Three lessons from Chelsea’s loss to Everton: Never as simple as it seems
By Tan Yi Hao
3. Kepa Arrizabalaga’s struggles
Chelsea’s number one has endured a rather difficult campaign thus far. For the first time in his young career, the Spanish international, along with the £71m transfer fee he warranted, is facing intense scrutiny from the fans and the media.
Criticism at Arrizabalaga this season has been directed mainly at the key aspects of his performances. Namely, his distribution as well as his shot stopping ability, the bread and butter of a modern day goalkeeper.
First, on his distribution this campaign. It would be unfair to point out that Arrizabalaga is any poorer of a distributor of the ball as compared to last season. This is because Maurizio Sarri’s obsession with patterns of play extends even to the way his goalkeeper distributes. Last season, Arrizabalaga’s long balls had more often than not been directed out wide to either the left or right touchlines near the halfway point of the pitch, where either Alonso or Azpilicueta would be waiting to receive the ball. This was a constant zone in which the keeper has to hit the ball, making it nothing more than a muscle memory Arrizabalaga could execute even with his eyes closed.
This season, Arrizabalaga’s distribution is less structured and without a template for whom and where to distribute. Chelsea’s number one naturally is struggling to hit the levels of accuracy he managed last time out. Moreover, the team’s inability to assist Arrizabalaga in maintaining clean sheets or preventing high quality opportunities has seen the keeper’s confidence suffer as a direct consequence. As a result, when placed under pressure on the ball, Arrizabalaga is unable to channel the confidence required to pull off the passes he did last season.
Second, on Arrizabalaga’s shot stopping abilities this season, the loss of confidence as well as the number of high quality chances similarly applies. It is important to note that Arrizabalaga did not simply turn into a bad player over the course of two seasons.
Mistakes such as the one against Everton are uncharacteristic as they are a result of a loss of confidence and cannot be an indication of how Arrizabalaga’s abilities as a goalkeeper. Chelsea’s defensive errors are all collective in nature and to lay the blame solely at the feet of Arrizabalaga would simply be unfair.
Of course, there is still much work to be done on the training ground for the Spaniard as there are indeed shots he could have done better with. Nonetheless, as the penalty save against Valencia and the 89′ save against Douglas Luiz of Aston Villa would show, Arrizabalaga still has much to offer this team.
Yes, a new goalkeeper could be brought in to actually challenge for the number one spot with him and perhaps a change in the goalkeeping g coaching department would be in order. But at 24, the only way is up for Arrizabalaga, and Chelsea fans would do well to remember that.
What lessons did you learn from the loss? Let us know in the comments and on Twitter!