Petr Cech Is Not the Biggest Concern for Arsenal After West Ham Debacle

This season was all about Arsenal needing to make the perfect start. After winning just two of their opening eight Premier League fixtures in 2014/15, and handing Chelsea what proved to be an insurmountable lead, both Arsenal and their manager, Arsene Wenger, have been clear that their focus was to burst emphatically out of the blocks.

Instead, it was Arsenal’s balloon of optimism that was burst by an efficient West Ham side that gave a highly effective demonstration of counter-attacking football.

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Arsenal’s poor start found its microcosm in the performance of Petr Cech. There was much anticipation about seeing the former Chelsea man finally make his Premier League debut, especially after he impressed while keeping a clean sheet in the Community Shield victory over his former club. However, Cech endured a miserable competitive debut for his new club and was arguably at fault for both goals.

On West Ham’s first, he was caught in no man’s land on a set piece in a manner that will have been painfully familiar to Arsenal fans accustomed to watching the likes of Manuel Almunia and Lukasz Fabianski flail in similar circumstances over the past decade. For the Hammers’ second goal, Cech was unsighted but still caught flat-footed by a relatively tame shot at his near post.

Despite his errors, Arsene Wenger was clearly reluctant to pick out the man wearing No. 33 for criticism when speaking to the media after the game:

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I haven’t spoken to him yet. I can’t see many individual convincing performances today so it’s difficult to single someone out.

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Wenger is right. While it was a poor performance from the new man, it does not make him a bad goalkeeper. The advantage of having acquired Cech is that he has the requisite experience to bounce back from this setback. In some respects, he will be the least of Wenger’s worries.

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The greatest concern will be the lack of cohesion Arsenal displayed in defence. Cech may have been the man left looking silly after West Ham’s opener, but the reality is that even if he hadn’t charged out into space, Cheikhou Kouyate would still have been afforded a free header by Arsenal’s disastrous marking. Similarly, Mauro Zarate’s goal only came about because Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain conceded possession and Laurent Koscielny failed to close the attacker down sufficiently.

There were problems going forward too. Without Hector Bellerin, Alexis Sanchez, Danny Welbeck or Theo Walcott in the starting line-up, Arsenal lacked pace in attack. The only player seemingly willing to drive at defenders was Oxlade-Chamberlain. Mesut Ozil struggled to get into the game, and the midfield axis of Aaron Ramsey and Francis Coquelin failed to click as Wenger must have anticipated.

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The result has dealt a severe blow to Arsenal’s title credentials. The Gunners must now regroup, recuperate and recover. Wenger’s focus should be on restoring the defensive solidity and attacking invention that characterised their strong form at the back end of last season. The Arsenal boss recognises that this a collective issue, not an individual one. His guilt-ridden goalkeeper is not such a significant concern—Cech has already proven that he has the stature and strength to bounce back in style.

James McNicholas is Bleacher Report's lead Arsenal correspondent and is following the club from a London base throughout 2015/16. Follow him on Twitter here.