Following Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat to Manchester City, many criticised Arsenal’s goalkeeper Petr Cech for his footwork after implementing Emery’s new style.
It was evident from the first whistle, that Unai Emery wants his Arsenal team to play from the back and that this starts from the goalkeeper.
The tactic wasn’t wildly successful as Petr Cech struggled to pass the ball accurately and deal with Man City’s pressing.
Following the game, the official account for Bayer Leverkusen, the club Arsenal purchased Bernd Leno from, tweeted a bit of banter that seemed to take aim at Cech’s inability to pas properly from the back
In case you all were wondering how to play out of the back… pic.twitter.com/LZkxznsGPs
— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) August 12, 2018
Cech seemed to take offense at this and he responded via his own Twitter account where he stated: “.@Arsenal we share important values which make us a big club not only on the football side . Fair competition, professionalism and sportsmanship are the biggest ones you teach young footballers and it’s sad to see when other clubs don’t share the same values. .@bayer04_en”
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To which Bayer Leverkusen replied that it was only a bit of banter and was not meant to be disrespectful in any way.
“Hi Petr. It seems our joke about wanting to see Leno, our former player, in action has been taken a bit more harshly/personally than intended. It was only a bit of banter. We’re all for the values you’ve stated and wish you and your big club all the best. Nice 1v1 save on Aguero!” said the club via its Twitter account
While there were a lot of people who supported Cech’s tweet
Deserves some critics, everyone does but he shouldn't be mocked.. he is one of greatest goalkeepers I've seen in the premier league.
— fpl_fraud (@fpl_fraud) August 13, 2018
Love you Cech! A legend and gentleman of the game!
— Bysö (@hawt_red) August 13, 2018
https://twitter.com/SemperFiUtd/status/1029064353025150976
There were others who were against the goalkeeper, especially an account with the name @Registability who called Cech a disgrace
He said: Professionalism? How can you talk about professionalism when you haven’t improved your distribution after nearly two decades of training? You’ve embarrassed yourself, your club and the supporters.
Professionalism? How can you talk about professionalism when you haven’t improved your distribution after nearly two decades of training? You’ve embarrassed yourself, your club and the supporters. https://t.co/O0ucDIdm5N
— RG (@registability) August 13, 2018
Cech took a little time to respond to this critic, posting another tweet in which he said: “Maybe try to google what professionalism really means …”
Arsenal’s next game is against Petr Cech’s former club Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.