Rennes goalie Edouard Mendy’s imminent arrival at Stamford Bridge will keep Kepa away from the Chelsea sticks, the spotlight, and all the criticisms he is facing. The Spaniard who once refused to get substituted during Sarri’s term in Chelsea will now be relieved not to be standing between the Chelsea sticks.
Chelsea made a world-record in the summer of 2018 when they bought Kepa Arrizabalaga. It was a hefty amount which no club till now has paid for a goalkeeper.
The £71 million fees weren’t so much that spun everyone’s head, nor was the fact that the board spent so much on a young lad who had just two seasons of top-flight experience under his belt. The fact that the Spaniard had not proved his abilities in claiming crosses, orienting the backline, or dominating his area perplexed most of the people. Moreover, he was average in short build-up play and is not so confident in one versus one situation. Football pundits did question this and asked if he deserved to be in one of the top teams in the English Premier League.
Although his super-quick reflexes, consistency in shot saving were his strengths but little did balance the negatives in his talent. It was a red flag for the ones who bought him in the club with the highest expectations. Being Spain’s best emerging keeper too did little to wade off their concerns.
The Spaniard’s show of dissent in the 2019 Carabao Cup final was a point of no return for several managers in past and present. Regardless of his fee, of his age, of his desire to stay on, it undermined the former coach Maurizio Sarri, the technical staff, and the squad.
The club officials saw a sign of confidence in his abilities. Although it was in the wrong manner, he backed himself up. With Kepa walking onto games expecting to falter in the knowledge that his manager and teammates are practically banking on it, the self-belief is long gone now.
The young keeper has been in very low confidence, struggling with even his basics. He is having a constant fear to fudge things up between the sticks as his body language on the pitch says. Kepa’s psychological effects of this whole situation have superseded his footballing side.
The mind rewinds to Frank Lampard discussing the decision to drop Kepa for Willy Caballero in the FA Cup final, saying of the Argentine: “we rely on him and we trust him.”
Those words cannot be believed, which is why Edouard Mendy will imminently make a move to Stamford Bridge from the French club to replace Kepa.
But what is wrong with the Spanish Keeper?
The debut campaign in England saw him keeping with his career averages. in the previous season, he saved only 54.5% of shots on target, which is the lowest figure since 2003-04 for any regular keeper in the division.
Rob Green, who was at Chelsea during 2018-19, says about an alteration in what the goalkeeper has been asked to do is in conflict with his game.
“The wholesale changes Frank Lampard made in the style of play from under Sarri was massive,” the former goalkeeper explained on Premier League TV.
“I think there was a relationship breakdown in terms of Frank wanting to play a certain way and Kepa wasn’t willing to do it so much.
“It’s a difficult one because as a goalkeeper, you want to feel comfortable, you want to feel confident within the team, but when things change so much, you become uncomfortable in yourself.”
What he thrived in, I think that’s been taken away from him and the relationship between him and the manager and him and his teammates are fractured,” said Green.
Green highlighted two further problems- that is, trying to regain the form when even your teammates are expecting that you will make an error. The opposition is targeting you too, putting you on the pressure on and off the pitch.
In Stamford bridge against Liverpool, in a 2-0 loss at home to the Premier League champions, Sadio Mane’s second goal was the combination of the attackers persistently putting pressure on Kepa’s goal kicks. It was a tactic by Jurgen Klopp as per reports.
The red card was a combination of fantastic displays by Sadio Mane and his movements which put pressure on Andreas Christensen. The defender has no confidence about Kepa handling the situation tried to take the matters on his own hands. So in order to stop Mane, he made a ridiculous foul on the Red’s attacker and was shown a red card.
Jurgen Klopp did enough homework to notice that Kepa has a habit of unnecessarily rushing out of the box to chase a ball. Chelsea was lucky as Mohamed Salah could not take advantage of a miscalculation in the first half.
Mendy’s arrival will remove Kepa from his No.1 goalkeeping position. The young keeper will feel relieved to take a match or two off during this terrible phase in life.
It is truly very heartbreaking that a 25-year old lad has lost not only the art of what he is best at but also a part of his self-belief in that. It will be a tough battle to recover from that. It will be more of a mental rather than physical or technical. Pundits believe that the best option for him will be to move to a new place away from Stamford Bridge where he can regain everything he has lost.
