By Walter Broeckx
I must say that everyone likes to be right most of the time. I am no exception to that rule. Writing on a blog of course brings the risk that what you have written at some point in time can come back to haunt you.
Now I must say that when the first rumours came above water about the possible Cech transfer to Arsenal I shrugged my shoulders. We had in my eyes two good goalkeepers in Szczesny and Ospina and a very good young third goalkeeper in Emilio Martinez. So why buy Cech was what I said then.
Not that I didn’t rate Cech. No, I really thought he was a great goalkeeper and probably one of the best goalkeepers in the last decade in the PL. But the fact that he played for Chelsea made me less appreciative of him in a way. I can’t really like a keeper who has kept us away from some wins in the past by doing his excellent job. I rated him, but didn’t really like him one could say.
Maybe the prospect of seeing one of Szczesny and Ospina go was adding to that feeling. I rather like both of them. I think Ospina is being underrated by lots of our own supporters. He did an excellent job in the second half of last season and I found it would be harsh on him to being removed from his place. And Szczesny.. well what can you say. He likes Arsenal and he knows how to show it on the internet on social media.
Yes both have made mistakes but well… Cech proved that no goalkeeper is free from mistakes in the first PL match of the season himself.
So yes I wasn’t very impressed with the rumours. But I also have the habit that once a player signs for Arsenal I will welcome him with both arms and support him. No matter from which team he comes. In fact I silently enjoyed the fact that Abramovitch sold him to Arsenal against the will of Mourinho. That was the fun part of the transfer.
What I didn’t like at first was his first PL match for Arsenal. You have seen this keeper almost never making any mistake when playing Arsenal and then in his first match he didn’t had the best day. I admit having thought in the heat of the moment: why did we have to bring this keeper and send one of our keepers (or two in fact) out on loan.
But the more I have seen from him since that opening day, the more he has started to impress me. From just rating him I do admit that now I do like him.
He really is a great goalkeeper. And now he is showing it and doing it for us. With Cech having equalled the record of David James with 169 clean sheets in the PL in the match against Aston Villa he surely will be in the record books in the PL for a long, long time. What is amazing is that he only needed 349 matches to reach this number and James needed 572 matches to get at there.
Now I know most of this matches were when playing for Chelsea who had a rather good organised bus service in front of him on more than one occasion. But the funny thing is that as he has broken the record while being an Arsenal player he and we will be remembered for this.
The picture of Cech equalling the record sees him in an Arsenal shirt. And when he will break the record and become the one with 170 clean sheets he will be wearing an Arsenal shirt.
I do hope that he will break that record next Monday of course. That would be a great moment to break the record.
As we do some facts I want to give you some numbers about Cech at Arsenal this season.
In the Community Shield he kept a clean sheet. So that is 1/1. In the CL he kept 3 clean sheets in the 4 matches that he played. A score of 75% clean sheets.
And in the PL he kept 7 clean sheets in 16 matches. That is a clean sheet record of 43%.
If we take all the matches that had something at stake in account he has managed 11 clean sheets in 21 matches or 52% clean sheets in total.
If Cech could keep up his numbers in the PL for the rest of the season we will end up with around 16-17 clean sheets this season. And that surely would be a nice number of clean sheets. It would be the same number as when he won it in 2014. That year he had to share the award with Szczesny by the way. Who could have won it with 17 if Wenger had played him in the last match at Norwich that we won 0-2 and would have given Wojciech a 17th clean sheet.
The fact is that Cech has won me over completely. I know the odd mistake will happen as it happens with every keeper from time to time. But I do admit that from being not really a lover at first sight he did won me over.
And not in the least because in general he does seems to behave in the right Arsenal way. Other players describe him as a real leader in the dressing room. And with his experience and all that he has gone through this is something one can expect from a player like him.
In fact I do have to admit that I didn’t really understood Wenger with this transfer at first. But then again in the end of the day it all comes down to this… Wengers Knows Best!
Sorry Walter – off subject – The Odious One has just been sacked!
I’m still gobsmacked that the Russian allowed him to join us.
I Really didn’t think it would happen…
It’s a shame about MaureenO.
I was hoping he could continue disrupting their team for a few more months…..
I think the only way back for Maureen after this is to take on a smaller struggling team and build them up into a strong title competing side.
He’ll either retire or do that in my opinion…
He’ll be severely smarting after this.. which from an arsenal perspective is slightly amusing
Is now the time to put in a cheeky £50m bid for Hazard and Matic? OK they’ll only get into our reserves at the moment but we know they have the potential if they’re working for the right manager!
And I have the funny feeling that he might be the difference between us and Barcelona. May be i CAN DREAM OF MILANO, a bit!
Mourinho won Premier League 6 months ago – SACKED. Wenger hasn’t won Premier League for 11yrs – UNSACKABLE. Piers Morgan on Twitter a few minutes ago
This guy should be banned from Emirates and any Gunners supporter ought to ignore him and stop following him…
What a stupid (expletive deleted)
Wenger would win 5 PL in a row he’d still find stupid reasons to say the same thing. Why doesn’t he just state the fact that he hates AW and that he does not care about any good results because of it, except for his departure from Arsenal ? At least it would be plain and honnest.
And doing it on Twitter on social networks is just cowardly. He would not dare to do it at the Emirates or face to face with AW
And he calls himself reporter ?!?! get a life !
I am so disappointed that the specialist has not been allowed to get deeper in the mire that he so deserves. His abuse of Wenger has come back to give him nightmares for the rest of his slimy life. He will always be covered in the slime he generated from the false pride within him.
F*ck off Mourinho & may you realise that pride is only worthy if you show respect to all those you work with.
I bet WEnger will be diplomatic & say that he is surprised & that Jose could have turned the boat round ….. ooops ‘upside down’ I mean.
You’d have to be a real simple minded person to follow Piers Morons Tweets!
Petr Cech is a stalwart in the Gunners back-line. His size, agility and experience has made him to be so. I these his qualities has made the Boss to sign him and preferred him as his no1 goalkeeper to the rest of the other 2 or 3 senior goalkeepers at Arsenal.
Reading through the Boss’ press conference he had today, I think he has confirmed the hopes of we the Arsenal supporters are haven he’ll bolster his squad with some new top quality arrivals to the Ems.
However, he’s not specific on what positions in his team he’ll bolstered. In my own personal thoughts, I think if money and availability of top qualities in the market permits, the Boss SHOULD strengthen his CB, LB, DMF positions with top quality players during this coming window market.
These 3 quality additions to bolster his squad in January, has become very necessary because of the upcoming 2 legged Ucl game against Barca at the Ems and at Camp Nou. If the Boss can find the 3 top quality players at an affordable cost price and signed them. It will help Arsenal a great deal to knockout Barca and move to the quaterfinals.
I am not disrespecting the current 3 Gunners who are manning these 3 positions on the field of play for Arsenal. (Vice-Captain Rhinosacker&De Abreu), Monreal and Flamini are a top quality Gunners playing very well for Arsenal. But if I must confess, the grade of their quality plays are short of the standard grade required to Knockout Barca. But their quality grades are Barclays Premier League title winning grade. If it wasn’t for the upcoming Ucl high profile game against Barca, I wouldn’t have agitated for the signings of these 3 top quality additions.
For a top quality left back, the Boss should look for one because Gibbs is practically not the high profile Ucl game quality. But the Boss should continue to develop him as a mid left wing option. A top quality cover for Monreal is desired.
Top quality CBs are said to be difficult to get in the market. But the Boss may not need to spend big to get locally 1 of the materials he needs. In this regard, I will recommend John Obi Mikel to the Boss to sign either for a loan or a permanent deal. Obi is a top quality DMF with international games and Ucl games experience. But we all know Jose Mourinho’s inpatient habit with his players, just as he was with Petr Cech. I think the Boss can price him £10m away from Chelsea who are looking not rating him as a starter or even as a substitute a times anymore. Obi is good to provide high quality DMF job for Arsenal’s Ucl match against Barca and there after. I would have agitated for the signing of a top quality striker(Aleksandr Kokorin) in this coming January window. But since Welbeck is said will be backed before the Barca game to likely gives a striker cover, I am cooling down on my agitation for that.
No, please not John Obi Mikel. There’s a real mercenary for you. Plays well whenever he’s up for contract renewal and then disappears for the next few season.
SAA – I would not touch Mikel with a barge pole. He has developed a lot of bad traits. I prefer Wanyama who is, incidentally, a gooner.
Still, Wenger knows best.
Cech has certainly proved his worth this season so far, after a slightly shaky start. However, fitting in with a new team can always take a little time – but he has settled in quickly and looks as good as ever. A very astute signing!
Re the Odious One – just noted some of the punters trying to sympathise – something which I find difficult to do after his horrible comments about Wenger and the way he set up his teams to play anti football combined with cheating, diving and thuggery – damn good riddance!!
Part of the Odious One’s problem with Wenger must surely stem from his realisation that by comparison with AW – a true gentleman – the Odious One can never be anything more than an Odious creature – even if he tried not to be!
bjt,
Should have heard Talksport earlier fornicating over him. Claiming if he took over Man Utd he’ld win the title for them this season.
These guys really have fallen for the bullshit, they haven’t got a clue about football management.
For me it all started with that shocking pre-season. He turned up for the Commmunity Shield looking like he’ld been sleeping in a dustbin and behave weird hanging around to shake the Arsenal players hands after the trophy. First league game he attacked teh physios. He then spent the rest of the season attacking his players. Something was not right from the start of this season and the way he carried himsefl is teh reason a title winning team are no longer interested.
Bad news for us is the fact that my wife could walk into the job as Chelsea manager and improve the results. Those players will be jumping for joy ijn that dressing room and I wouldn’t bet against Eva returning.
Found out in Madrid and found out at Chelsea. Unfortunatley, while the Spanish media could see him for what he is the English media and their backward ideology still worship at his alter.
Gutted he has gone, there is no way they will be fighting relagation now.
Petr Cech is a stalwart in the Gunners back-line. His size, agility and experience has made him to be so. I think his qualities has made the Boss to sign him and preferred him as his no1 goalkeeper to the rest of the other 2 or 3 senior goalkeepers at Arsenal.
Reading through the Boss’ press conference he had today, I think he has confirmed the hopes of we the Arsenal supporters are haven he’ll bolster his squad with some new top quality arrivals to the Ems.
However, he’s not specific on what positions in his squad he’ll bolstered. In my own personal thoughts, I think if money and availability of top qualities in the market permits, the Boss SHOULD strengthen his CB, LB, DMF positions with top quality players during this coming window market.
These 3 quality additions to bolster his squad in January, has become very necessary because of the upcoming 2 legged Ucl game against Barca at the Ems and at Camp Nou. If the Boss can find the 3 top quality players at an affordable cost price and signed them. It will help Arsenal a great deal to knockout Barca and move to the quaterfinals.
I am not disrespecting the current 4 Gunners who are manning these 3 positions on the field of play for Arsenal. (Vice-Captain Rhinosacker&De Abreu), Monreal and Flamini are all a top quality Gunners playing very well for Arsenal. But if I must confess, the grade of their quality plays are short of the standard grade required to Knockout Barca. But their quality grades are Barclays Premier League title winning grades. If it wasn’t for the upcoming Ucl high profile game against Barca, I wouldn’t have agitated for the signings of these 3 top quality additions.
For a top quality left back, the Boss should look for one because Gibbs is practically not the high profile Ucl game quality. But the Boss should continue to develop him as a mid left wing option. A top quality cover for Monreal is desired.
Top quality CBs are said to be difficult to get in the market. But the Boss may not need to spend big to get locally 1 of the materials he needs. In this regard, I will recommend John Obi Mikel to the Boss to sign either for a loan or a permanent deal. Obi is a top quality DMF with international games and Ucl games experience. But we all know Jose Mourinho’s inpatient habit with his players, just as he was with Petr Cech. I think the Boss can price him £10m away from Chelsea who are looking not to rate him as a starter or even as a substitute a times anymore. Obi is good to provide high quality DMF job for Arsenal’s Ucl match against Barca and there after. I would have agitated for the signing of a top quality striker(Aleksandr Kokorin) in this coming January window. But since Welbeck is said will be backed before the Barca game to likely gives a striker cover, I am cooling down on my agitation for one.
Reading through the comments of the above commenters, it has been comments posted that Jose Mourinho has been sacked. Oh dear me! I don’t want Hazard or Matic. We already have Ozil, Ramsey & the coming back Coquelin. But I think Arsenal can have top quality Obi to do a top Ucl job for us at affordable cost as the new incoming Chelsea handler may embark of squad reshuffling in Jan as may try to offload Obi.
At any rate, should Chelsea and Man Utd decided to offload some of their top quality players in Jan due to their impatient and overcealose to win the Premier League title. The Boss shouldn’t hesitate to get any made available top quality player he needs from these 2 clubs to bolster his own squad on the cheap.
“Re the Odious One – just noted some of the punters trying to sympathise – something which I find difficult to do after his horrible comments about Wenger and the way he set up his teams to play anti football combined with cheating, diving and thuggery – damn good riddance!!” – amen to that! 🙂
Oh shit….what!!!!… How could they do that!!! How could they sack the greatest manager of our times!!????….
Hahahahahahahaha.
Specialist in what.
I hope this shit continues irrespective of who the manager is..
Tony this is not fair…
Samuel gets to post 2 huge same blogs without an issue. When I do the same with a one liner…. I get duplicate entry message..
I thought this is a democracy…
PS: how do I post Smiley’s??
🙂 or 😉
The biggest difference between Mourinho and Wenger is that Wenger loves football and Mourinho loves himself.
It’s a special day
Embarrassing, listening to some of these people express their ‘shock’ at this sacking… Today is a great day for football lovers. Atkinson must be inconsolable though.
Most often I have to admit that I do not REALLY know public figures like Jose Mourinho. However, the eye gouging incident goes beyond any defensible duty for his football club and therefore I can say with some confidence that I do not like him. Tape of the brouhaha at the Camp Nou showed an unprovoked attack on Barcelona Assistant Coach Tito Villanova followed by disparaging remarks afterwards and no apology.
His comments after Monday’s game to me sounded like he wanted to be sacked. No sane manager in any walk of life would speak of his employees in those terms. He had either had enough and just wanted the money – or he had really lost it completely. Position untenable.
Good riddance I say.
Great article Walter. I was also dubious about what Cech would bring, whilst hopeful that we could have another Pat Jennings scenario. I was nervous that Mourinho was protesting too much about Cech. I also confess to a limited understanding of goalkeeping. However, despite a poor start against W Ham, Cech is winning me over. He is delivering consistent performances and seems to bring confidence to our defenders. It’s still too early for me to be totally won over, but I like what I am seeing.
What a good day for all that’s right in football.
Doesn’t happen that often but today it did.
A scoundrel like MaureenO gets dumped on his butt
And (more importantly)
A decent, honest and extremely talented guy ( and one of our own to boot)
gets appointed manager at Reading. Congratulations to Brian McDermott on his new job.
The football world’s a slightly better place than it was yesterday!
BTW Walter, glad you’ve recognised that despite his previous employment, Petr Cech is pure class, through and through. A real thoroughbred and apparently a nice guy as well, chalk another master stroke up to AW.
The Moaning 1’s position regarding Cech shows that he still thinks he is a very good keeper and in all probability better than Courtois. Just so sad that he does not have the class to appreciate and express it. Hence his fall-out with Doc Eva and that when he knew Hazard was faking it…. Makes you wonder if he instructed Hazard to waste time against Swansea?
On Cech:
Walter, my thoughts were pretty much the same about the Cech transfer as yours, but am i glad you and i were both wrong? Yeaaaaaaaa. 🙂
On the “special”
Was it not touted that he’ll be at Chel$ for life when he came back? Who knows what happened there now?
Would love to see them relegated, would have really preferred it to be Manu, but hey, i’ll take what i get. 🙂
Looks like Abramowitch has convinced Pep to come to Chel$.
It just shows what a world class experienced winner can bring to the table.He has been excellent and a great addition to the team.Many on here were happy with chez and ospina but hes at another level.Surley if we can find anthother couple of additions in january, similar we should use some of our vast fortune in the bank to prise them away from their clubs.Surely the attraction of joining one of the elite teams in europe who are challenging for the league and champions league will attract them.
Mourinho says I am champion. I have won the Premier League. There is no praise for anyone else – no mention of Rileys crows & players that made the difference. He does not know humility nor will he ever know it. I’m glad he is where he is – shame he has so much money. If he was truly broke then he would be totally broken. His abuse of Wenger was evil & he revelled in his vile bile that came out of his stupid self praised mouth. I would love for a real journalist to ask him if he knows that he lost…. to know that he got sacked for being a loser!!
Wenger always praises his team & his players. He does not take credit even when it is totally deserved. His humility is what separates him from many others. His wisdom is for those that think. His football is for those that enjoy the finer side of the beautiful game. Imagine what Wenger would have created if he had Hazard & Messi & Neymar & Sanchez in his team. It would be Cirque de Solei avec Football.
We Arsenal fans are blessed with a Manager that loves the game more than we do. That is why we enjoy the Arsenal Way – The Arsene Way!
Why is it that the Managers that all get put on a pedestal and hailed as the ‘greatest’ are all those that have inherited great squads, had huge amounts to spend and operate in an environment where they have little competition?
I do not mean to undermine the achievements of Pep Guardiola or Jose Mourinho but they must be put into context.
Managing a team with infinite resources and with an already strong team is a huge advantage.
When you have the best players a big squad and have the ability to improve the team whenever you want, it is not the same as managing a team with none of that. It simply isnt.
Pep Guardiola managed Barcelona, a team with a 50/50 chance of winning la Liga. He a;lso managed Bayern munich a team with a 95% chance of winning the Bundesliga. It’s different.
When Jose Mourinho first managed Chelsea, he had all the Russians money to spend – a huge advatange. At teh same time we were struggling financially and the Arabs were still sniffing around.
Surely this point is proven by the fact that Chelsea won the Champions League under Di Matteo.
So as much as I respect managers like Mourinho and Pep, I do so in context. I wonder how they would manage a club that does not have huge resources and a plethora of star players, while competing in a competitive league.
Winning trophies at Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich is virtually a given.
Mourinho proved in Spain and again in England that he’s okay in his first couple of years throwing around the money but struggles when his players under perform or things go wrong and automatically goes into demotivation mode. He simply cannot improve players or bring through unknon players. I suspect he would fail at a club where the cheque book isnt the main recruiting tool and where player development is.
That does not make him the ‘special’ manager those in the media would like to make out.
Interesting discourse here. What would happen were one to use these stats about quality of squads, $ at a manager’s disposal and then used it to rate all the managers in the Football League? How many of those managers have regularly done amazing things and don’t get much recognition?
Chelsea have had 13 managers since AW came to Arsenal . Their moronic fraction have had so much different choices and option in abusing their managers .
‘Them’ ,alas , have had only one target in the last 20 years !
Ruud Gullit
Gianluca Vialli
Graham Rix
Claudio Ranieri
José Mourinho
Avram Grant
Luiz Felipe Scolari
Ray Wilkins
Guus Hiddink
Carlo Ancelotti
André Villas-Boas
Roberto Di Matteo
Rafael Benítez
José Mourinho