Replacing Kepa with Sanchez proving very smart – Talk Chelsea

Kepa Arrizabalga does not want to return to Chelsea in the summer (his own words), and that is just fine with me.

I was preaching all summer that we needed to sign a new number one, and for me I am staying a bit cautious on whether Robert Sanchez will 100% be that man as of now, but he’s certainly an improvement on Kepa.

What I have seen from Sanchez so far is VERY encouraging. But the main thing for me is just a simple fact, and that fact is that Sanchez is taller and has a longer reach than Kepa.

Kepa is 6ft 2in, and Sanchez stands at a massive 6ft 6in tall. The difference has already been clear to see.

We watch Kepa consistently struggle to claim crosses and only really being able to flap at them, as he once again did last night for Real Madrid. Kepa completely misses the easy punch and doesn’t even try and catch it. We grew used to seeing this on so many occasions at Chelsea and it can often lead to a goal that should not have happened, as it did for Real Madrid against Napoli last night.

Yet the one thing that Sanchez has done perfectly since he arrived from Brighton in the summer IS claim crosses. He doesn’t just punch them either, he is managing to catch the majority. This has already made a huge difference to our backline and made us look even tighter back there.

His shot stopping has been great and I am convinced that a couple of the saves at least that he’s made this season would have been a goal if Kepa was in the sticks, again, purely because he just wouldn’t have had the reach to get to them. That for me is once again, just a fact.

I don’t even think Kepa is a bad goalkeeper. But for me, you need a tall and athletic goalkeeper in the nets if you really want to have the most amount of safety in goal, and that makes Sanchez better than Kepa.

The only ‘flaw’ I have seen from Sanchez this season is he has seemingly given the ball away a few times when the pass has looked easy, as he did once against Fulham on Monday night.

But overall, as the stats below prove, his distribution has been very good.

Highest pass success rate among Premier League goalkeepers this season (200+ passes):

🥇 Robert Sanchez – 87.7%

📷 Bernd Leno – 82.2%

📷 Alisson – 79.1%

📷 Mark Flekken – 78.3%

I also see him start many of our attacks now with a quick throw or pass out, and he seems like he is very smart in that department as well.

Sanchez is also very vocal and seems to be a good motivator for the rest of the squad. I’ve seen him vocal when the team is in the tunnel before the games, and vocal during the games.

When he makes a mistake as well, his head does not drop. He seems to be mentally strong as well as physically.

I’ve been crying out for a goalkeeper who dominates his penalty area and now we have one.

As I say, I’m not getting carried away and I am staying a little cautious on Sanchez, but it’s certainly so far so good for me, and much better than Kepa would be.

So Real Madrid, please buy Kepa a nice new house in Spain, he will love it, we will love it, with the upmost respect.