I don’t even think Kepa Arrizabalaga was bad against Brighton on Sunday morning, and as always, the snippet highlights reels of him from our ‘own fans’ showing only the ‘bad bits’ is just ridiculous and doesn’t help anything or anyone.
Of course, we should voice our views on things, and that is exactly what I am doing here. But I also like to try and remember that Kepa has actually been super pro at our club and we have to respect that. He’s never moaned, never gone to the press, never done any stupid interviews, and whenever he has been asked to play he has come in and done his best despite losing his number one position to Edouard Mendy, who has now ironically been sold!
It’s not his fault that he has a short reach and just isn’t good enough to be a number one goalkeeper at Chelsea. I do think whilst offering criticism to these players, it’s important to try and respect them as humans as well – something that I try to be more aware of the older I get. Romelu Lukaku really pushes that barrier, but Kepa is no Lukaku and I think it’s important to remember that.
Some Chelsea fans really seem to hate Kepa. But I certainly don’t hate the guy, I just don’t rate him, and I know that many other Chelsea fans feel this way and will be angry if we do not sign a new number one.
I am still hugely frustrated that we are not hearing any solid news on a new goalkeeper coming in. Not even anything solid on a backup option, even though it should be a new number one coming in and not a backup.
On the other side of this, I am also wondering and hoping that the silence could be a good thing and something is being worked on behind the scenes. It’s clear to see of late with how some of these moves have just come out of nowhere (Kudus and Olise), that Chelsea are really trying to keep things as quiet as they possibly can. And maybe that’s why we are hearing inconsistent and contrasting reports on the Moises Caicedo deal.
So that hope is keeping me as optimistic as possible on this and as I always say, there’s no way I am judging a transfer window until it physically closes.
But as much as I respect Kepa, there is no way we should even be contemplating going into another season with him as our number one stopper. If anyone, and I don’t even care if Mauricio Pochettino’s goalkeeping coach thinks Kepa is good, but if anyone thinks Kepa is a good enough option to the number one goalkeeper for a club who want to be at the very top again, then I have serious questions for them.
By all means if Kepa wants to stay as backup then fine, I’m content with that. But we need to be going all out for a new number one as priority, and for me it’s not even a damn debate.
I didn’t even think Kepa’s distribution was that bad against Brighton and I actually gave him an OK write up in my report. But when I looked back and dissected it some more, there was some clear errors there. But that’s not even my main issue with Kepa. My main issue is his lack of natural reach. He concedes so many goals that a goalkeeper with a longer reach would save. He has no presence on crosses, and he is terrible at saving from long-range.
People say he’s a good shot-stopper from close range and I agree, he is. But then why can’t we have a goalkeeper who is good at saving from close-range, as well as being good at saving from long-range, has a good reach on him, and dominates his box? Is that really too much to ask for a club who want to climb back to the top again!? Nope, it absolutely is not.
I’m staying calm on transfers right now, even though the Liverpool game is fast-approaching. I have concerns and frustrations that we have still yet to address our two most important positions, a defensive midfielder and a goalkeeper. But I am not at panicking stages just yet.
What I would like to see right about now though, is some solid movements for a top goalkeeper options who is at least going to challenge Kepa for the number one spot, if that is the best we can do. Time is running out and there’s no way that we should be starting a new season with Kepa as our number one, with all due respect to him.
I’m not even going to start on the captaincy thing….
I’ll keep banging this drum.
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