🇪🇸 Kepa Arrizabalaga

[Laylabelle 9,536]

Just a shame we paid so much for him...and be lucky to get half of it back. Not that its my money haha but still...

Move be good fresh start and all. Least he hasn't had a crowd to deal with at his worse.

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

9 minutes ago, Vesper said:

It seems mental with Kepa. My wife is a damn good biathlete. One of her best friends (long before she met me) was even better than her, and despite the fact she was 2 years younger than wifey, she almost always beat her. at teen level. The girl was considered to be one of the two or three best chances to be the next Swedish superstar biathlete. One of those 3, Hanna Öberg, went on to win a an Olympic gold in 2018 in the 15km individual. But, 5, 6 or so years ago, the girl I am talking about all of suddenly lost her shooting accuracy, completely out of the blue. No physical reason, she just spiralled down. They think it was a mental block, but she has never recovered back to world class level, likely never will. Shit happens.

I think so too. You either have it or you don't. That mental toughness that might look arrogant to some to just not be fazed by your own shortcomings and simply move on from bad mistakes.

Think Manuel Neuer.

Fall 2007 young Manuel Neuer makes his first CL away game vs a big club, vs Chelsea at the bridge. In the 4 the minute Malouda mishits a shot from 13 yards on the left that rolls into the arms of Neuer: Instead of making a routine save he lets it roll between both his arms and his legs into the goal. We completely dominate Schalke afterwards but could have scored a ton but Neuer makes a few decent saves, so we only win 2-0. Just a few years later he is the best goalkeeper in the world and is world class to this date.

4 years later Neuer, now the best goalkeeper in the world, makes his first game for Bayern vs Gladbach. in the 62nd minute a lose headers falls near bowers, neuer tells boateng to stay away, comes out to clear the ball but runs past it like a headless chicken. Bayern lose the game 1-0 and never come back from it in the league, losing all possible titles that season once more.

He has committed many more comical erros like these ones. most but surely not all early in his career.The difference to weaker keepers is he understands and analyses his errors and moves on. nothing like this has ever shot his confidence. In the interviews after these terrible mistakes you could see he just does not seem to give a fuck. He does care but he never shows it, never shows any weakness. That is why his defenders trust in him. No because he never makes mistakes, but because he never lets mistake harm his self-confidence. The belief in yourself to know that for every goal-costing mistake you make 4 match winning saves. Which he does. We do not even talk about them anymore but Neuer has made 6 match winning saves in 2 CL finals without anyone mentioniong them at great lengths bc they are just normal for him even though no other goalkeeper would have made those saves. A goalkeeper like this can make tons of mistakes never loses faith of his defenders. This gives the defenders confidence to push up higher, cos they know who will be weary off his line. It allows the defenders to drop deeper when necessary, even allow shots from distance cos they know the keeper will save them. the defenders know, even an under- or overhit pass will be no problem for the keeper, so they remain confident and dont even fuck that pass  up in the first place. Kepa is the exact opposite. He causes the whole defence to shit their pants every time the opponent launch an attack. kepa feels this and becomes even more nervous. it is a vicious cycle. It will probably only end once kepa leaves for good.

 

 

[Vesper 30,226]

3 minutes ago, Magic Lamps said:

I think so too. You either have it or you don't. That mental toughness that might look arrogant to some to just not be fazed by your own shortcomings and simply move on from bad mistakes.

Think Manuel Neuer.

Fall 2007 young Manuel Neuer makes his first CL away game vs a big club, vs Chelsea at the bridge. In the 4 the minute Malouda mishits a shot from 13 yards on the left that rolls into the arms of Neuer: Instead of making a routine save he lets it roll between both his arms and his legs into the goal. We completely dominate Schalke afterwards but could have scored a ton but Neuer makes a few decent saves, so we only win 2-0. Just a few years later he is the best goalkeeper in the world and is world class to this date.

4 years later Neuer, now the best goalkeeper in the world, makes his first game for Bayern vs Gladbach. in the 62nd minute a lose headers falls near bowers, neuer tells boateng to stay away, comes out to clear the ball but runs past it like a headless chicken. Bayern lose the game 1-0 and never come back from it in the league, losing all possible titles that season once more.

He has committed many more comical erros like these ones. most but surely not all early in his career.The difference to weaker keepers is he understands and analyses his errors and moves on. nothing like this has ever shot his confidence. In the interviews after these terrible mistakes you could see he just does not seem to give a fuck. He does care but he never shows it, never shows any weakness. That is why his defenders trust in him. No because he never makes mistakes, but because he never lets mistake harm his self-confidence. The belief in yourself to know that for every goal-costing mistake you make 4 match winning saves. Which he does. We do not even talk about them anymore but Neuer has made 6 match winning saves in 2 CL finals without anyone mentioniong them at great lengths bc they are just normal for him even though no other goalkeeper would have made those saves. A goalkeeper like this can make tons of mistakes never loses faith of his defenders. This gives the defenders confidence to push up higher, cos they know who will be weary off his line. It allows the defenders to drop deeper when necessary, even allow shots from distance cos they know the keeper will save them. the defenders know, even an under- or overhit pass will be no problem for the keeper, so they remain confident and dont even fuck that pass  up in the first place. Kepa is the exact opposite. He causes the whole defence to shit their pants every time the opponent launch an attack. kepa feels this and becomes even more nervous. it is a vicious cycle. It will probably only end once kepa leaves for good.

 

 

yes, mental toughness is so key in sports

look at Jordan in basketball

zero chance ever he would crack

even if he fucked u, he had the same 'I don't give a fuck, I will just crush you next time' attitude Neuer does

Cech had it, Buffon did too,, Going further back, the ultimate 3 who had it for GKers were Peter Schmeichel, Oliver Kahn (who was basically Kepa size too, but seemed HUGE), and from ALL that I have read and watched, (and the greatest GK'er ever IMHO)  Lev Yashin. Yashin was pure intimidation in every angle, including even how he dressed, all in black. He is the polar opposite of a Kepa.

I am sure Gordon Banks, Dino Zoff and Sepp Maier had it too, and all 3 were short, especially Zoff.

[Milan 17,959]

It is as if the destiny is punishing us for having a top class GK for such a long time (Cech, Courtois from 20014 till 2018). The universe balance or whatever...

[chelsea_4_eva 1,182]

Seven year contract. Cry.

[Tomo 21,751]

2 hours ago, Milan said:

It is as if the destiny is punishing us for having a top class GK for such a long time (Cech, Courtois from 20014 till 2018). The universe balance or whatever...

I hate to be proven right, but we didn't know how good we had it with Courtois, i still can't believe how many people that were so relaxed about the prospect of him leaving.

Him in goal last season we concede 40 league goals max even with our structural problems.

[NikkiCFC 8,337]

Hahaha he does not even know what he is doing, he is completely lost boy mentally.

You show your true character when you are down and tbh Kepa has nothing to lose yet he is even way worse than last season. Pussy.

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

44 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

Hahaha he does not even know what he is doing, he is completely lost boy mentally.

You show your true character when you are down and tbh Kepa has nothing to lose yet he is even way worse than last season. Pussy.

Completely misjudged it. He could have simply made himself and cover the post ball would have gone out for a corner. Instead he did the opposite, in fact he did the only thing other than nothing at all that would still make us concede the goal after Southampton attackers had fucked up themselves by tackling it onto the post. Mendy would simply have extended one of his spider limbs and cleared the situation. 

[Jase 43,479]

THE FUCKING SHEER INCOMPETENCY OF THIS...

[MoroccanBlue 5,385]

Need to break something. 

[Jase 43,479]

3 minutes ago, MoroccanBlue said:

Erm, because he passed it back? 

When he got back to the goal..?

And even if he did touch the ball the first time, it will only be an indirect FK...

[MoroccanBlue 5,385]

4 minutes ago, Jason said:

When he got back to the goal..?

And even if he did touch the ball the first time, it will only be an indirect FK...

I changed my post. Didn't realise what I was thinking. 

[NikkiCFC 8,337]

16 minutes ago, Jason said:

THE FUCKING SHEER INCOMPETENCY OF THIS...

Does he even know the rules? 

[Jase 43,479]

Kepa is very lucky that no fans are allowed into stadiums right now...

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

4 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

Hahaha he does not even know what he is doing, he is completely lost boy mentally.

You show your true character when you are down and tbh Kepa has nothing to lose yet he is even way worse than last season. Pussy.

Perhaps but he’s instantly at a disadvantage because Zouma’s pass is so bad and whoever it is out of Che Adams/Danny Ings are instantly on him. Okay, yes, he has to get it yeah but think he’s more likely to foul the bloke with his hands than his feet there if I am honest which would of probably caused a worse meltdown because playing as 10 men v them would of been brutal given how they run the game in the second half.

Its a horrendous goal in general. Why Zouma hasn't just hooked it or stuck it out for a throw is beyond me. Especially when Southamptons game plan is always those balls in the channels between the fullback and centre back, it is such a common trait in their play so just stick it out for a throw or sling it. Kepa with his feet looks as if he’s committed then thought he isn’t going to get it so tries to pull out although he probably would of got it if he doesn’t (lack of confidence and poor judgement I think). Maybe thats why he went for it with his feet and not his hands as well as hes misjudged it but horrendous by all accounts. Stop it at the source beforehand, put pressure on the ball, which we didn't. Stop it in the second chance with Zouma by putting it out/hooking it (really baffling why he didn't, its so simple nobody would of blinked if he did that and doesn't try to pass it to the GK). Then stop it at the third chance, which Kepa doesn’t. Then fourth, Christensen blocks the ball after and then Kepa fucks it again. Realistically 4 chances there.

Kepa had made a few decent saves as well in the game but Lampard has killed him as a player I think, continuously playing him last season when he still struggled before he finally dropped him. Yeah Mendy is injured but Kepa, he clearly isn’t confident so why is he playing him? Conte got so much stick for continuing to play Andreas Christensen after that Barca game for the same thing, he was clearly affected.

I know its elite level sport and you have to be prepared to take stick but the decision to play someone who is so unsure of his own ability is going to severely affect your team. If your not sure in your own ability and it shows, how will your teammates feel? Look at Morata here as well players wouldnt even pass to him because they didnt trust him. These things affect so many players more than it seemed to do so when Lamps, JT, etc were all players. Players are softer in the way that generations in general are softer than previous ones. And then while I believed Kepa had huge potential when he signed he has regressed in the last 14 months or however long Franks been in charge be it through to a lack of confidence or just generally not being as good as he showed he could be in the first year. 

6 hours ago, Tomo said:

I hate to be proven right, but we didn't know how good we had it with Courtois, i still can't believe how many people that were so relaxed about the prospect of him leaving.

Him in goal last season we concede 40 league goals max even with our structural problems.

Precisely. But because people thought he was a cunt and had a bad season with Jose/Guus (who didnt?) they thought he was finished, which is the usual on here sometimes I suppose. No idea why.

Courtois had a top mentality as well he was so confident in his own ability all the time, even when making mistakes he knew it wasn’t good enough but he was just so confident in himself and turned it towards the end of the season and continued to play very well for Conte. £35m probably will look like a bargain when you consider he was probably one of the best GKs in the world and was only 24 or 25 when Real got him. 

[NikkiCFC 8,337]

37 minutes ago, OneMoSalah said:

 

Courtois had a top mentality as well he was so confident in his own ability all the time, even when making mistakes he knew it wasn’t good enough but he was just so confident in himself and turned it towards the end of the season and continued to play very well for Conte. £35m probably will look like a bargain when you consider he was probably one of the best GKs in the world and was only 24 or 25 when Real got him. 

I think he also had bad seasons in 17/18 with Conte and first season in Real.

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

1 hour ago, Jason said:

When he got back to the goal..?

And even if he did touch the ball the first time, it will only be an indirect FK...

This. an indirect freeick from the fucking left channel never leads to anything FFS

But even more infuriating is that he doesn not even use his hands the second time when he is free to go and somehow manages to tackle the ball back to adams an dnot out of play instead. he is so incredibly bad that it is some special skill again.

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

43 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

I think he also had bad seasons in 17/18 with Conte and first season in Real.

Did he really have a bad season in 17/18? If your talking about the Barcelona game, which many did at the time, it was one match? Even then I think the goals were hugely overplayed because of the fact it was Courtois and there had been rumblings about him not extending his contract for however long and we all know he wasn't the most liked player we've ever had as he was constantly wanting off to Madrid and didn't hide it. I don't remember him having that bad of a season overall. I think he was pretty solid throughout it. Also he was probably a huge reason why we won that FA cup final in Conte's final game he made 3 huge saves in the second half which for his last game as a Chelsea player as well, a pretty good send off and performance overall.  

Yeah, his first season with Real was hit and miss yeah definitely. Still one of the best GKs on the planet and the difference between him and what we have now is huge. Even Mendy, who looks like he could be a good player, I doubt he will reach the heights Courtois did. There is only three GKs in the PL who are at the level Courtois is, Alisson, Ederson and de Gea (who still is very good despite some errors over last few seasons). Lloris probably deserves a mention in that bracket as well or if not in it, hes just below it. 10m euros upfront with 5m in bonuses however many years ago, pretty much a bargain. 

[Tomo 21,751]

7 hours ago, Jason said:

Kepa is very lucky that no fans are allowed into stadiums right now...

Knowing how random/weird our crowd can be at times he'd probably be cheered with "Kepa, Kepa, Kepa" being chanted every time he cocked up

[whats happening 1,622]

found the solution for him

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/footballmanagergames/comments/jpn6nn/i_put_kepa_up_front_for_psg_heres_what_happened/