Chelsea can weather the storm and flourish with a solid keeper

Barnsley put a ton of pressure on Chelsea, but the Blues weathered the storm thanks to Willy Caballero. A good keeper can see the Blues flourish.

Despite the final score, Barnsley made Chelsea work for it. The Championship side pressed and harried the Blues early on and found themselves in scoring positions that on another day could have wrecked Chelsea. The Blues could have easily left thoroughly embarrassed.

Willy Caballero wasn’t having that. Put between the sticks by virtue of it being a cup match and Kepa Arrizabalaga needing time to collect his thoughts after the Liverpool match, Caballero stood on his head and did the tango against Barnsley. He made nine saves, which is more than his counterpart made in the previous five matches combined.

Thanks to the Argentine, Chelsea was able to weather the storm. Due to that, the Blues were able to believe in themselves more and more. It was if a weight had been lifted off their shoulders as one goal became two, two became three, so on and so forth. Without Caballero doing his bit at the back, the six goals at the front would not have been possible.

That seems a bit counter intuitive but it has already played out a few times for Chelsea since Frank Lampard took over. The club starts to push forward and then gets caught on the counter. It isn’t necessarily a clear cut chance, but it is a chance. Then Arrizabalaga bottles it. This happens often enough and the defense starts pulling off sooner. That pulls midfield back in support. The forwards eventually have to give up their press sooner. What could have become an easy victory becomes a turgid struggle as the whole team compensates for mistakes at the back.

In a way, Andreas Christensen’s red card is likely also part of this. Mind, Christensen got his red card fair and square, but would he have felt the need to make that foul if he had some trust in Arrizabalaga between the sticks? Maybe he continues to pressure but doesn’t make contact with Arrizabalaga rushing on.

Regardless, this phenomenon was clear against Barnsley. Chelsea struggled to build their way forward early on. Barnsley would create a chance and Caballero would make save. Few of them were spectacular, but they were saves nonetheless. As the Blues began to trust the keeper more and more with each new save, they would push up higher. Eventually they began to play truly free flowing stuff up top and Caballero could set up his lawn chair at the back and start reading Plato’s Apology like he planned to all game.

Keeper is, in part, a confidence position. That confidence doesn’t just affect them between the sticks though. It spreads through the defense, into the midfield, and all the way up to the striker. Caballero had confidence against Barnsley. It is hard to remember the last time Arrizabalaga had any.

Frank Lampard wants competition between the sticks this season and Edouard Mendy is adding his name to the list. Caballero, after Barnsley, put down a marker saying he wouldn’t be forgotten. It is up to Arrizabalaga to show he still has confidence in himself and eventually that might spread through the rest of the team.