Kepa Arrizabalaga

[paulw66]

Was away from the forum last week, and missed this.... Gets the blame for that mess at Arsenal? Astonishing. And using a still photo to prove whether a shot is or isn't unsavable I laughable. 

 

Still, you wanted Mendy and that's what you get..... 

On 06/05/2023 at 13:30, Bison said:

Sometimes I really feel like this forum is bizarro world when I see player of the season shouts for Kepa and talk about him being the least of our worries. 

We've conceded less goals than Arsenal. 

It's pretty clear which end the biggest problems are. We could have had prime Cech in nets this season and we'd still be in lower mid table. 

[paulw66]

Dug a little deeper on this.........we currently sit in 11th place, having scored 36 goals.

Of the 10 teams above us, the next lowest scorers are Aston Villa on 48.  Think about that for a second. The next lowest scorers who are above us in the table have scored 33% more...... that is an incredible gap. It would be a big gap if the team that was 4th had scored 33% more.

We have conceded 41 goals. Less than 2nd place Arsenal, although we have played a game fewer, and we have 3 of the top 4 left to play.

Of the 10 teams above us, only City and Newcastle have conceded fewer. United the same, Arsenal 1 more.

Of the 9 teams below us, 5 have scored more than us, and 1 has the same. Only 3 teams have scored less.

You can understand why Kepa (or whomever it was in goal) can be considered as one of the lower priorities in terms of us getting back to where we need to be. 

[Bob Singleton]

👆 Indeed, Kepa is not the problem. Is he the best keeper? No. But he's OK for now, unless someone truly amazing becomes available at a reasonable price. 

Our priorities lie elsewhere; we have a midfield that can neither shield the defence adequately, nor create for the forward players and we have forward players who can't score goals.

[Ham]

Yup.  We could cope with the occasional goalkeeping error, like most clubs have to, if we scored as many goals as we should. 

[paulw66]

31 minutes ago, Ham said:

Yup.  We could cope with the occasional goalkeeping error, like most clubs have to, if we scored as many goals as we should. 

Whilst I'm on this hill, in the league this season, Kepa is conceding a goal every 85 minutes. Mendy is conceding a goal every 61 minutes. 

[chara]

1 hour ago, paulw66 said:

Whilst I'm on this hill, in the league this season, Kepa is conceding a goal every 85 minutes. Mendy is conceding a goal every 61 minutes. 

Hmm...thanks pw... unfortunately every keeper concedes goals..or to be more precise has goals scored against them... a simple observation...when a Chelsea player scores (for those with good memory) how many Chelsea followers look to really analyse the oppo keeper's showing? 

Up to a point it is understandable that any Chelsea keeper's performance gets scrutinised when a goal is conceded but rarely is the keeper (and elsewhere,) solely culpable for the goal,,,so many factors leading up to any goal that are ignored by the use of.."Well..he should have got that."..... 

Kepa/Mendy... average EPL keepers...form fluctuations that the elite rarely suffer...not really anyone apart from the obvious two,,and both a bit less steady this season..who would drastically "improve" the overall season..the odd game maybe...but Pickford for example is considered #1 for the National side...good slightly above average EPL keeper..and average does not mean wanting, just a standard (said all this before..nothing has changed),,,, be thankful that PC was a great...not many of those around at any time.

I hate statistics as arguments but goals for and against are set in stone......... score more than the other side and...........?

[ROTG]

5 hours ago, Bob Singleton said:

he's OK for now, unless someone truly amazing becomes available at a reasonable price. 

Allegedly Hugo Lloris is being shown the exit door, maybe Poch will fancy him as a short term answer to the GK conundrum 🤔

Edited May 15, 2023 by ROTG

[Sleeping Dave]

On 02/04/2023 at 15:29, Bob Singleton said:

☝️ Agree. If we sell any keeper it'll be Mendy, and for the reasons stated.

Also worth noting that he's the only one of our keepers being mentioned in the rumour mill.

Perhaps because Kepa is not a very attractive prospect for any club that could reasonably afford him. 

[Mark Kelly]

15 minutes ago, ROTG said:

Allegedly Hugo Lloris is being shown the exit door, maybe Poch will fancy him as a short term answer to the GK conundrum 🤔

Personally I'm worried we might get Pickford.

Shudder.

[chara]

1 minute ago, Mark Kelly said:

Personally I'm worried we might get Pickford.

Shudder.

😁😁 or🍋!!

 

[Bob Singleton]

Shame it doesn't show Kepa's stats

Edited May 15, 2023 by Bob Singleton
Typo

[Sleeping Dave]

On 03/04/2023 at 08:55, Bison said:

Here you go, last 5 games for club and country:

A tragic keeper we can't get rid of because he's grossly overpaid.

We're stuck with him until that contract expires but let's hope our next manager doesn't care about that and exiles him to the u18s. 

It really becomes apparent just how bad he is when you get to see it like that. He’s rarely producing more than a 6/10 performance but often it’s much lower than that. He just doesn’t win us any points. For me he’s just a very, very average goalkeeper. Perhaps ok for a team trying to stay up in this league. Nowhere near good enough for a team trying to chase European places. 

His weaknesses;

Too short

Very bad commanding his area

Laughable in the air

Arms was too short

Very poor shot stopping technique

Poor at reading the game

Prone to real brain farts

I’m completely at loss how anyone can think he’s not a massive problem for this club. People saying he’s not our main problem… For me he’s just as big of a problem as our lack of goal scorers or a solid DM. 

 

On 11/04/2023 at 01:33, Michael Tucker said:

Imo, to blame Kepa for our problems is missing the point completely. We don't have a proper holding midfielder, and we don't have a top striker. We need to fix both those glaring problems, before arguing about Kepa. Seriously.

Nobody is blaming him for our problems. What I’m seeing is people claiming he is part of our problem. To deny that is to accept mediocrity imo. He’s having an average season for us and all of a sudden he’s not a problem. Over his time here it blatantly obvious he will never play regularly for a championship-winning side. You can quote me on that. Kepa will never win a major European league being first choice*. I’ll bet everything I own on that. 
 

*Serie A, Premier League or La Liga

[Rob B]

Agree with you on that SD, which is precisely why he will start next season as our second choice IMO. 

It looks increasingly likely Mendy will be sold, which means we’ll sign a keeper regardless;  but you can bet your bottom dollar it won’t be a free transfer or less than £10m sort of purchase which most clubs do for their second choice keeper.

It will be a £30m - £50m type of signing and I’m sure the narrative will be that he has been signed to ‘compete’ with Kepa but will start the first game of the season. 

Kepa is definitely not the root of all of our problems, but on the same token could be upgraded fairly easily - and as we will be buying a keeper anyway, makes total sense to do so. 

[chara]

19 minutes ago, Rob B said:

 Kepa is definitely not the root of all of our problems, but on the same token could be upgraded fairly easily - and as we will be buying a keeper anyway, makes total sense to do so. 

Absolutely....but bang EPL average and to really challenge a change is needed but not just in goal.

No half assed ageing never quite was the business  # 2/3 elsewhere.... I see no TC/PC clones out there certainly not in UK so who would come in as a real starter or "competition" is a puzzle .

The academy/youth set up over the years has produced some real diamond starters . few. but that is why they were "diamonds",,,, but who was the last truly home produced  keeper from the Chelsea system who featured as a nailed-on starter?

Edited May 15, 2023 by chara

[Bob Singleton]

34 minutes ago, chara said:

Absolutely....but bang EPL average and to really challenge a change is needed but not just in goal.

No half assed ageing never quite was the business  # 2/3 elsewhere.... I see no TC/PC clones out there certainly not in UK so who would come in as a real starter or "competition" is a puzzle .

The academy/youth set up over the years has produced some real diamond starters . few. but that is why they were "diamonds",,,, but who was the last truly home produced  keeper from the Chelsea system who featured as a nailed-on starter?

Bonetti? And even he came to us from Reading youth to our second string before he made his debut for the 1st team aged 19

A few others have come 'through the ranks'  (by that I mean signed as an apprentice in the days before academies, etc) and played the odd game or a dozen, but I can't think of another "nailed on" starter. Does Steve Francis count? Started off at around 18/19 as first choice until Niedzwieckie was bought.

[chara]

Just now, Bob Singleton said:

Bonetti? And even he came to us from Reading youth to our second string before he made his debut for the 1st team aged 19

A few others have come 'through the ranks'  (by that I mean signed as an apprentice in the days before academies, etc) and played the odd game or a dozen, but I can't think of another "nailed on" starter. Does Steve Francis count? Started off at around 18/19 as first choice until Niedzwieckie was bought.

Had the same conclusions as you pretty much Bob but as I am totally biased ,unashamedly, regarding The Cat I decided to leave that open!

Steve Francis...always thought he would "make it" but EddyN coming in put a damper on that.... I rate Eddie way up there with Chelsea keepers and remember being at the Wrexham for the "Chelsea Fans Banned" cuptie with  SteveF for Chelsea and EddieN for Wrexham and reading a match report or such stating the expectation that both keepers would eventually represent their National side,...Think Francis went to Swindon (?) and went on to a journeyman career, (Last saw him at Wembley in that strange obscure something goal fest "cup final" against Citeh......)

Be interesting to see if the new kid lives up to the hype.

[xceleryx]

8 hours ago, Sleeping Dave said:

It really becomes apparent just how bad he is when you get to see it like that. He’s rarely producing more than a 6/10 performance but often it’s much lower than that. He just doesn’t win us any points. For me he’s just a very, very average goalkeeper. Perhaps ok for a team trying to stay up in this league. Nowhere near good enough for a team trying to chase European places. 

I remember breaking down that clip and every goal conceded when it was first posted,  so I'm not going to do it again but I'll repeat the general summary;

Overall besides a couple of moments I don't see many other keepers doing a whole lot better in most cases. Hugely let down by some school boy defending ahead of him on an all too regular basis. The one thing that gets really highlighted though is his ability in the air and getting a strong fist on the ball, but this has been known already as one of his biggest weaknesses. 

I think we can certainly find ourselves a better keeper, but Kepa isn't why we're in the shitter.

8 hours ago, Sleeping Dave said:

Nobody is blaming him for our problems. What I’m seeing is people claiming he is part of our problem. To deny that is to accept mediocrity imo. He’s having an average season for us and all of a sudden he’s not a problem. Over his time here it blatantly obvious he will never play regularly for a championship-winning side. You can quote me on that. Kepa will never win a major European league being first choice*. I’ll bet everything I own on that. 

*Serie A, Premier League or La Liga

The thing here is that Kepa isn't part of our problems with respect to this season. He's had a couple of shaky moments as all keepers tend to do, even the best ones, but he's won us points on several occasions this season through his own performances, and in wider vacuums has been solid enough to where if we did more down the other end he'd be an afterthought. 

• 14th most saves in the PL (81) 
• 5th best Save percentage (74.3%)
• 3rd best Goals Against per 90 (1.06)
• 5th best Clean Sheet percentage (34.6%)
• 3rd best PSxG-GA/90 (Post-Shot expected goals -Goal Against per 90) (+0.14) - and ranks well in other xG related areas. 

Not going to go through everything in this area but you get the basic idea.

The only area in which he struggles the most, and I think we all know this anyway, is with dealing with crosses and balls in the air. 

• 311 crosses faced
• Stopped 14
• Stop percentage of 4.5%

For reference Emi Martinez has the best stop percentage in the league this season at 12%, with Nick Pope second with 8.2%. Both have also faced around 100 more crosses as well for additional context. 

Kepa also ranks highly in the Sweeper areas and actions outside the box. 

• 5th most defensive actions outside the box per 90 (1.88)

I'm not sure what more people really want? He's not prime Buffon by any stretch, but he's also not Peter Enckleman either. He's solid enough to be more than functional with - if he was to keep up this sort of standard. If we can find ourselves a keeper that's a genuine improvement across the board that elevates us further than by all means we should pursue that, otherwise Kepa in his current form is capable enough for now while we address more pressing areas.  

[Michael Tucker]

1 hour ago, xceleryx said:

I'm not sure what more people really want? He's not prime Buffon by any stretch, but he's also not Peter Enckleman either. He's solid enough to be more than functional with - if he was to keep up this sort of standard. If we can find ourselves a keeper that's a genuine improvement across the board that elevates us further than by all means we should pursue that, otherwise Kepa in his current form is capable enough for now while we address more pressing areas.  

What some people on here really 'want' is to have a whinge, and show how clever they are. 

The reality with Kepa is that he's nowhere near as bad as some people make out. He's OK (not great), and we have other positions that need attention before we get around to the keeper.

[Sciatika]

I suspect the problem some people have with Kepa is the original price tag.

[Michael Tucker]

32 minutes ago, Sciatika said:

I suspect the problem some people have with Kepa is the original price tag.

Did anyone here pay it out of their own pockets? No? Then they're kidding themselves. Let's move on for goodness sake.

[ROTG]

2 hours ago, Sciatika said:

I suspect the problem some people have with Kepa is the original price tag.

Jessie J doesn’t 

I’ll get my coat. 😀

[Bob Singleton]

3 hours ago, Sciatika said:

I suspect the problem some people have with Kepa is the original price tag.

Indeed, and that's hardly his fault for that!

[Bert19]

On 15/05/2023 at 13:46, Ham said:

Yup.  We could cope with the occasional goalkeeping error, like most clubs have to, if we scored as many goals as we should. 

Agreed. This is also exactly the reason that i'm not having the "We need a no.9" argument being the solution to all of our problems. 

Sure, a proper Striker would help - but we have at least 5 or 6 players in this squad that should be aiming (and delivering) at least 10 goals a season each and for the last 5+ we've had a midfield that score about 2-3 goals a year from open play.  

That return is quite frankly pathetic and we should have addressed that across the entire squad a long time ago.  I'm very glad we've finally started to see a) some new faces and b) indications that several perennial under-delivers are definitely for sale this summer. 

If you look at us over the last 15 years, you'd have a selection of Drogba, Anelka, Lampard, Kalou, Malouda, Oscar, Mata, Hazard, Pedro etc all scoring in double figures each year and often assisting in similar numbers too. Standards and expectations of our forwards and AMs inexplicably dropped at the club 6-7 years ago and really haven't been put right. 

(I'm also against the signing of Felix for this reason.  He's yet another very expensive AM/Forward that barely scores.  We really don't need yet another one of those)

 

Edit - sorry if off-topic in a thread about a Goalie, but I saw a very relevant point and felt the urge to expand on it

Edited May 17, 2023 by Bert19

[Sleeping Dave]

On 16/05/2023 at 05:41, Michael Tucker said:

What some people on here really 'want' is to have a whinge, and show how clever they are. 

The reality with Kepa is that he's nowhere near as bad as some people make out. He's OK (not great), and we have other positions that need attention before we get around to the keeper.

You watch Pochettino making it his priority to get a first choice GK worthy of the title. 

Having a top keeper is the most basic thing if you want to be a top side. The titles we won under Cech and Courtois would not have been won if Kepa was our GK. Postponing a change is the same as giving up on us being a top side. He will be removed and that’ll be that. 

[Michael Tucker]

3 minutes ago, Sleeping Dave said:

You watch Pochettino making it his priority to get a first choice GK worthy of the title. 

I'll be watching.