Kepa Arrizabalaga

[Pizy 18,430]

This lad seems properly delighted and excited to be at Chelsea. He realizes that we've put enormous faith and trust in him.

[Jase 43,479]

 

[ulsterchelsea 3,221]

No idea why but I've a real good feeling about him. Fingers crossed. Hope he's given number 1. Can't be doing with keepers with numbers up in the 30s and shit. He's our number 1, give him number 1. Willy can suck it up 

[kellzfresh 7,229]

 

[manpe 10,861]

Sarri said he is not better than Courtois at the moment (it's good, not putting any pressure on him), so we have to take his word for it. We really need to be patient with him when he inevitably goes through bad patches, and not be like pool fans sending death threats to Karius.

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[mccg 1,528]

WATCH: 5 minutes of Chelsea goalkeeper training with Kepa, Bułka, Big Willy, Greeno

 

[kellzfresh 7,229]

 

[Jase 43,479]

Wasn't tested much by Huddersfield but did well in the circumstances. Was cool and calm when had to deal with passes at the back from the under pressure defenders.

[manpe 10,861]

Difficult to evaluate him based on this game, but he didn't make any mistakes when called upon. Positive first impression.

[robsblubot 3,539]

he does look on the short side for goalkeepers. My personal preference is for taller GKs... no, it doesn't have to be courtois tall, but tall enough to dominate crosses and to reach those upper-top shots.

Just hope the club fully evaluated him and this is not what it looked like: a panic buy. 

[Tomo 21,733]

I feel more nervous at corners and set pieces with Kepa compared to Tibo, this is more a compliment to how good Courtois is on set plays than any slight on Kepa but the corner that hit the post wouldn't have happened on the Belgiums watch. However distribution was another matter, we could pass the ball back to Kepa even under pressure and play kept on ticking over, Courtois would have panicked in half the situations Kepa was in today.

[Pizy 18,430]

1 minute ago, Tomo said:

I feel more nervous at corners and set pieces with Kepa compared to Tibo, this is more a compliment to how good Courtois is on set plays than any slight on Kepa but the corner that hit the post wouldn't have happened on the Belgiums watch. However distribution was another matter, we could pass the ball back to Kepa even under pressure and play kept on ticking over, Courtois would have panicked in half the situations Kepa was in today.

Yeah, it's really weird seeing a smaller keeper in our net after watching Courtois for so long. I take comfort in the fact that DDG and Lloris have become world class in the PL despite being very slight. Kepa looks much more muscular than either of those two so I think he'll be fine.

Might run into trouble against a side like United who have lots of giants. Can definitely see Mourinho starting Fellaini against us to stand right next to Kepa on every set piece.

[Jase 43,479]

19 minutes ago, Robguima said:

he does look on the short side for goalkeepers. My personal preference is for taller GKs... no, it doesn't have to be courtois tall, but tall enough to dominate crosses and to reach those upper-top shots.

Just hope the club fully evaluated him and this is not what it looked like: a panic buy. 

Kepa is 189, which isn't much of a difference to the top 6 sides' keeper.

Lloris - 188

Leno - 190

De Gea - 190

Ederson - 188

Alisson - 193

For some reason, Kepa does look tiny. Maybe it's because we've gotten used to seeing Courtois in goal for the last few years.

[Jase 43,479]

1 minute ago, Pizy said:

Yeah, it's really weird seeing a smaller keeper in our net after watching Courtois for so long. I take comfort in the fact that DDG and Lloris have become world class in the PL despite being very slight. Kepa looks much more muscular than either of those two so I think he'll be fine.

Might run into trouble against a side like United who have lots of giants. Can definitely see Mourinho starting Fellaini against us to stand right next to Kepa on every set piece.

Funny thing is, Caballero is actually shorter than Kepa. But he doesn't look small.  

[Johnnyeye 7,445]

11 minutes ago, Tomo said:

I feel more nervous at corners and set pieces with Kepa compared to Tibo, this is more a compliment to how good Courtois is on set plays than any slight on Kepa but the corner that hit the post wouldn't have happened on the Belgiums watch. However distribution was another matter, we could pass the ball back to Kepa even under pressure and play kept on ticking over, Courtois would have panicked in half the situations Kepa was in today.

the setpiece and corners defence is definitely something to work on for Kepa, he did fine for his 1st game, looked solid when called upon, specially with the ball at his feet, there is still a lot of room for improvement for sure

[El P. 1,354]

2 minutes ago, Jason said:

Kepa is 189, which isn't much of a difference to the top 6 sides' keeper.

I'm not so sure anymore that he is 189. On our official web it says 186 and to be frank, he looks 186 at the goal. You know how we will finally know? Let him stand next to Luiz, at least we know how tall he is...

EDIT: NO LUIZ, his hair will ruin everything! Rudiger maybe, or Alonso.

[Jase 43,479]

Just now, El P. said:

I'm not so sure anymore that he is 189. On our official web it says 186 and to be frank, he looks 186 at the goal. You know how we will finally know? Let him stand next to Luiz, at least we know how tall he is...

OH LORD, STOP MISDIRECTING ME!!! 

[Jase 43,479]

Just now, Johnnyeye said:

the setpiece and corners defence is definitely something to work on for Kep, he did fine for his 1st game, looked solud when called upon, specially with the ball at his feet, there is still a lot of room for improvement for sure

It's not just Kepa though, even our defence look shaky when high balls are being put into the box. Were lucky Huddersfield did not have anyone to exploit the uncertainties today.