Should Petr Cech keep goal for Arsenal in the Europa League Final?
Having played in Europe all season, he is the logical choice.
This tweet he put up the other day is a bit sickening but it was a personal triumph for him to be a part of the spawniest CL win in history in 2012.
Now we have the news (presumably leaked by Chelsea ) as the Europa Final approaches that the big Czech is to return to the bus stop in Fulham as Director of Football after this season is over.
Is there a sudden conflict of interest or will Petr’s outstanding professionalism dispel any doubts in Unai’s mind?
What do you think?
Should he play in the Final? Are you having any second thoughts?
chas
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I think he should not play
It’s about the team, not just Cech. Yes I know this will be his last game, but we may never reach a European final again.. so we have to go with our strongest line up & imo that includes Leno.
He’s won all there is to win with his beloved Chelsea & he’ll be back with them before he knows it! I know he’s a professional & he should give everything for Arsenal, there’s just too much at stake – imagine if he dropped a clanger???
Jeez what with Mkhi & now this… why can’t Chelsea just do us a favour & let Hazard go to RM tomorrow 😄
Put something on yesterday’s post Chas that might be used in future, perhaps!
Thanks for today. Cech should definitely play, with Ramsey and Welbz will be our inspiration and will have a stormer!
Cech tweeted immediately after the Chelsea slimeballs had made their move, how he had made no final decisions about his future and was totally focused on winning the Europa Cup with Arsenal.
Hopefully, this tasteless, cynical leak will drive us on to win. What an evil Russian owned pile of xxxx Chelski is. Of course the man wants a future career.
Interesting, Chas, thank you.
I identify with our players like every other fan, which means I rate some of them very highly, some others – not so much, and then there are others who are OK-ish but no more than that.
In professional sport there can be no sentimentality and players should be selected on the basis of being the best for the team – not because they are nice guys.
I am of the opinion that Petr is right to decide to retire, because he is no longer the best GK at Arsenal, let alone elsewhere — ipso facto — if I had my way, he would not play — which means — he will, as long experience indicates that what I think is not what managers think. 😳
If Emery chooses Leno, he’ll get caned, if he choose Cech and he costs us the final he’ll get caned.
Chelsea might be slime balls but they’ve been very cute slime balls as this question had pretty much gone away and now it’s a big deal with the fan base again.
Hi Sue,
I tried very hard, in my most astute nit-picky way, to find fault with anything you have said, and rather annoyingly, I could find not one grain of evidence that you have ever done so.
You will have to try harder! 🤪
If as you said, you sometimes find it difficult to decide whether or not I am being serious about some thing, there is a rule of thumb you might find helpful.
I am rarely ever serious about anything, except football matters, and in other respects, I enjoy a little badinage betwixt myself and those I like, which includes you. 😳
Thank you too, for the heads up as to which blog you spoke to that little devil, the Monster Coq.
I have frequented a lot of blogs over the years, and have known a multitude of bloggers.
Sadly, so many of them have switched to that pit of acrimony (Twitter) that I fear blogging will not survive for too long.
In the meantime, I remain a wonderful fount of all knowledge – and a Micky taker par excellence. 😇
Morning all,
Chas, my view is that Petr is 100% professional and his desire would be to win the trophy to prove that point and to show his current allegiance to Arsenal.
He has played well for us and deserves to play in the final, I would be most disappointed if he did not start.
Good post LBG.
My sixpence worth is that Arsenal should be a meritocracy and as such the best GK should start.
Sorry Petr but if I were UE, you would ride the pine.
Not my post Raddy, but thanks anyway.
Cheers Chas,
Of course Petr should start and it’s an insult to even assume that he would do anything but his very best for us. Leno is getting better and better and would probably be the better penalty stopper, but the experience and aura of Petr, and the fact that it will be his very last game of football (most likely), make him the right man for the job in the final. Petr is a winner.
While I would like to see Cech play I agree with Raddy that Unai should pick the best team without either emotional or political bias.
Hello RA… well thank you for clearing that up!
So what I was thinking was actually correct then (that you’re blooming stark raving bonkers 99% of the time 😉)
I noticed at the bottom of your comment, your halo is slipping (big time!)
Well I look forward to plenty more banter with the big mac munching, walking dictionary, Arsenal loving, crazy yankee doodle that is RA from good old Wichita!!
There was just one other thing.. after the comments yesterday, about Joe Baker having a Scottish accent, but played for England… what is yours like? Surely you must have an English twang??
Oh, GN5, how could you do this to me? 🤪
My comment @11:08 precisely said that sentiment is out – in professional sport – and the choice of the best player for the team is essential.
3 Hours later Raddy said much the same and you agreed with him.
Oh, hang on — I am not being ostracised — I simply typed using invisible print – silly me. 🥺
I wonder if the Watford fans went through this, over Saturday… with it being Gomes’s last game & all…. I’m not saying that Foster would have prevented that thrashing & they’d have gone on to win… but he’s so much better than Gomes..
I can’t see UE not picking Cech, I just hope to God he has the mother of all performances, because if he doesn’t & we lose, he’ll get absolutely slaughtered!! But the Chelsea fans will love their “Agent Cech”
Hi Sue,
You are spot on — stone, raving bonkers sums me up nicely. 🤴
It’s difficult to know how we all sound to others, and I am no exception, but it is true that to my Brit friends I apparently sound like some hick from Hicksville who has just wandered into civilised London by mistake.
Bloody cheek.
Thing is …… there really is a Hicksville in NY.
Anyway, they are talking baloney — in NY the guys call me the smart assed Limey guy who sounds like a dude cowboy, because …… well who knows?
Luckily they are all my friends, or they might regret their mischief. 😁
Apologies for the blatant clickbait post.
It seemed a reasonable way of breaking up GN5’s brilliant Centurions posts and was also what a lot of the Arse blogosphere was chuntering on about.
That or the ludicrous Mkhitaryan situation.
At the moment I’ve never been less enthusiastic about any Final we’ve ever been in. A sad state of affairs.
RA,
Your posts are always top class. I just didn’t want sidetrack your courtship with Lady Sue.
Hi GN5,
I cannot hold a candle to your Posts and comments, but thank you for being kind, again. 😁
Sue is usually the only person who chats to me on AA, (other than your admonition @ 6 p.m., today, for example, so it is slightly ironic that when I reply to the only correspondent who chats to me, I am seen as behaving inappropriately.
It seems you are all telling me something – again.
Anyway, it is a bit embarrassing that poor Sue should be subject to what is being seen as my ‘courtship’ – and I owe her an apology for that.
Sue seems to be on the same wavelength as me on matters Arsenal, and it was never my intention to put her into any difficulties by pulling her leg — so, if you are reading this Sue, I do apologise to you and I will mind my manners in future — but the truth is, I thought it was fun chatting to you, and for that, I do not apologise.
RA,
It was a joke my friend – nothing more – nothing less.
I would never intentionally cause yourself or Sue any ill.
Obviously I’m the one that should be apologizing – so please accept my apology.
RA/Sue your comments are very humorous – so please don’t stop commenting.
RA… you have nothing to apologise for! I’ve told you many times, I love a bit of banter.. so keep it coming 😃 it’s been a hoot talking to you on here! 😊
And I agree with GN5, your posts are top class 👌 (thank you, GN5)
Ooh I like that red top Laca has on, check out those tight sleeves.. (I’m a sucker for a tight sleeve on a muscly arm!) So now for Kolasinac to model it….. 😍
Cheers chas
Of course Cheque should play. He has the experience were as Leno is a young man with potential anxiety problems
I have suffered form anxiety all my life. Only last year I witnessed a car accident from about 50 yards away that resulted in such a neck jerk I was later offered a part in the new Fantastic 4 movie. During the auditions I narrowly failed to get the part due to movement restrictions caused by my neck brace.
When the old bill took a witness statement, my projected neck jolt enabled me to explain that the man in the Ford Fiesta was on his phone checking to see if he had any messages on a dating site, and though the site is a heterosexual site that I am familiar with, he had only one message from some bloke asking him about the length of his socks.
I also told them he had a spliff in his opened glove box and looked down to check his socks,
Lenos time will come. Probably next year when we win the Champions League.
Arsenal opted against offering Aaron Ramsey a new contract because matching his wage demands would have been “very harmful” to the squad’s dynamic, head of football Raul Sanllehi says.
Ramsey will join Juventus on a free transfer on July 1 after accepting a deal in February that, according to some reports in the UK, will see him earn as much as £400,000 per week.
Sanllehi says it would have been irresponsible for Arsenal to match the “incredible” offers Ramsey received from other clubs when he entered the final year of his contract, even though the player himself was keen to stay at Emirates Stadium.
Gunners director Sanllehi pointed to unnamed rivals where salary discrepancies have proved a disruption within the team and threatened to damage the interests of the club as a whole.
“One of the key things for me – and I’ve seen that happening in other clubs – one of the key things is to keep the rationality in the salary balance of the team,” he told Arsenal’s website.
“Because of our circumstances, because of not renewing Aaron on time, we were in a situation in which Aaron had incredible offers building up on the salary.
“He was really keen on staying with us, he was ready to make the effort but at the end of the whole process we had to be responsible for ourselves and protect the interests of Arsenal. We realised we were going to cause an imbalance that would have been very harmful for the team’s sake in the medium and longer term.”
Sanllehi says plans are firmly in place for the transfer window, however, as Arsenal look to replace Ramsey and strengthen their squad.
Only a victory in next week’s Europa League final will see them return to the Champions League next season, but Sanllehi thinks the lure of the Gunners will be enough to convince top targets to join regardless.
“What I can tell you is that we have identified very clearly and unanimously with our head coach and technical people, we know what we want to prioritise and we’re very clear on what our priorities are,” he said.
“We’re already in the market and we’re already talking with the people that can help us to cover those positions and I feel quite strong.
“It’s going well and the image that Arsenal has in the football world is very strong. I do believe that we have a very good plan to cover those positions to be much stronger next year to deliver the success that we’re all hoping for.
“We are a reference in the football world, so when Arsenal knocks on the door of players it’s a different knock than other clubs. Of course, the fact that we have not been in the Champions League for two years and we are in question marks now for the next year, that’s not helpful. But again, the image of Arsenal is strong enough to help us build a case about all the model we are bringing up, the new era that we are bringing up. It’s very exciting.”
Sanllehi also expects the club to appoint a new technical director soon, with former midfielder Edu said to be among the candidates.
“That role is really crucial in the whole model,” he added. “We are hoping to be able to get that covered very soon… we are only missing that piece. Surely we are going to be able to cover for him in the short term but when we are talking mid-term and long term we really need that position.”
LBG.. I thought Mavropanos was left out of our EL squad.. I think Suarez was included, so he missed out (something to do with home grown or not home grown 😀) So Mustafi then? Sigh…
I couldn’t stop laughing reading your post, Terry Mancini 👍
Going against the grain here and the poll.
Leno all day everyday and Sunday.
Build on the performance with a top class Euro trophy, and in the next few years get the club back in CL by being competitive, and draw some world class talent towards the inertia.
Do not care about sentimentality on this one.
Win the dang game.
Sue 9.34
No thanks, let’s play with ten!
Aaron
The poll came out as a majority who said Cech shouldn’t play i.e Leno to play, didn’t it?
NEW POST
I’ve taken your comment LBG to use at some point.