Wenger: Cech not only one to blame for loss
Hammer horror show for Arsenal as £10m keeper gets in a flap
ARSENE WENGER refused to single out Petr Cech for blame after Arsenal began the new Premier League campaign with a shock 2-0 home defeat by West Ham yesterday.
The Czech goalkeeper, recruited from Chelsea for £10million in the summer, looked unconvincing for the goals from Cheikhou Kouyate and Mauro Zarate.
But Wenger insisted his entire back line was at fault, saying: ‘I haven’t spoken to Cech. I can’t see many convincing individual performances. It’s difficult to see beyond that. It’s not only him. We have experience along the back line. It was a collective lapse. We have to look at ourselves and think we were not good enough.’
It is believed Wenger will make a move for Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema this week in a bid for more firepower up front.
And so, it turns out, there is more to plotting a credible assault on the Barclays Premier League than signing a prized goalkeeper from the champions.
Arsenal’s £10million outlay on Petr Cech was chiefly responsible for firing optimism among fans who have not savoured the title for more than a decade. When Arsene Wenger beat nemesis Jose Mourinho in the FA Community shield, it crept a little higher still.
Arsenal had finished the last campaign in such terrific form and Wenger bagged another FA Cup before spending the summer talking up the value of continuity and cohesion.
As kick- off loomed, a crackle of anticipation rippled along the Holloway Road. Inside the stadium, Cech’s name was greeted with a triumphant roar. Then, the serious business started.
West Ham turned up, armed with an ambitious new manager and a team rippling with the sort of strength, athletic presence and setpiece menace usually associated with their old boss.
Cheikhou Kouyate opened the scoring with a header from a free-kick just before half-time, a goal which wrenched the game from its predictable rhythms of heavy periods of Arsenal possession and wasted chances.
Mauro Zarate made it 2-0 soon after the restart and a different mood descended upon the restless natives; one of frustration mingled with mild panic. Concerns about the same old problems appear set to linger beyond the optimism.
still flimsy at the back and lacking punch up front in the absence of Alexis sanchez and with Mesut ozil oh- so- easily neutralised by a 16-year-old debutant in an unfamiliar position.
Then, most depressingly of all for Arsenal, there was Cech. It was not like this at stamford Bridge, where his goal was a secure and well-protected place. Here, he was exposed with alarming regularity in a side designed to flow forward.
Keeping goal for Arsenal is an entirely different proposition and yet Cech must hold up his hands and accept blame for two goals soaked in defensive disorder.
The first came via a free-kick, expertly delivered by dimitri Payet and converted by a simple header from Kouyate. nacho Monreal on Kouyate was a mismatch born out of Arsenal’s lack of inches across the team, but the full back’s attempt at marking was awful.
Having clocked the danger, Cech charged out from goal, fists clenched and arms extended, only to be beaten to the ball and left on the turf somewhere near the penalty spot as it nestled in his net.
For the second, Arsenal made a hash of tackling full back Aaron Cresswell and, when they did, gave the ball to Alex oxlade-Chamberlain, who was nudged aside by Zarate, a striker ridiculed for his weight and lack of fitness while on loan at QPR last season.
When nobody closed him down, Zarate took aim and shot early from 20 yards, finding Cech was off balance and unable to adjust as the ball flashed inside the post.
‘super, super slav…’ sang the jubilant West Ham fans. After their feeble surrender in the Europa League, nobody had predicted this.
slaven Bilic is an instant hero, as is £12m signing Payet and Reece oxford, at 16 years and 236 days the seventh youngest player to appear in the Premier League. Holding in central midfield, where he shackled ozil, it was a day the teenage centre half will never forget.
For Wenger, the summer feel-good factor lasted less than 90 minutes. While he bemoaned his team’s lack of concentration and organisation, their wastefulness and a lack of preparation time, the manager has to accept some of the blame.
It was difficult to find the logic in moving santi Cazorla from a position deep in midfield alongside Francis Coquelin, where he has
proved so influential, to a role chiefly wide on the left.
Perhaps it was to allow Oxlade-Chamberlain freedom on the right, arguably his best position, while keeping Aaron Ramsey in the team to provide thrust from midfield.
The Ox, bright and effective in the opening half-hour, went close with a volley before a bubbling run and cross to the back post which Cazorla put over.
Ramsey rattled the bar with a half- volley and squandered another opening when Mathieu Debuchy was better placed. Cazorla was back in the centre for the second half, but by then the visitors were ahead and digging in to defend. West Ham protected their goalkeeper with far more purpose than Arsenal.
James Tomkins thwarted Ozil soon after Kouyate’s opener and Winston Reid blocked from substitute Theo Walcott late on.
On came Sanchez. The Chilean was supposed to have taken the day off as part of his recovery programme following the Copa America but needs must.
Still West Ham resisted and counter- attacked at speed. Whether it was a style true to their heritage, nobody seemed to care. They showed guts. Sam Allardyce would have been proud.
Arsenal were deservedly beaten and, having demanded a flying start, Wenger braced up for an inevitable barrage of opinion, imploring him to delve back into the transfer market.
He is not one to be swayed by opinion, but his mind may be changed by this result and performance.