Kepa Arrizabalaga

[Feed Me]

Maybe for his level he had good season, which would have been average for any good GK.

Quite. You really expect better from a keeper as expensive as Kepa.

Certain and managers clubs just get the rub of the green when it comes to media coverage.

Witness this from the BBC just before Chelsea’s defeat to WHU:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53214363

No such coverage for United who have put a far more impressive run of form together over 15 matches.

 

[utdalltheway]

4 shots, 3 goals. That won’t help his save % much.

 

[Baneofthegame]

That's a long article so before/if I read it can you elaborate on the bolded bit because I've always believed that to the case. Obviously not that keepers should never be beaten at their near post but the by law of averages, it's the one of the fundamentals that they should be good at.

For example the goals Greenwood and Bruno scored against Brighton were imo 'poor' keeping:


Yes it's harsh and I do acknowledge both shots were either through a defender's leg or a deflection but considering the positioning of the keeper (which was good i.e place at the near post where the action of play was), it was 'poor' footwork/reaction to be beaten there.

Perhaps you might say the first goal he should of done better, but the second goal went in because he shifted his weight to the opposite side and then the ball received the deflection and crept in, not sure that’s 100% on the goalkeeper.

 

[roonster09]

Quite. You really expect better from a keeper as expensive as Kepa.

Yeah but paying record fee won't turn average keeper into good one. I agree with your point on media coverage, my point was about why Chelse fans might think he had good season. If Lingard scores around 7-10 goals a season, we would say he had decent season, if Martial ends up with that number it would be shit season.

 

[Nickelodeon]

Quite. You really expect better from a keeper as expensive as Kepa.

Certain and managers clubs just get the rub of the green when it comes to media coverage.

Witness this from the BBC just before Chelsea’s defeat to WHU:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53214363

No such coverage for United who have put a far more impressive run of form together over 15 matches.

They actually had a really good week before West Ham. Critical wins against Man City and away at Leicester. Similar to our week with Spurs and City in December. I would rather us be under the radar than being hyped before we even reach the position.

 

[Mb194dc]

4 shots, 3 goals. That won’t help his save % much.

Defence is pretty woeful at times and he had no chance with goals 2 and 3 both of which are dreadful defending, especially 3 so naive. For goal 1, it's header inside the 6 yard box, he's run in to Kante, if just stands there probably saves it. Letting them get the header on goal inside the 6 yard area is the bigger mistake though. Bound to concede goals if you let that happen regardless of who is in goal.

No goal keeper would look great playing for Chelsea at the moment, which we'll probably find out next season? We've conceded 13 goals more than Utd and Leicester, in fact not really sure how we're 4th.

 

[Dancfc]

A good first season? I must have missed that. Irrespective, Kepa has completely hit the depths – he’s conceding a goal with every other shot that the opposition gets on target. This is an £80m goalie we are talking about, which is absolutely atrocious business.

He averaged a clean sheet every other game (or close too) and was a big reason we made two cup finals winning one.

It' was a good season whatever way it's spun.

 

[giorno]

I am curious who is the third Spanish goalkeeper after two of them?

Kepa's successor at Athletic Unai Simon is having a monstrous season. Guaita for Palace as well.
Roma's Pau Lopez should be their 3rd gk and is probably the best spanish gk for the past two years, really good keeper

I think it's more down to the fact Kepa had a good first season whereas Fred looked like the rebirth of Bakayoko until about a few months ago.

He didn't, he was really poor last season too

Regardless, Kepa has been poor, especially his refusal to come and claim corners. The man seems anchored to his goal line.

Have you read the article? Apparently this is a strictly PL issue. He is exceptional at collecting crosses when they play in Europe

Tl;dr refs are the reason the PL is so different from every other league. To the point players have to change the way they play

 

[One Night Only]

I am curious who is the third Spanish goalkeeper after two of them?

Adrian?

Edit: Pau Lopez, plays for Girona in Italy.

 

[Withnail]

Very interesting article on Kepa's deficiencies that go beyond just 'he's shite'. GK is by far the most misunderstood position by fans in the modern game (for example the widely parroted line that keepers should never be beaten at their near post when that's not true), so I enjoyed someone knowledgeable about goalkeeping technique breaking it down. I'd love to see them do one on Pickford, who I suspect shares a lot of the same problems in terms of his technique making 'normal shots look unsavable and normal saves look like showstoppers'.

Good read.

It seems like he has a lot of bad habits which make saved harder for him: swinging his arms before diving, getting too square on when facing a wide player and now diving backwards. This along with the challenge of attempting to save the higher quality chances Frank's Chelsea are giving up is a recipe for disaster.

I know it's probably not a quick fix but shouldn't the goal keeping coach and analysis team have spotted all of this and be working with him to iron these things out?


There's a good thread here on goalkeeper positioning based on the position of the attacking player and how effective they are if anyone's interested.

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[SAFMUTD]

He is their Alexis, theyre trapped with him since managment wont accept they fecked up breaking the world record fee for a bang average/poor GK.

 

[Murder on Zidane's Floor]

Very interesting article on Kepa's deficiencies that go beyond just 'he's shite'. GK is by far the most misunderstood position by fans in the modern game (for example the widely parroted line that keepers should never be beaten at their near post when that's not true), so I enjoyed someone knowledgeable about goalkeeping technique breaking it down. I'd love to see them do one on Pickford, who I suspect shares a lot of the same problems in terms of his technique making 'normal shots look unsavable and normal saves look like showstoppers'.

This is excellent and not surprised to see Pickford just above Kepa in shot stopping performance (negative goals saved per 90 mins). Pickford too, being a keeper far to arrogant for his ability and who also does the weird arm waving thing when waiting for a shot.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

This is excellent and not surprised to see Pickford just above Kepa in shot stopping performance (negative goals saved per 90 mins). Pickford too, being a keeper far to arrogant for his ability and who also does the weird arm waving thing when waiting for a shot.

It's a bizarre technique - personally I'm convinced it's a coping mechanism for keepers who aren't tall enough to cover the goal without this type of move to help build momentum (Kepa is 1.86 & Pickford is 1.85).

At this point, I'm just hoping Chelsea can cut bait. If the mooted Kepa - Cillessen - Onana triple swap has legs, I'm 100% for it. Obviously our defense needs improving as well but having an assured keeper behind them can only help, and again it's worth mentioning that after last night's debacle Chelsea have conceded 8.49 more goals than predicted by xG (by far the worst mark in the PL and among the worst in Europe).

 

[criticalanalysis]

No, it’s not the ‘fundamentals of football’.

It is a delicate balancing act - protect the near post (the most direct route to goal), but don’t leave too much space at the far post. As @ValenciasDrilledCrosses has rightly pointed out, a keeper will rarely face criticism for faithfully protecting their near post, even if it is at the expense of their far post... seemingly this idea that you shouldn’t be beaten at your near post is a rather lazy cliche peddled mostly by non-keepers.

See the below quote from Kasper Schmeichel:

It’s a myth. Something I have never understood. One day someone just came up with it and said a goalkeeper should never be beaten at their near post.

Anyone who has played in goal knows it’s a huge area and you try to cover the whole goal. You can’t try and cover the whole goal and the guarantee the ball won’t go in at the near post if it’s a great shot. Near post, far post, you try to cover it all and you’re not happy if it goes in anywhere.

I’m not a keeper, mind, but that’s precisely why I don’t feel equipped to comment on the technical components of the role without having done some research myself. My conclusion is that I still don’t fecking know - but if top level keepers dispute the applicability of this myth, who am I to disagree? No one has said that a keeper shouldn’t protect their near post; rather, people have questioned the assumption that a keeper is automatically at fault if their near post is beaten.

I can only assume you are a keeper given the confidence of your assertion.

I don't think I or anyone really believe in automatic accountability for a keeper conceding a near post finish. It's just that a lot of them, which are conceded are imo legitmately down to 'poor' keeping.

I'm not a keeper, not that it makes my points any more or less valid.

A keeper will usually be at their near post because that's the most straight forward shot for an attacker. As I've said before, unless it's a flawlessly hit shot or a unique scenario i.e your 1 in 10's then the near post is a high percentage save. You're positioning for that area because it's also the high percentage shot (to be on target) for the attacker. Trying to 'cover' more angles/area of the goal means making a judgement, which is quite simply a gamble.

If you cover your bases, which in this case means blocking the high percentage areas of your near post, then you are forcing the attacker to take the low chance shot across goal to the far post. Half of your work is already done there. Of course it's not just about the save, you need to be closing down the space too. For example De Gea is guilty of covering his posts well but stays rooted to his spot, which gives the attacker space for more variation.

Again, I repeat I'm not saying keepers shouldn't be beat at their near post but when people/commentators say 'he shouldn't have been beaten there', imo there's a lot of truth to it which can be explained by your usual poor footwork, technique, lack of concentration, being too eager etc.

 

[hmchan]

Stop with the de Gea comparisons. Kepa is dropped after making a mistake, de Gea is not.

 

[criticalanalysis]

A keeper will usually be at their near post because that's the most straight forward shot for an attacker. As I've said before, unless it's a flawlessly hit shot or a unique scenario i.e your 1 in 10's then the near post is a high percentage save. You're positioning for that area because it's also the high percentage shot (to be on target) for the attacker. Trying to 'cover' more angles/area of the goal means making a judgement, which is quite simply a gamble.

If you cover your bases, which in this case means blocking the high percentage areas of your near post, then you are forcing the attacker to take the low chance shot across goal to the far post. Half of your work is already done there. Of course it's not just about the save, you need to be closing down the space too. For example De Gea is guilty of covering his posts well but stays rooted to his spot, which gives the attacker space for more variation.

I couldn't have predicted it more accurately ffs.

 

[Paxi]

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He’s the worst goalie in the league for me and he cost 70 fecking million quid.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

He literally is the worst keeper in the league.

 

[adexkola]

I don't know about his quality but all I know is that Sarri should have choked his bitch ass out after that incident

 

[Adisa]

Goes under the radar. But he might be one of the worst signings in prem history. 72 million pounds.

 

[charlenefan]

Dropped for the final game of the season

Probably safe to say he won't play in the PL again if Chelsea have their way

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

Dropped for the final game of the season

Probably safe to say he won't play in the PL again if Chelsea have their way

Halle-fecking-lujah!

 

[Damien]

Yeah, his Chelsea career is over. They're good at selling duds for big money but can't see them not making a big loss on this one.

 

[BenitoSTARR]

That’s Kepa off then

 

[BenitoSTARR]

Cue a bunch of moaners saying we should have done this with De Gea

 

[duffer]

Yeah, his Chelsea career is over. They're good at selling duds for big money but can't see them not making a big loss on this one.

Loan to Valencia next season is the word on the street.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

Yeah, his Chelsea career is over. They're good at selling duds for big money but can't see them not making a big loss on this one.

Oh for sure. Not gonna get anywhere close to the price; best hope is to send him to Valencia on loan with a purchase obligation.

 

[Damien]

Loan to Valencia next season is the word on the street.

Oh for sure. Not gonna get anywhere close to the price; best hope is to send him to Valencia on loan with a purchase obligation.

Yeah, loan is the best thing to do. Purchase obligation is a toughie though after the season he's had.

 

[unplayable]

Yeah, his Chelsea career is over. They're good at selling duds for big money but can't see them not making a big loss on this one.

Watch them trick some stupid club into buying him for 60m like they somehow did with Morata.

 

[charlenefan]

What's the keeper situation at Valencia? I assumed Cillessen would be the undisputed number 1 but it seems they change from one week to the next?

 

[Ace]

Wasn’t de Gea dropped toward the end of his first season(s)? I know full well the Lindegaard took over for him on two occasions, including Fergie's last match, though we had already secured the title by then.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

Yeah, loan is the best thing to do. Purchase obligation is a toughie though after the season he's had.

Yeah could be - the rumour that has been flying around for a while is a triple swap where Kepa goes to Valencia, Cillessen goes back to Ajax, and Onana goes to Chelsea. Kepa'd be on loan for 2 years with a fairly easy-to-hit purchase obligation

 

[mu4c_20le]

Wasn’t de Gea dropped toward the end of his first season(s)? I know full well the Lindegaard took over for him on two occasions, including Fergie's last match, though we had already secured the title by then.

Then its called rotated.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

What's the keeper situation at Valencia? I assumed Cillessen would be the undisputed number 1 but it seems they change from one week to the next?

Reportedly he wants to move back home to the Netherlands. Don't know too much about this Domenech fella, bit of an odd one as he's 29 so hardly a prospect they're grooming.

Cillessen hasn't been great for them though; never understood that deal they did with Barca as I feel Neto is the better player.

 

[duffer]

He should keep the meme alive by just walking out and standing next to Willy in the goal.

 

[Dave Smith]

Watch them trick some stupid club into buying him for 60m like they somehow did with Morata.

Only way Chelsea are going to be able to do that is if Granny sells her arse and then has the president of Atletico pull a couple of tugs off a crack pipe.

 

[Antisocial]

Disappointing news for Wolves.

 

[freeurmind]

 

[izec]

Between calamity Dave and shit Kepa, Spain need a new GK for the next summer ASAP. They are both not good enough

 

[georgipep]

That to me is more damning on the defenders than on Kepa. At least 3 of them could/should have challenged that cross, one ducked and the other two were ball watching. That defensive unit (incl. Kepa) is just shockingly poor at communicating and not drilled to work together at all.