shield. And it will be interesting to see if Wenger plays Cech against his former team and how he performs. A dream scenario would be that he plays and we win of course. That would be the ultimate Mourinho nightmare I think. Mmmm, come to think of it, I would love that scenario very much.
So Arsenal has brought another top class player to North London just as we did the last 2 seasons. Will we get more top class players coming in? Only one man knows and I feel fine to know that Wenger is that man. The squad surely is stronger with Cech and I can imagine that whoever is staying from our current goalkeepers will have to perform at the top level to even stand a chance of making the team. Because I don’t think Wenger will have spent that much money on a goalkeeper and then don’t play him a lot.
We have a new Arsenal player now, and I wish him a very successful career at Arsenal.
Welcome Petr and show the world that you still are the best! Arsenal can only benefit from this.
———————-
Excellent post, Walter.
Čech is a world-class goalkeeper and Woj has already acknowledged that he can’t wait to start learning from one of the best goalkeepers in the world. Personally, I would like Čech to give a good lesson to Woj on using social networks. Thumbs up for Woj’s welcome for Petr though. If Chez means it, he can become the best goalkeeper in the world and our No. 1 for a decade.
With all my hate I feel towards Chelsea, Mourinho, Abramovich, Terry and everything they represent in football on and off the pitch, I say hats off for Čech’s professionalism and loyalty he had shown to his former club and fans as well as the respect he has started to show to his new club and new supporters.
When you mentioned The Golden Glove – Arsenal now have joint winners of it for 2013-14 in the squad. I think it hadn’t happened before.
Oh, I forgot to write it here:
WELCOME TO LONDON, PETR! 😉
Top top class signing!!! We haven’t had a world class keeper for ages. Szczesny can still develop into one though and although he could do with learning from Cech, a loan mighty b a better option for him.
ANOTHER horrible signing…. WENGER OUT!!!!
This day will mark an unforgettable day in my life. Thank you wenger for the fight and thank you Arsenal for the support. Gunners 4ever.
Firstly I believe Arsene likes to have two players in the squad that speak the same language I tries to do this. Hence Mark Hately and Glen Hoddle.
I had never given thought to Rosciky the only Czec speaker at the club so good point there.
However clearly Petr has been promised games. lets say we play 51 games this season shared with the 3 that’s 17 each. Will Petr be happy with just 17 games. Wont he want to be first and regular choice.
Then if we reach a cup final be it league cup FA Cup or Champs, who plays in goal?
I have seen a couple of media photos with Petr in Arsenal colours but not the usual presentation wearing an Arsenal first team shirt. He wears an Arsenal jacket. Could be that simply a number has not been agreed. But I can’t see him happy wearing shirt number out side the first 20.
I will be sickened if Szczesny is pushed aside or even worse out.
That leaves oooooospina and what is the problem with his goal keeping
May be there is something we don’t know and will be ‘revealed’.
I don’t deny ( who would?) that Petr is a great goal keeper but we have two!
When you get a chance to sign one of the best in the game ever, you seize it even if you have top-drawer players at the very same position. Hello, Mesut Özil, you’ll be welcomed by Santi Cazorla, Jack Wilshere and Tomas Rosicky.
Now, I understand that this comparison is far-fetched a bit. You can’t put Ospina at, say, right full-back while you can play Santi in a deeper role or put Wilshere on the wing with Özil being our No. 10.
Chez will learn from Čech and, sadly, David Ospina, a real David among Goliath-goalkeepers, the one that has proven over and over again that he is a top-drawer goalkeeper, will probably leave.
Can only welcome your thoughts, welcome Cech, and very best wishes for a successful career and a long life of happiness and prosperity to the guy who makes way.
You make a sound point, Chelsea are a much more defensive team than us. Think at times, our keepers have suffered due to our instinct to put the emphasis on attack. Will be interesting to see how Cech does. The keeper who remains, and it looks like our Polish keeper will learn a lot from this master, maybe this will help turn Szcz into the keeper we know he can be.
Only one thing, we have let one GK coach go, reports suggest Chelsea will block Cechs coach from following him. In that event, surely Gerry Peyton cannot do it all on his own, so we will need another goalkeeping coach. Mad Jens anyone?
What happens now,Walter? We get more points this season and have a better chance in the UCL if he’s the cup keeper. Great day for the Arsenal.
Let me welcome Petr Cech on board Arsenal plank. And wish him well during his staying as a top Gunner at club Arsenal. I have not agitated for the signing of a goalkeeper during the Gunners close season campaign as Ospina high performance for us has not made me to think such. I think Ospina made one high profile mistake as he allowed the ball sneaked under his arms to cross the line against Swanseas City at the Emirates Stadium. That error cost us 3 valuable points. Since that episode, the Gooners somehow started putting his performance as per his physical profile under scrutiny. Hence a call has gone out for Arsenal to sign another top goalkeeper which now led to the arrival of Cech to Arsenal. We thank God for this signing because it mustn’t have been easy to crack this transfer on Jose Mourinho. What is going to happen next? Honestly I don’t know. I can only hope the Boss further signings will tally with what I think the Boss should do. First of all, I don’t want any of Ospina and Szczesny to be sold by Arsenal. I want both to remain as 1st and 2nd backup keepers to would be our no.1 Cech. Can’t the Boss keep his 2 top keepers at Arsenal as understudies to Cech? This season could be long for us to crack as the Gunners will compete for the quadruple. I think the Boss can resend Martinez on loan while Macey remains at the youth team. I am waiting to see if the Boss will oblige my thinking to sign 3 top qualities: LB, CDM and RW because in my thinking, Arsenal need those 3 signings to upgrade the Gunners’ team to a higher level than they were last season. With Cech coming-in and Podolski and Campbell believed to be on their ways out of the Emirate Stadium, the Boss will need to free 2 more spaces in his official 25 man team before he can sign all 3 other new top Gunners. I hope he will do this.
Let me welcome Petr Cech on board on Arsenal plank. And wish him well during his staying as a top Gunner at club Arsenal. I have not agitated for the signing of a goalkeeper during the Gunners close season campaign as Ospina high performance for us has not made me to think such. I think Ospina made one high profile mistake as he allowed the ball sneaked under his arms to cross the line against Swanseas City at the Emirates Stadium. That error cost us 3 valuable points. Since that episode, the Gooners somehow started putting his performance as per his physical profile under scrutiny. Hence a call has gone out for Arsenal to sign another top goalkeeper which now led to the arrival of Cech to Arsenal. We thank God for this signing because it mustn’t have been easy to crack this transfer on Jose Mourinho. What is going to happen next? Honestly I don’t know. I can only hope the Boss further signings will tally with what I think the Boss should do. First of all, I don’t want any of Ospina and Szczesny to be sold by Arsenal. I want both to remain as 1st and 2nd backup keepers to would be our no.1 Cech. Can’t the Boss keep his 2 top keepers at Arsenal as understudies to Cech? This season could be long for us to crack as the Gunners will compete for the quadruple. I think the Boss can resend Martinez on loan while Macey remains at the youth team. I am waiting to see if the Boss will oblige my thinking to sign 3 top qualities: LB, CDM and RW because in my thinking, Arsenal need those 3 signings to upgrade the Gunners’ team to a higher level than they were last season. With Cech coming-in and Podolski and Campbell believed to be on their ways out of the Emirate Stadium, the Boss will need to free 2 more spaces in his official 25 man team before he can sign all 3 other new top Gunners. I hope he will do this.
OT: Social Media threats
Police worldwide need to start making arrests, and courts sending people for non-trivial lengths of time over this business of threatening football players.
Petr Cech apparently received a number of threats, including death threats. The Canadian defender who slipped against England, has also been receiving threats. People need to start losing their jobs and spending time in jail, to stop this nonsense.
Welcome Cech.
Interesting that this was not a vapour transfer as some suggested. In hindsight – though I do acknowledge hearing a learned fellow say in foresight – this move is quite logical given the circumstances of both receiving club and player. I must say, credit where it is due to Chelsea owner Abramovich for letting the player choose his destination. I daresay, however, I have already seen the media – ESPN’s Craig Burley I distinctly remember – try to attribute the Chelsea concession to let the player move to Arsenal was due to Mourinho…lol.
If you read his farewell letter to Chelsea fans he never mentions Mourinho in person. He does mention the Russian owner however. I think that is saying something.
Sweet surprise it is for me, against the backdrop of AW’s,”We have three fantastic keepers”. Seems to me there is indeed a “dummies and decoys” aspect to the game of transfers these days. We hope for the best decisions on who moves, type and where to.
I thought the original plan was for Szcz to go on loan to Southampton due to the probability of Frazer Forster’s injury being a long term one.
Not sure what the situation there is now, but it would be a good short term move for him.
Anyway, welcome to Cech, one of the Premier League’s best ever keepers.
Whoa, Walter, that letter was pretty classy. Seems his personality will fit in well with the group.
I don’t know how to feel to be honest. If ospina and Chelsea both stay then this is good.Otherwise….
If ospina and chez, not Chelsea
Ok, let me clarify. This is good whether or not we keep all three goalies. Am not questioning the decision to sign Cech, the people who make these decisions know way more/better than me.
I would feel a lot better about it though if we kept all three, rather than lose one of the current two. But keeping three international goalies happy is a challenge.
Next up, hopefully some positive news on this elusive striker we are supposed to need, this guy called Theo. then, maybe one more first team squad signing, depending on departures, After that, maybe we can relax for the rest of the summer and let others indulge in the madness. So different from just a few years ago.
Welcome to Arsenal Petr Cech. How I feel is no longer important (as if I felt anything at all) what’s important is that Arsene’s got his man.
If Cech is important to AW, then he’s important to the team. Loan out Szczesny since his future in Arsenal is not in doubt. That gives an opportunity to Ooooooooooooooospina to slug it out with Cech and prove his worth.
He is ours now, Petr Cech, he is ours now.
COYG
Still we see anti Wenger comments because the only effective signing so far, is that of Cech.
I keep reminding folk that the Summer Transfer Window doesn’t open until Wednesday, July 1st. 😉
I can imagine Arsene deciding that it is time for a key player to move on but I cannot imagine him blocking the player’s choice.
We have two recent examples where players wanting to move to greener grass and Arsene not putting the brake on the move.
Its a great letter from Petr. I
welcome him.
Welcome again Cech!!
Great that the Wojciech has greeted the Cech. Truly sad that the Ooooospina may leave us. A legend created in one season!!
Now, where does E. Martinez fit into all this? I think he’s too good a keeper already to not even warm our match day bench. Already with CL experience, hope he gets a chance to be loaned to a decent PL team to gain more exposure. Like how our Jenks is doing.
We are now spoilt for riches in the GK dept , but do hope that AW will be able to keep them all happy . How ? No idea , but probably on short loans .
Like the Mounties , AW finally got his man , and lets hope that his wait was worth it and rewarding.
Seek and ye shall find –
Two women have just arrived at the Pearly Gates and are comparing stories on how they died.
First Woman: “Myself, I froze to death”
Second Woman: “You froze to death? how horrible!”
First Woman: “Well, it wasn’t so bad. After I quit shaking form the cold, I began to get warm and sleepy, and finally died a peaceful death. What about you?”
Second Woman: “I died of a massive heart attack. I suspected my husband was cheating, so I came home early to catch him in the act. But instead, I found him all by himself in the den, watching TV.”
First Woman: “So what happened?”
Second Woman: “I was so sure there was another woman there somewhere, that I started running all over the house looking. I ran up to the attic and searched, then ran all the way back down to the basement and searched. Then I went through every closet and checked under every bed. I kept this up until I had looked everywhere, and finally became so exhausted that I just keeled over from a heart attack and died.”
First Woman: “Too bad you didn’t look in the freezer – We’d both still be alive…”
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
Teddy Roosevelt
Would you like a joke Brickfields?
I seen in the news, that Phil Jones had signed a new contract at ManU. Want the punchline? 120k per week (according to the D Mail). And people were surprised by Sterling?
I think there are going to be Greek’s on the market for a Big Mac per week pretty soon.
ManU, what a team.
We have Ashley Young, ostensibly the greatest ever diver on grass.
You know why Phil Jones is worth 120k per week? He is the world’s best swimmer on grass.
Maybe ManU should get away from turf, and move to a swimming pool?
Other quotes related to May 18 (or so) 2015, and Phil Jones “tackling” Giroud:
Phil Jones is actually the greatest footballer of our generation.
Headbutting the grass while doing ‘the worm’. Phil Jones has just become a parody of himself now, sad really.
You’re all laughing at Phil Jones, but that’s what raw desire looks like. It’s also what a spaniel on a freshly polished floor looks like.
Sir Alex Ferguson on Phil Jones in 2013: “Arguably, the way he is looking, he could be our best ever player.”
@ Gord – Not too surprised at the going ons at ManUre !
As for Greece , they should look for money outside the ‘system’ . A lot of shady money abounds and just waiting for the right ‘vehicle’ to carry it home .FIFA could pump in a few billions in and shift their operations there.
In the meantime they could have a firehouse sale and sell some of their ancient relics .Football players ? Not sure if they’d get top prices . Greek mail order brides ? Hmmmmmm…!
@Gord social media threats are made by ‘chickens’. Punishment should be removal from the net. Sounds a little strange considering the ‘net’ was made to capture -perhaps removal from the web might be better phrasing.
@Brickfields – the yachts in Piraeus could probably pay 20% of the debt. There are so many billionaires with untold wealth & as usual on minimal taxation, it is no surprise that the mess impacts the country.
Welcome Petr. I think one quality striker and that’s it- we can close the window.
Finding Stats on Copa America 2015 is a little difficult. Here is what has popped out, from an Arsenal point of view:
Largest Attendance Chile v Ecuador – 46,000
Most Home Goals Chile v Bolivia – Chile 5-0 Bolivia
Largest Goal Differential Chile v Bolivia
Highest Goal Total Chile V Mexico Chile 3 – 3 Mexico
Longest Winning Streak Chile 3 games
Longest Unbeaten Streak Chile 5 games
Goals Alexis Sanchez tied for 12th with a bunch of people at 1 goal
Assists Alexis Sanchez tied for 4th with a bunch of people at 1 assist
David Ospina tied for 5th with number of saves
David Ospina tied for 1st with number of clean sheets
The Evening Standard is running an article about Arsenal’s injury problem, based on some other web site. That other website does XSS, and hence does nothing for me.
ES talks about the number of foot and ankle problems, and the only possible explanation they can come up with is that it must be something to do with the turf at Emirates and London Colney. It couldn’t possibly be something like referees slanting the system.
http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/revealed-how-arsenal-top-the-injury-league-and-who-their-most-injured-stars-are-10355668.html