Mertesacker warns Cech needs time to settle at Arsenal after summer move from Chelsea



Per Mertesacker (right) claims team-mate Petr Cech needs time to settle in at Arsenal



PER MERTESACKER has warned Arsenal fans it will take longer than they think for Petr Cech to settle in.

 

The opening game of the season against West Ham was marked by a howler when the Hammers opened the scoring amid general confusion in the Arsenal defence.

Cech held his hands up for the blunder - although he was not the only one to blame - and skipper Mertesacker revealed it will take some time before they are all on the same wavelength.

 

Cech took the blame after a mix-up at the back led to the Gunners conceding at home to West Ham

"You never know, sometimes it takes longer than you think," he said.

"It is always difficult to say how good we can be - we have to prove it first. Even when you are experienced, sometimes mistakes happen, but the interaction between the goalkeeper and the back four has to be top to compete in the Premier League.

"Let's have a good start first, then we can analyse.

"Petr came and initially we had that understanding from the start, we both communicate well and understand each other as someone who has to talk and is really responsible.

"We match our ambitions on the pitch, and so it is great to communicate with him.

 

"And when mistakes do happen, he is experienced enough to think about what went wrong, you don't have to tell him.

"We have to analyse it in general. There was not just one mistake, when a goal happens, there are always three of four small mistakes a lot of the time.

"It was more down to us to analyse what went wrong in general, and there was a lot."

Indeed, the whole squad had a heart-to-heart discussion last week after the disappointing start, with Cech in particular emerging the stronger for it.

 

"Obviously when everything goes very smooth in pre-season, you avoid those talks which are sometimes very important," Mertesacker said, "But that was not the case last week.

"We came out of the game where no one knew exactly what we did, so we have just had to come back to our game.

"My feeling is Petr comes back even stronger, so there is no doubt he will be a great addition for us.

"He is very experienced. You can feel that, he has lots of things to say, in the dressing room he gives us a great lift.

"Even when we lose a game, he has some great ideas on and off the pitch. He is very important for us."