There has been a lot of talk and debate as well as a hail of criticism for Arsene Wenger and his decision this week to start David Ospina instead of Petr Cech in the must win Champions League clash with Olympiacos. The decision was always going to be questioned but after the Colombian international dropped a real clanger and the ball and had a huge part in our defeat, the scrutiny of his selection has been intense.
Because of the importance of the game, everyone is struggling to understand why the manager would choose not to select his strongest side and with Cech having been the only Arsenal signing of the summer transfer window and with the 33-year old having the experience of winning the Champions League as well as almost every other trophy available to him, the keeper rotation was the hardest to understand.
There have been suggestions in some parts of the media that Wenger had promised the cup games to Ospina in order to persuade him to stay and some even claim that it might be in his contract. Wenger himself hinted that he was being ultra cautious with the fitness of Cech after his number one stopper after a niggling calf injury flared up before the win over Leicester City.
This has been shot down by pundits as the Czech Republic international was fit enough for the bench and the Daily Mail reports that Cech had declared himself fit to play.
However, Liam Brady has a different viewpoint. The Arsenal legend has worked with the Frenchman ever since he joined the club in 1996 until he retired from running the academy last summer and so he knows Wenger as well as anyone. And the Irishman believes that there was an injury problem with Cech, as revealed in a Squawka.com report.
Brady said, “I have a feeling Cech had a knock or an injury.
“I think Arsene said after the game to the press ‘look, I know more things about the reasons I make selections than you people.’
“I’m guessing he didn’t want to risk him over something because had he done so and lost him for a month or so, he really would have come in for criticism.
“That’s the only reason I can think that you would want to play Ospina in front of Cech.”
It does seem more realistic than Wenger just playing his second choice keeper for no reason in such a big game. And if Cech declared himself fit, does that not suggest that there were doubts in the first place? And is keeping him fit for the Premier League not the biggest priority? So have we been a bit too harsh on the prof?
We have little hopes to champions league now.so we must play Opsina in goal there and Cechs to premium league where we have the hope!!!!
The real reason for Arsenal’s woes……..WENGER’s INCOMPETENCE!
Correct but there are still too many idiots who cant see he is the problem
I’m not a big-fan of Mr wenger but it’s foolish to question why he played a guy who kept 14 cleansheet out of 19 matches. I for one wanted him to play him(Ospina) at this early stage of the competition considering the team we were up against and then play cech at the latter stage.
Let me ask; is Ospina not good enough to start against Olimpiakos???
I see where your coming from mate but you have to ask yourself many more questions towards Wenger. What’s the point of signing Cech and not playing him in a and I quote Wenger “must win game”
There’s something about the “Emirates”………… I dn’t really Like……… It’s like the ground was built on a cursed cornerstone…..how many home Loses so far?
Hahaha.. it was. .. didn’t you know? ?
That good for nothing nasty medieval spud witch
called Lily whites ???
The curse is on wenger himself from his wife
It doesn’t matter. Even with Ospina, we should have won. We had Caz, Ozil, Alexis, Kos, Theo
Anyway, losing in group stages this season won’t be as painful as losing to Monaco in knockout stage. We should have won and been the only English side to advance. I was so gutted by our home match performance
I thought at least we would steal Kondogbia from Monaco in the summer.
Btw- Spuds are beating Monaco
@Robertthegooner
Not anymore…1-1
Plus, Monaco are without Kondogbia and Martial…
OT: Just discussing the game with some ManU supporters they had a good laugh at suggestion of Walcott as a striker. They laughed and laughedtheir heads off…hahahahahah!!!
The laughter kept on going on for some time. I had no words!!!
Your obviously a Utd troll… which explains your lack of words to back up Walcott’s 13 goals in his last 14 games!
@Fatboy Gooney
Well said Gooner…
We are always rightfully harsh when we lose to an average team, Especially at home!
The proof is, no one would have obviously moaned or complained if we would have won…. Right?
The problem is.. Lessons are never learned,
We had a good pre season and a confidence booster win over Chelsea in the Charity Shield but for some reason Wenger started our seasonal opener with west ham with a different line up! And he has struggled since then.
We don’t know what the real issues are,
all that we do know is that it is effecting the team performance.
I’m hoping that the lastest training ground rollicking will inspire the team to greater things, starting with 3pts against Utd on Sunday.
If not… Then wenger has to aknowledge that he can no longer take this team forward.
we live and hope that Wenger
Sorry … I fell asleep … ????
We live and hope that wenger will sort his ? out
and retire on a high instead of a low.
That’s a story only because we lost! He made a terrible mistake…had we won it wouldn’t have been such a problem…I too feel Cech should’ve started but hey…it’s a non story we lost because overall we played poorly and Ospina made a mistake that’s emphasized by the lose. We hailed in as a Hero at Spurs and now it feels like we have a keeper who played in nationals before coming…COME ON!
Our manager had luck on his side when he joined the Arsenal . He came to the Arsenal when we already had a defensive formation in place. He then added players who had skills and brains to complete the winning formation. for a successful period. Unfortunately over the last baron period the team’s that have finished above the Arsenal ie 1st 2nd or 3rd have all had deeper pockets than the Arsenal. Any new manager will demand money for improved players before they agree employment. The board will have to change their outlook before we become a league winning side again. I
Le fraud. Does not need to explain himself to the footballworld.
Arsenal is like The Secret Service, maybe Wenger works for British/French intelligence. Why all the double talk, the fans have a right to know reasons for certain decisions that do not compromise the result.
Wenger made a promise to Ospina for playing times in the cups competition, in summer when ospina had an offer from the Turks.
Period.
Resting Cech sent the wrong message to the rest of the team. We have seen it time and again in the Capital One Cup where big teams are knocked out after making so many changes because the players think, ‘Oh well, it’s not that important today.
It only breeds the kind of inconsistency Arsenal have shown this season. When things are going their way, they are excellent. Some of the football they played at Leicester was phenomenal but so often they are vulnerable.