If Arsenal's title chances were distant heading into last night's game against Watford, the 2-1 defeat they suffered at the hands of the Hornets saw them vanish into thin air. And Petr Cech was not happy about it.
The Gunners' keeper conceded two goals in the opening 13 minutes and was hindered throughout the night by some extremely questionable defensive displays, most notably from Gabriel and the usually reliable Shkodran Mustafi, who was beaten far too easily in the build up for Troy Deeney's match winning second goal.
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But it wasn't just his defence that Cech was taking umbrage with. No one was safe from the Czech's blunt assessment of the performance in his post-match interview with the club's official website.
"I think we didn't play well at all.
"We were second best in the first half. We made so many bad passes, we lost every challenge, we were simply second best.
Credit: Arsenal FC
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"I always say that at this level you cannot play 80 minutes, or 85. You have to play 90 minutes with full concentration and everybody on top of their game."
Cech did acknowledge his teammates' improvement in the second half, but the damage had been done by the disastrous first 45 minutes.
"In the second half we improved, we had a lot of chances. I thought we were brilliant second half, but obviously we only scored one goal.
"We had chances but the keeper made some very good saves, we hit the bar and we could say we were unlucky in that way. But for the first-half performance, we actually didn't deserve a little bit of luck."
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Defeat to Watford now leaves Arsenal in third place, nine points adrift of leaders Chelsea, who they visit on Saturday lunchtime.
(H/T Metro)
Topics:Β Petr Cech, Football, Arsenal FC