Petr Cech will not go quietly into the night, will not vanish without a fight

Jose Mourinho might claim that it's the greatest thing since sliced bread to have both Petr Cech and Thibaut Courtois in the squad, but reality may not turn out as tasty as he possibly imagines it.

In one hand, we have some stupendously authentic, home-baked old school loaf.  It's got a good crust -- not too robust that it cuts the roof of your mouth but not that US-standard soft crap that pollutes the shelves of grocery stores -- and it's warm and soft on the inside.  In the other, we have some fancy pants, new-agey bread with all those seeds that are supposed to be good for you and vitamins and organic sustainable whatnots and maybe even some cranberries.  Because cranberries make everything better.  But the trouble is, we can only really enjoy one of them.  The other will get all stale or moldy in the meantime and moldy bread is pretty gross and tends to rile the stomach and stink up the place.

So which one should we choose?  The tried and true or the newfangled fancy thing?  The new thing may just be greatest ever, but ol' crusty ain't going away without a fight.

"When I joined, it was the same thing. Carlo Cudicini was the equivalent to me in the first game and I managed to get that jersey off him. Obviously, the work I put in, the manager put me in the first team in goal and it kicked on from there. I will try to do the same this year. It is no different."

"Every year there is a challenge. If you are going to be in the team you are going to have to do better than the other guys in the team. I think Mark Schwarzer, when he came last year, did remarkably well during the pre-season and when he played in any game he did very well, so I knew the challenge was there."

"I always give my best and, obviously, that is all I can do. I will do my best and do everything I can do to be as ready as possible for when the season starts. Jose Mourinho will make his choice and decide how his team is going to look for the first game, second game, third game, whatever game."

-Petr Cech; source: Telegraph

Probably inspired by the circumstances 10 years ago, when he took full advantage of Cudicini's injury to put a decade-long stranglehold on the position, Cech has been at Cobham basically all summer rehabilitating his shoulder following surgery in May.

"I know that I am fit, although obviously I have this shoulder. Apart from this, I am fit and I did not feel any problems over the 90 minutes. I am happy with the condition I am in, let's see what happens next."

-Petr Cech; source: Telegraph

With Thibaut and the rest of the Belgians due back next week, the fight is just beginning.  May the best bread goalkeeper win!