Petr Cech defended by Premier League star

The veteran goalkeeper has struggled with new sweeper-keeper style

Petr Cech joined Arsenal from Chelsea on a four-year contract on 29 June 2015, for a fee of around £10 million. He spend 11 years with London rivals before deciding to move to the Emirates Stadium.

The 36 year old has been the first choice goalkeeper for the Gunners since joining them and has made 119 appearances in all competitions. He has been their one of the most constant players over the past 3 seasons.

He was regular for the English side last season, making 34 Premier League appearances for them but missed out on Champions League qualification.

But the Czezh Republic International has struggled to continue his form that made him one of the best goalkeepers in the world. The club itself have struggled in the past 2 seasons as they finished outside the top 4 on both the occasions.

Unai Emery was appointed as the new manager after Arsene Wenger announced that he will leave the club at the end of the season. He completed the signing of Bernd Leno from Bayer Leverkusen who is considered as long term successor of the Premier League legend.

Despite signing a new goalkeeper, the Spaniard has started the veteran goalkeeper in the all the Premier League fixtures so far this season. He has been urged to changed his style as sweeper-keeper by the manager but the player has struggled to adapt to it.

However, Everton goalkeeper has defended Cech and claimed he is still one of the best.

The England International said as quoted by Mirror: “He (Cech) has been top keeper in the Premier League for the last ten or 12 years. He’s a keeper when you’re growing up you see him making these saves week in week out.

“He’s probably been the most consistent goalkeeper in these last 10 years in the Premier League, so you can’t give him too much criticism.

“I’m certainly not giving him any, I think he’s a great goalkeeper and someone you look up to.

“But it’s a way of playing out from the back, you don’t have to do it all the time. Look at Ederson a few weeks ago getting the assist with (Sergio) Aguero.

“Obviously I’ve got it in my locker as well. I haven’t pulled an assist off yet. I nearly got one the other day against Bournemouth , so I was disappointed.

“It’s about the right time of doing it. You don’t have to play out every time, you might’ve had a spell of five minutes where you’ve been under a lot of pressure and you need to calm the game down.

“The last thing you want to do if a team’s pressing you is you playing out, they win, the crowd’s going up, it’s about it getting the right balance.

“I try not to [do tricks] because I don’t want to be caught with it. It’s a risk. If it comes off it looks good and if it doesn’t…

“Look at Ederson at Man City. Guardiola puts a lot of faith in him doing it.

“Mistakes happen all over the pitch, but the goalkeeper mistake is always a crucial one or gets talked about a lot.”