This imposter has cost us 4 points so far this festive season.

Will the real Petr Cech please come back.

Great change to the smiley.

Without too much paranoia, it seems he's made some 'non-cech' errors ever since the headline 'Petr Cech Unhappy' started floating around? Maybe a confidence thing? I didn't take much time reading the article writing it off, so not sure what it was about.

i'm sure that 'cech unhappy' story was all about some old quotes that had been recyled in the press...anyway, all keepers have their bad moments...carlo did, bonetti did...it comes with the territory...he's not at his best, we all know that but he will soon be back...don't worry

In Petr's case the mistakes have also coincided with a period of time where he has been either carrying or recovering from injuries. I think he should have been rested yesterday. Having said that I imagine most on this board would advocate a half fit Cech over Hilario.

Cech has made a couple of costly errors in recent games and he'd be the first to admit it but remember in these games he still pulled off saves that were pure world class, like he does week in week out, the fact is we've become so used to him being more or less perfect any fluctuation in that status and it's immediately recognised. Oh yeah and that article was a load of b*llocks, full of old quotes which he made prior to joining us.

To be completely honest he has been quite good.

Yes, he's made two incredible mistakes lately, but apart from that he's been fine.

Against Villa he came out and collected every cross without looking dodgy and even though he let in four goals I would only blame him for one of them. The rest was down to bad defending and a blind ref.

Against Le A*se he made one bad judgement but he also made a few really nice saves.

So unlike most keepers who makes a mistake (or two) he hasn't showed lack of confidence.

If the entire team were to play awful for the rest of the season, Cech would be the last person that I would blame. He has saved our skin on so many occasions that his credit is infinite! :)

Apart from that one flop vs Villa, he is still doing a great job...

BRING BACK HILARIO!

I think his confidence is not what it should be and the club are rushing him back from injuries to play. He didn't look comfortable in goal at Blackburn after he took a knock and more importantly he wasn't brought off when he was signaling to the bench that he couldn't continue!!! It's not the 1st time this season it's happened either, it happened away in Germany aswell!!

He was rushed back versus Villa and didn't look quite right. He's not commanding his box and this is either down to a lack of confidence or carrying an injury.

I

i agree he was played while unfit. that is not his mistake, it is Grants.

I am having trouble understanding one thing. Why the f**k cant the best goalkeeper int the world save penalties. It almost seems as if when Petr was born his mother told him never to stop penalties.We culd have had three poins in the Villa game had he saved that penalty.

i agree he was played while unfit. that is not his mistake, it is Grants.

Now everyone is f**king blaming Grant for mistake committed by someone else. Next time when Essien scores an own goal, it sure will be grant's fault. Have some sense man.

i agree he was played while unfit. that is not his mistake, it is Grants.

Now everyone is f**king blaming Grant for someone else's mistake. Next time when Essien scores an own goal it sure will be Grant's fault. Whoever you are plz have some sense.

i agree he was played while unfit. that is not his mistake, it is Grants.

Now everyone is f*****g blaming Grant for mistake committed by someone else. Next time when Essien scores an own goal, it sure will be grant's fault. Have some sense man.

uh last time i checked the playing squad wasnt decided by the players, but the manager, who is Grant.

grant knew the fitness of Cech, and played him. simple really.

Nobody actually knows whether Cech was fit or not - they are just basing it on the fact he had a ropey game after picking up an injury in the previous game.

If someone actually said that Cech was playing whilst 80% fit or it was admitted that we took a gamble on his fitness then criticism of the decision would be entirely justified however as it is stands people are jumping to conclusions because it is always good to pick on Grant.

Alternatively what if Grant took advice from his medical team (you know the people who know about fitness) who told him that Cech was fine to play - who is to blame then?

Cech could have stopped that shot with a torn stomach muscle! It had nothing to do with not being 100% fit, it was just a howler!

im not picking on grant, i just think cech had accumulated several injuries over a short time and was not given an adequate recovery period.

my opinion, almost worthless, but there it is :)_

Nobody actually knows whether Cech was fit or not - they are just basing it on the fact he had a ropey game after picking up an injury in the previous game.

If someone actually said that Cech was playing whilst 80% fit or it was admitted that we took a gamble on his fitness then criticism of the decision would be entirely justified however as it is stands people are jumping to conclusions because it is always good to pick on Grant.

Alternatively what if Grant took advice from his medical team (you know the people who know about fitness) who told him that Cech was fine to play - who is to blame then?

Cech could have stopped that shot with a torn stomach muscle! It had nothing to do with not being 100% fit, it was just a howler!

Exactly. That's what i mean.

I think we have our answer. Cech was left out due to injury today so clearly played against Villa when unfit. I would venture to say that he was probably not fit against Arsenal too.

He should be rested until fully fit and then go straight back into the team.

Anyone who thinks he should be left out when fit needs their head examining.

And his error against Villa didn't cost us points anymore than all the other mistakes that gave away goals.

I think I heard Grant say in the interview after the Newcastle game that "Cech was not 100% and in the last game he got worse"

Or words to that effect

Cech's attitude is alot like JT's, and even when he is injured, he want's to do his best to play for the team. When he picked up the injury against Blackburn, he wanted to stay on to see if it improved, and as we know, it didnt.

Okay, so Grant has now told him that he needs to recover. Let's hope he comes back and remains injury free.

His clanger against Villa had little to do with injury, however you cannot fault his commitment. Would you swap him with anyone else?

Nope.

I'm just frustrated Cudicini is, once again, injured when we need him. What is the bloody point of having the best reserve keeper when he's hardly ever available when we need him? I just can't believe our luck (and his).

Cheers,

Butch