Petr Cech: Are the glory days over?

Cech's butter hands.

Once hailed by Jose Mourinho as “the best goalkeeper in the world” to the howler which gave Chelsea a point out of a possible 3 against Wigan, has the 29 year old lost his Midas touch?

However, despite Andre Villas Boas’ efforts to divert attention away from Cech’s gaffe, his latest slip-up showed that the Croatian international is becoming increasingly fallible, a shadow of the player who was so pivotal in Chelsea’s back-to-back Premier League title wins under Mourinho.

Bought by Abrahimovich to revolutionize the Chelsea empire, Cech has been a massive figure in front of the goal since 2004. It was in his first season at Stamford Bridge that Cech established a Premier League clean sheet record – since beaten by Edwin van der Sar at Manchester United – by going 1,025 minutes without having to pick the ball out of his net as Chelsea reached the summit of English football for the first time in 50 years.The next season he conceded just 22 goals in the Premier League as Chelsea successfully defended their domestic crown.

Cech was so impervious, it seemed as though he could remain Chelsea’s No.1 for many years to come but nowadays he looks more beatable than ever – as shown in Wigan and earlier against Arsenal where he shipped in 5 goals – and no longer looks irreplaceable. Having lost his ability to keep clean sheets, which was Chelsea’s forte during their title winning regime under Mourinho, Cech’s position is bound to come under scrutiny. AVB has already made his intent very clear by even leaving Lampard on the bench as he doesn’t fit into his scheme of things. With some good shows by the reserve goalkeepers under their belt in the FA Cup and during Cech’s injury in the first half of the season, who knows? We might get to see another of Chelsea’s untouchables warming the benches soon…