The Gunners' £10m goalkeeper made two sensational
saves, but they badly need a striker at the same level to turn draws
into victories and mount a title challenge
Arsene Wenger will watch several repeats of Arsenal's goalless draw with Liverpool over the next few days, but he will still struggle to make any sense of his side’s performance on Monday night.On the one hand, the Gunners owe their goalkeeper Petr Cech for ensuring that Liverpool were not in the lead and out of sight by half-time after a woeful defensive display by the hosts in the first 45 minutes.
Against that, an offside flag denied Aaron Ramsey a legitimate goal that could have completely changed the game. A second-half surge on the Liverpool goal also included Alexis Sanchez striking against the post and Olivier Giroud missing a glorious chance from close range.
In many ways it was a performance that told the story of Arsenal’s summer.
They have signed a top quality goalkeeper in Cech; a proven winner and could be worth more than 10 points a season.
But at the other end they are missing the cutting edge to turn one point into three on nights like this. It could be the difference between finishing first and second at the end of the campaign.
Cech, 33, endured a nightmare Premier League debut in the 2-0 defeat to West Ham on the opening weekend, but he was at his very best here.
The former Chelsea man made two jaw-dropping saves that few goalkeepers in the world would be able to replicate.
First, he flung himself across his goalline to deny Christian Benteke from point-blank range as the Liverpool bench were already celebrating a near-certain opener.
Moments later, Cech was at full stretch again as he got the slightest of touches on Philippe Coutinho’s curler to divert the ball on to the post.
0 comments:
Post a Comment