Clrnc think there's a fair bit of revisionism going on here. Cech looked like an upgrade when he signed. It only lasted about a season but it wasn't the horrendous signing that some suggest.

      On a slightly more serious note, I guess I just felt what Cech gave us for one season wasn't worth losing Szczesny for the rest of his career. That said, Arsène was clearly done with the Pole and given the very recent evidence we have around the importance of high standards - and being ruthless about those standards, it's hard to say he was wrong.

      It just makes you wonder why he tolerated shit from everyone else.

        Cech didn't look better than Szczesny at all and what's worse is Szcz kept improving and had a pretty great career.

        RocktheCasbah Well yeah, but the thing was for some reason Wenger was ruthless to about 3-4 players only, the rest can do as they please....anyways. Cech was decent for about 2 months, he was old and busted, and it was a mistake to take him here. Fuck him

            HomeSteak Well yeah, but the thing was for some reason Wenger was ruthless to about 3-4 players only, the rest can do as they please

            Isn't that what I said, just in slightly different words? 😃

              RocktheCasbah yeah, I can understand this perspective. I just disagree that Cech was the inferior 'keeper when he joined. Szczesny wasn't improving in terms of positioning and decision-making (things that Cech was comfortably an upgrade on). In his first season, Cech kept more clean sheets than any other GK in the league and I remember the positive response he received from fans and journalists.

              I also think people forget out how much of a problem Ches had become, he just didn't look like he was improving and in all likelihood, probably needed a change of environment to kick on.

              Things did start to go downhill as Cech's physical capabilities started to decline and we started to put more ball playing demands on the GK spot but honestly I think people's opinions are coloured by how his last season with us ended (ie. the dreadful defeat in Baku against the team he then rejoined).

                  Don Pacifico Don't think there are much positives from the fans, journos maybe but they are just riding on the bandwagon of his ex glories. He made the most mistakes that directly led to us dropping points from the very first season already and went downhill from then on. Those days our GK situation was really poverty. When we finally signed Leno he was like a breath of fresh air.

                  Ospina was no better but I can maybe forgive him for the crucial role he had to us winning the FA Cup. I have 0 fond memories of Cech and he probably don't care about us at all too

                      Well to be fair to Cech, look at the defense he had in front of him. We were not exactly setting the world on fire with our defensive prowess back then. That said, he did let in his fair share of clangers

                      Clrnc I mean I thought he was good in his first season and I know I wasn't alone at the time.

                      In terms of errors, I'm gonna invoke the 'show me the stats' clause because in 2015/2016, Boruc made the most errors leading to a goal (5) versus Cech on 2. And it's not like he wasn't tested because he made the 3rd highest number of saves out of any GK that season (pretty unusual for a team that finished 2nd as per the point @USArsenal made about our defensive quality); as I said before, he also achieved the most clean sheets of anyone too.

                      So yeah, currently the data I've seen supports my memory of that season.

                        RocktheCasbah this kid had seriously bad timing with his injuries. without injury setbacks, i imagine he is able to develop with the others and be part of the core 16 or so. but as we can see with even a top player like Jesus, big injuries can turn you to dust.

                          Yeah, I know. Gonna suck when he scores the winning goal at the Cottage.

                          6 days later

                          Very very good interview with Ramsey. Everyone should watch it.

                          Some interesting bits

                          • Arsene Wenger obviously is his best manager, and he said a lot of players reached their best level under him as he was an incredible man manager. E.g. Ozil
                          • He picked no Arsenal players in defence amongst all the best players he played with. All back 5 from Juve. Danilo over Sagna/Bellerin, Alex Sandro over Monreal.
                          • Picked Giroud as the best CF he played with (not RVP) due to the special connection and understand they had. Both FA cup winners was setup by Giroud too
                          • Full of admiration for Cazorla, like everyone who played with him.
                          • He was not the same player after the injury. Struggled a lot with many different injuries because of that one leg break. Similar to Diaby
                          • He didn't want to leave us. He wanted to retire here. But all of a sudden we rescinded the contract when Emery came. Then went to sign with Juve for 400k per week to try and win the UCL.
                          • Went to United training ground, got invited by Rafa to speak to, visited Moyes home but chose to sign for us because of Wenger's pull. Wenger flew him to europe to speak with him.
                          • Wants to be a manager soon. Dreams of managing Wales.

                            Clrnc Picked Giroud as the best CF he played with (not RVP) due to the special connection and understand they had. Both FA cup winners was setup by Giroud too

                            Not surprised he doesn't like RvP lol. Supposedly they did not like each other at all.

                            Clrnc He didn't want to leave us. He wanted to retire here. But all of a sudden we rescinded the contract when Emery came. Then went to sign with Juve for 400k per week to try and win the UCL.

                            Complete load of bollocks, as soon as big money offers came from abroad his head was turned. Shouldn't try to take us for fools.