'Emery is very demanding... it's how you improve'

Petr Cech was a happy man after delivering an outstanding display as we kept our first clean sheet of the season in the 2-0 victory against Everton.



 

Afterwards the legendary goalkeeper was asked about playing under Unai Emery, the mentality of the team this term and demanding more of themselves as players.

 

This is what Cech told the media:

 

on his man-of-the-match performance…

It is a great win because it is the fourth win in a row and having lost the first two games obviously we needed to bounce back and get as many points as possible and ideally with wins. Now we have four wins in a row, two away, two at home and we are in a much better place. The three points were not easy because in the first half they were the better side. They had opportunities to be in front and we had to make sure we went in at half time without a goal conceded and without giving them the advantage. We fought hard to do that and managed to do so. In the second half we improved, scored two great goals and then we had more control in the game. We could have scored more goals and although they threw everything at us in the last 15-20 minutes we managed to see the game through with a good defensive display. In the end, it is a very valuable three points.

 

on getting the early two defeats out of their system…

We had a very hard start and with two defeats it was not ideal. But I thought especially at Chelsea we did a lot better than the result showed at the end. So we knew that we were capable of competing with everybody and we just needed to get it via results. Now we turn the work into wins and points, which is very important. But there were obviously things we need to improve and there are things we have been doing really well. We work on that every day and with the confidence we get from winning the game, it is much easier.

 

on people writing them off early on…

We concentrate on ourselves. People can have their opinions. The season is very long. We have four wins in a row and are in a much better place but there are so many games to be played still. You go through periods in the season where you are getting through difficult moments, better moments, great moments so we keep our feet on the ground. We keep working and we try to do our best to get as many points as possible and improve in every game. We are happy with the points.

 

on the fact he has been busy as a goalkeeper...

Obviously this is something you don’t want to give your opponent at this level but at the same time, we realise that the Premier League is the toughest league in the world because everybody has quality players, everybody can beat everybody and if you allow people time and chances with the ball you can be in a dangerous place. The difference was that [Everton] didn’t take their chances in the first half, in the second half we came on top and scored two great goals.

 

on whether the mentality has changed...

For any club who wins titles in the recent years, you have a team with the knowhow how to finish it off and you can see it in any sport. I take Tiger Woods – five years since he won a major tournament and the longer it goes, the harder it becomes. This club hasn’t won the league for over 10 years so obviously you need to get back into knowing how to do it. We started with the new manager from scratch basically and we try to get this mentality of winning every game, progressing every game, working every day and hopefully we can build this up and win the title sooner rather than later. That will make the big difference.

 

on what they need to do...

What we lacked in the past… I would say the Arsenal way was more important than getting the points sometimes and this is not sometimes how you win the league. Sometimes you need to make sure you win an ugly game, when you are not playing completely well but you just dig deep, close the back door and win 1-0 no matter how. I think this is what we lacked since I arrived, over the last three years. Yesterday we showed, going through difficult moments in the game, we managed to get the win with the clean sheet so this is very positive.

 

on where the change comes from...

I think it comes from the preparation, the everyday work and from the head coach's way of playing the game as well. We work very hard every day as well to give ourselves the chance to compete with everybody and hopefully it will be working even better than it has been for the last four games.

 

on Unai Emery...

He is very demanding and I think this is how you improve. I think the place became much more demanding in every way so this is great to see because this is what initially drives everybody forward and gives you the kind of kick that, ‘I’m not doing enough to start the game’ or ‘I’m not doing enough to keep my spot in the game’ because the manager asked for precision and hard work every day. This is how it should be. We have very healthy competition and we are actually taking the benefit of it.