Kepa Arrizabalaga

[manpe 10,861]

It was Tuchel's fault first and foremost for starting him. Kepa can't be blamed for an uncontested worldie going in, in that sense he's not at fault. He is also not at fault for the hand-ball that created the chance and for nobody closing Tielemans down. It was a mix of bad/corrupt refereeing and bad defending that he had to face that shot. We know who he is so we can't be mad at him playing at his level. But the thing is, it's a cup final and if you've studied him before, you just know he isn't going to save shots like this... Which is okay, not everybody can be so good. But when you have a goalie who is capable of saves likes that, then why not increase the chances of winning the cup by playing him? Kepa already played against Arsenal, he got his minutes.

I also don't think it is a coincidence that we lost the last two games he started. He was not directly at fault of anything, but the defence is visibly more nervous with him in goal. They all try to get something on the ball before it reaches Kepa, they don't want him to deal with shots or high balls into the box because they're shitscared. Having Mendy in goal transformed our season and I am not shocked at all to see us quivering when reverting back to Kepa. We have to get rid of him, because the price tag will keep pressuring TT and next coaches to play him more than he should.

Edited May 17, 2021 by manpe

[King Kante 1,474]

2 hours ago, manpe said:

It was Tuchel's fault first and foremost for starting him. Kepa can't be blamed for an uncontested worldie going in, in that sense he's not at fault. He is also not at fault for the hand-ball that created the chance and for nobody closing Tielemans down. It was a mix of bad/corrupt refereeing and bad defending that he had to face that shot. We know who he is so we can't be mad at him playing at his level. But the thing is, it's a cup final and if you've studied him before, you just know he isn't going to save shots like this... Which is okay, not everybody can be so good. But when you have a goalie who is capable of saves likes that, then why not increase the chances of winning the cup by playing him? Kepa already played against Arsenal, he got his minutes.

I also don't think it is a coincidence that we lost the last two games he started. He was not directly at fault of anything, but the defence is visibly more nervous with him in goal. They all try to get something on the ball before it reaches Kepa, they don't want him to deal with shots or high balls into the box because they're shitscared. Having Mendy in goal transformed our season and I am not shocked at all to see us quivering when reverting back to Kepa. We have to get rid of him, because the price tag will keep pressuring TT and next coaches to play him more than he should.

Sorry, but the club have to accept they brought a dud. His fee and wages are a completely sunk cost. No way do we get anything better than a loan with maybe 20% of his wages covered. The kid is just not a good player. Personally, I would rank him as a GK2 for a run of the mill La Liga side, maybe a starting GK for a Spanish side in their division below La Liga. 

As I have stated before, can anyone actually provide any detailed analysis of what he does well? I mean seriously, one thing? I ask as I really struggle to see anything that would make me even comfortable to have him as a GK2, as a GK2 can sometimes be required to play for months. 

[MoroccanBlue 5,296]

It is rather interesting because Tuchel only has 18 months. These decisions could cost him an extension. 

[robsblubot 3,502]

21 hours ago, OneMoSalah said:

There is no “may” about it. Nothing he could do. And Mendy “could” of made the save is the same as Mendy “could not” of made the save in the fact its a non event because he didn’t play so we will never truly know. I suppose if we concede any similar goals with Mendy we will see.

The top GK bit I understand but you were spouting about Tuchel giving Leicester some sort of extra incentive to do shooting training before by announcing him starting 3 days early which is probably one of the silliest/over the top/clutching at straws excuses I’ve seen in a long time and if it were for any other player I am sure you’d think the same. Footballer who is good at shooting, unopposed for 3 or 4 metres, not getting closed down, in a cup final that is 0-0, I am sorry but it could be anyone in net, they are shooting 100% because well look what happened. Nobody will probably ever forget that goal from a Leicester standpoint for years.

But even the price tag/financial aspect to club politics, it was Torres before years ago and now its Kepa. Its reaching, he played Kepa two games in a row before and we it was the same “club politics/inferring that he was coerced into it”... yes we have to sell him/loan him/whatever but why would they force Tuchel to play him in a cup final? Or at all. Maybe TT felt like after the Arsenal game he wanted to give him another game because of the goal we conceded that maybe took away the cleansheet? Or maybe he felt he played well v Arsenal? Or maybe it will be one of his last chances to play for us in a cup final? I mean who knows. Did anyone make any wild accusations for Alonso starting over Chilwell or anything as conspicuous? Which was probably much more controversial than Mendy not starting. Even more so when you see the sudden change when Chilwell came in.

Re James: it wouldn’t have led to a goal if he got the pass right but don’t pretend it wasn’t risky either way. More so if you watch it back, why isn’t Azpi asking for the ball when he has acres of space too. They’ve got 3 men in our half in those central areas prior to him trying to play the ball to take the option to Jorginho out of the game and to congest that area. Even more so look at the actual movement and positioning of Perez basically blocking the pass off to Kante as James goes to play it. You could see it happening before it happened, he almost telegraphed what he was going to do but still why he didn’t notice or choose Azpi who is 5 yards away with acres of space and nobody within metres of him? 

And unfortunately for Reece its the only mistake he made all match, where he actually defended Vardy excellently in the role he was put in to do but it ended up being a big one. Maybe due to inexperience or not being fully aware of what was all around him but trying to force it through when Perez is well positioned to make an interception or contact on the ball to take the 3/4 players out of the game for Leicester is a bit ambitious. I mean just watch it back, it’s a sloppy ball and either way has to be marked as a mistake. 

any chance you'd be saying the exact same thing had Mendy not stopped that benzema shot in the 25th minute (of the second leg Cl match)? I'd not have criticized Mendy for not catching that, and yet he did.

The shot was far enough that I feel Kepa could have taken a step before jumping, which would have increased his reach. Better goalies seem to "guess" the flight of the ball better than Kepa does.

He's just got low reach. So many long shots go in when he's in goal... that's not normal at this level. 

Edited May 17, 2021 by robsblubot

[Tomo 21,733]

1 minute ago, robsblubot said:

any chance you'd be saying the exact same thing had Mendy not stopped that benzema shot in the 25th minute (of the second leg Cl match)? I'd not criticize Mendy for not catching that, and yet he did.

There in lies the big difference before we even get into anything else, Edou makes those crucial clutch saves in big moments, Kepa simply doesn't.

Kepa has a history from being beaten from long range, how many goals has Edou conceded from outside the box? Xhaka and Gundogan (and even the latter was only just) are genuinely the only two I can think of.

Kepa makes shots look unsavable and because of that teams are encouraged to shoot from long range, look at Liverpool for example, they scored long rangers against Kepa like a hobby and I noticed at Anfield this season with Edou in the nets they geared up to try their luck on a few occasions (almost as muscle memory) then realised at the very last moment that it probably wouldn't work this time.

[Jase 43,479]

22 minutes ago, MoroccanBlue said:

It is rather interesting because Tuchel only has 18 months. These decisions could cost him an extension. 

If the board put that on him, then there should be protests against them or something. Marina and co. are clearly still hoping for Kepa to come good because of the big money and/or contract (7 YEARS!) they committed to him. Tuchel has always played his #1 keeper in the cup competitions in the past but not the case here. Clearly been "pressurized" to play Kepa in the domestic cups.

[King Kante 1,474]

28 minutes ago, Jas said:

If the board put that on him, then there should be protests against them or something. Marina and co. are clearly still hoping for Kepa to come good because of the big money and/or contract they committed to him. Tuchel has always played his #1 keeper in the cup competitions in the past but not the case here. Clearly been "pressurized" to play Kepa in the domestic cups.

Yeah, the whole Kepa thing is insane if we follow it all the way back to January 2018 and look what happened with TC. 

There was an interesting article in The Athletic a couple of weeks ago about Courtois' departure from the club. In the piece Johnson hinted that Kepa was a panic buy by the club and that Courtios has always insisted that the club had agreed he could leave in March 2018. 

Personally, I have always brought TC's story as all the rumours at the time had us in pole position for Alisson. My theory has always been the following: 

1) Real pull out of buying Kepa in January 2018 as Courtios has made it clear to Chelsea as he won't sign a new contract and ZZ is fairly happy with Navas and prefers to wait 6 months to get a better GK.

*this buyout of Kepa's is important as if Chelsea had been tracking him and thought so highly of him to pay an extra £55m six months later and good knows how much more in wages (he was rumoured to be on as low as €5k a week before his contract extension) then why not loan to buy him like they love to do with everyone else?

2) Club realises after January 2018 that they will not get TC to re-sign and start to scout other GK's. 

3) in March 2018 the club have selected Alisson to replace TC and believe they pretty much have a deal in place for him. Tell TC he will be able to leave in the Summer. 

4) Somewhere along the line Chelsea drop the ball with Alisson. Wages are clearly not the issue as Alisson is on a reported £90k a week at the Dippers. I suspect that the club tried to fu*k about with his fee/agents fee as they felt they had a strong hand as he indicated he wanted to come here. Dippers swoop in and get the deal done quickly. This bit is all speculation on my part as there are no reports/comments to back it up.

5) Club go back to TC and tell him he has to stay. This I think was done to hopefully push Real to buying another GK which would force TC's hand to signing an extension. TC calls the clubs bluff.

6) Now in full panic mode, the club trigger Oblak's release clause. Oblak refuses the move has it comes at too late notice and his family are settled in Madrid, while AM promise him a mega extension which he does get 6 months later.

7) Chelsea go into full meltdown and start working through their other options that have not been fully vetted and somehow end up settling on Kepa (probably due to release fee/age profile) as all other clubs know we are over a barrel. 

8 ) Chelsea reluctantly sell TC and go ahead with Kepa even though the kid had only playes 54 La Liga games and wasn't even convincing in those. 

Edited May 17, 2021 by King Kante

[Mário César 975]

3 hours ago, manpe said:

It was Tuchel's fault first and foremost for starting him. Kepa can't be blamed for an uncontested worldie going in, in that sense he's not at fault. He is also not at fault for the hand-ball that created the chance and for nobody closing Tielemans down. It was a mix of bad/corrupt refereeing and bad defending that he had to face that shot. We know who he is so we can't be mad at him playing at his level. But the thing is, it's a cup final and if you've studied him before, you just know he isn't going to save shots like this... Which is okay, not everybody can be so good. But when you have a goalie who is capable of saves likes that, then why not increase the chances of winning the cup by playing him? Kepa already played against Arsenal, he got his minutes.

I also don't think it is a coincidence that we lost the last two games he started. He was not directly at fault of anything, but the defence is visibly more nervous with him in goal. They all try to get something on the ball before it reaches Kepa, they don't want him to deal with shots or high balls into the box because they're shitscared. Having Mendy in goal transformed our season and I am not shocked at all to see us quivering when reverting back to Kepa. We have to get rid of him, because the price tag will keep pressuring TT and next coaches to play him more than he should.

That's my point.

[NikkiCFC 7,942]

It is completely irrelevant if Mendy would saved it. And I see a lot of talk about this.

If Koeman decides to rest Messi in Copa Del Rey game (even final) and Braithwaite does not score in some attacking situation, their fans wont go: oh, Leo would dribble here past 3 players and score...

Mendy is my POTY pick for this season and best GK in the league so it is crazy to expect the same from Kepa. You can blame TT tho. but Kepa does not deserve this shit.

[robsblubot 3,502]

8 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

It is completely irrelevant if Mendy would saved it. And I see a lot of talk about this.

If Koeman decides to rest Messi in Copa Del Rey game (even final) and Braithwaite does not score in some attacking situation, their fans wont go: oh, Leo would dribble here past 3 players and score...

Mendy is my POTY pick for this season and best GK in the league so it is crazy to expect the same from Kepa. You can blame TT tho. but Kepa does not deserve this shit.

hmm so, you are saying that Mendy is so good, but so good that Kepa not being anywhere near that standard makes him still OK? 🤔

How about this: Mendy is indeed an excellent goal keeper. And most other top clubs have excellent goal keepers as well.  They all have different strengths and weaknesses. however, none of them have this deficiency with long shots. It's kinda a deal breaker at this level.

My personal take is that Kepa is one of the worst goalies I've seen play the game - especially at this level. Folks are being WAY too nice to him here. He hurts the team's defense in ways that are difficult to measure, but defending is consistently worse whenever he plays. Perhaps because players scramble to close down the opposition to avoid long shots? Mendy was one of the reasons we started defending better.

heh, would be very surprised if Kepa plays under Tuchel again.

[Mário César 975]

Kepa don't deserve this. Right. But Tuchel deserved because it is his choise that suppost cost us a title!

[NikkiCFC 7,942]

European champion Kepa my boy! 

 

[Milan 17,853]

I loved how he celebrated the triumph hahaha

[Jase 43,479]

1 minute ago, Milan said:

I loved how he celebrated the triumph hahaha

That knee slide celebration. 🤣

[Jase 43,479]

14 hours ago, Jas said:

That knee slide celebration. 🤣

[R2D2 368]

Curious what happens to him, players of his age usually don't want to stay on bench, you'd think he'd lower his wages and move somewhere else to play each game.

[King Kante 1,474]

21 minutes ago, R2D2 said:

Curious what happens to him, players of his age usually don't want to stay on bench, you'd think he'd lower his wages and move somewhere else to play each game.

Problem is, he wouldn't just have to lower his wages a bit but by a massive amount. By all accounts we gave him somewhere around £170k a week for 7 years. He won't go to another PL side and no top team in Europe will want him. He would probably have to accept something like £20k a week. 

Then we get to the matter of the fee we paid for him. It is a disaster all round. 

At best we get a loan where someone covers £30k of his wages. 

Edited May 31, 2021 by King Kante

[NikkiCFC 7,942]

Kepa CL - 1

Buffon - 0