Chelsea drew 1-1 with Leicester City at Stamford Bridge on Thursday to practically secure a third-place finish in the Premier League this season. That said, the major talking point after the match centered on the performance of the Chelsea goalkeeper, Edouard Mendy, whose poor form continued....CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
In recent matches, the Senegalese goalkeeper has been guilty of making mistakes that led to goals, and not saving shots he used to save with ease last season and in the first half of this season.
For the match against Leicester City, James Maddison beat him in the 6th minute with a shot at his near post from outside the penalty box. It was a poor goal to concede as a goalkeeper of his class is expected to save shots at his near post, especially when it is coming from outside the penalty box.
That said, lack of competition is the likely reason Mendy is underperforming as he certainly didn’t forget how to make saves. He is just not putting in the extra effort as he used to because there is no one challenging him for a starting position.
For me, the head coach Thomas Tuchel should be blamed for that, as Kepa Arrizabalaga did enough in the absence of Mendy in January to show he can provide quality competition for the Senegalese goalkeeper.
With Kepa in good form, Tuchel should have dropped him for a couple of games after it became obvious that his mistakes were not a one-off.
Doing that may have been harsh but it would have been the wake-up call the Senegalese goalkeeper appears to need.
It is the job of a manager to always push his players to do better. Tuchel so far has failed to do that in the case of Mendy. That is one of the things that should change next season.
If the German manager does not feel Kepa is good enough, he should sell him this summer and sign another that can provide competition for Mendy.
Big clubs like Chelsea sign two quality players for each position to ensure there is healthy competition within the squad. Clubs don’t spend that much to have them on the bench waiting for players in the first 11 to have injuries or be suspended.
