Arsenal: How long is the Petr Cech trial?

As Unai Emery implements his new style at Arsenal, the players already at the club are on trial to see if they can adapt. So far, it looks as though Petr Cech is unable to. But how long should he be given to prove otherwise?

When Pep Guardiola arrived at Manchester City, one of the first things that he did was ship out Joe Hart. At the time, Hart was a City legend, the starting goalkeeper through the most successful period of the club’s history. And Guardiola’s reasoning seemed odd to us uninitiated in the evolutions of the modern game: Hart was replaced because he wasn’t good enough with his feet, despite playing a position that almost exclusively requires individuals to use their hands.

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But as Guardiola’s philosophy was outlined and implemented, it became clear that he expected far more from his goalkeeper than just saving shots and catching crosses. Guardiola, though, didn’t even give Hart a chance to prove that he could use his feet. He loaned him out in the first summer that he arrived.

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Unai Emery is now undertaking a very similar process at Arsenal. He wants his team to play out from the back and prioritise possession, incorporating the goalkeeper as an eleventh outfield player to provide more passing options when the opposition presses high up the pitch. But where Emery has differed from Guardiola’s approach is in the opportunities that he has afforded those that were already at the club.

Even though Arsenal invested £20 million on a new goalkeeper precisely because he has the capabilities and comfort of distributing passes from deep, Emery persisted with Petr Cech, a 36-year-old who has spent his whole career playing a very different approach, that being one of clearing the ball up the pitch into safer areas of the pitch to evade the risk of losing possession in a dangerous area.

But in the four Premier League matches that Cech has started so far this season, and most notably in Sunday’s 3-2 win over Cardiff City in which he very nearly gifted the hosts an early goal when he passed straight to Harry Arter, he has routinely proven that he lacks the technical skill and mental calmness and decision-making to play in such a manner.

It’s not really Cech’s fault that he seemingly cannot fulfil the responsibilities that Emery wants him to. It’s just a limitation of his game. But it does raise the question of time. Guardiola was ruthless with Hart. He gave him almost no opportunity to prove his prejudgements false. Emery has offered Cech those chances that Hart never got. But for how long does he wait?

Another Guardiolian example is Sergio Aguero. The Argentine striker was instructed to press from the front, a key element of Guardiola’s style. When he illustrated that he couldn’t do it effectively, Guardiola turned to Gabriel Jesus, replacing one of City’s greatest ever players and orchestrator of their two league titles in the four years prior to Guardiola’s arrival. However, in the two years since that Guardiola has been in charge for, Aguero has evolved, improved and displayed that he can indeed play in the manner that Guardiola wants. It just took time.

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So we return to Cech, a player very much like Aguero, who has played in a very particular manner for his whole career. And now he is being asked to play completely differently. It may take time for him to adapt, to improve, to change. But how long will Emery will give him? Cech is on trial, but no one knows how long it will last.

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