Arsenal: Petr Cech not great, but he’s good enough

Petr Cech is no longer great. That is the viewpoint of Jamie Carragher, and he’s probably right. But given Arsenal’s past, he’s more than good enough.

The goalkeeping position has rarely been one of strength for Arsenal. Ever since the departure of Jens Lehman, who had already begun to decline in his later years, Arsene Wenger has riddled his way through a mire of underwhelming and underperforming letdowns. The solution was difficult to find.

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Manuel Almunia was talented. Agile and sharp. But he lacked the mental concentration to consistently perform at the level required. Similarly, Wojciech Szczesny and Lukasz Fabianski, the two Poles who battled for their national, struggled with the mental aspect of the game. Even the younger talents, like Emiliano Martinez, lacked the necessary concentration to ever stay a full season.

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So Arsene Wenger, after several seasons of sub-par goalkeeping, took action. In the summer of 2015, with his Arsenal team beginning to take shape, Wenger signed Petr Cech from Chelsea, with the London rivals seeing Thibault Courtois as the superior option. Cech, as an established and experienced Premier League keeper, brought an element of assurance and confidence to a previously vulnerable and naive defence. Although he may have lacked the athleticism, the reactions, the cat-like, springy movement of his younger years, his positioning, his reading of the game, and his character more than made up for it.

But this season, Cech has not been at the same high level. That is not to say that he has been poor. More, that he hasn’t quite lived up to his expectations. Jamie Carragher summed it up well after Arsenal’s 3-1 loss to Manchester City. Here is what he had to say:

"“Petr Cech should save that [City’s first goal]. I think he is one of the great goalkeepers in the Premier League, but now he’s just a good goalkeeper."

And Carragher is right. While I do not necessarily agree that he should have saved Kevin de Bruyne’s strike — it was a well-struck effort that caught him off guard, rifled into the bottom corner that he did well to get a hand to –, I do agree that Cech is not at the same world-class level that he was at.

That, though, is not reason enough to see him be replaced. Cech is still an extremely experienced and capable goalkeeper. He is a leader, an organiser, and a huge help and benefit to Arsenal’s defence. There are many more warts that need to be addressed before Cech is replaced.

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The famous statistic for Cech is that he has not saved any of the 13 penalties that he has faced in an Arsenal shirt. He is not at his best, anymore. But he is still more than adequate, even if he cannot save a penalty.