Football
Mattias Karen, Arsenal correspondent 6y

Arsenal's Petr Cech welcomes change of tactics under Unai Emery

Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech has said that he enjoys Unai Emery's tactics of playing the ball out from the back, even though he struggled with it at times in Sunday's 2-0 loss to Manchester City.

Cech made several key saves to keep Arsenal in the game against City but nearly scored an embarrassing own goal in the first half of the defeat when he mishit the ball and saw it roll narrowly wide of his own post.

But Cech, who started ahead of summer signing Bernd Leno, said Arsenal's new tactics of having the goalkeeper be a part of the build-up game is a welcome change.

"I have to say that I enjoy it because I played under different managers with different styles and over most of my career I was always asked to play long, so this is a pleasant change for me and it will be very useful when you want to beat a team who controls the game through possession," Cech told Arsenal's website.

"You need to create the superiority in the back when you build up and obviously [Man City] are very used to playing a high press and they did it very well. At times they put us under pressure but I think we did pretty well over the course of the game."

Cech made 42 passes in the match and had the second most touches of any Arsenal player with 57.

Leno is widely viewed as being better with his feet than Cech, but Emery said after the match that the German will have to wait for his chance to start.

"Petr Cech had a very good preseason and today he played well also. He has this experience for continuing to defend our goal," Emery said. "Also, Leno is starting with us. He's working very well, he played also good in the preseason. But he can wait for his moment to arrive."

The loss also highlighted other teething problems for Emery's Arsenal side, but right-back Hector Bellerin insisted they have taken steps forward in the summer.

Arsenal suffered back-to-back 3-0 losses to Man City last season in the Carabao Cup final and Premier League but had chances to get back in the game in the second half on Sunday.

"I see the game as something positive. Having been on the pitch today, I think that compared to where we were last year we looked better and had chances in the second half that we didn't score," Bellerin told Arsenal's website.

"We're playing against a team that have been around each other for three years and they have new players and were crowned champions, so we knew that it was going to be hard, so for us it's about taking the positives."

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