The signing of Edouard Mendy has helped transform a stumbling Chelsea team into an overnight challenger to any team in world football.
Any thoughts that a new, excellent keeper wouldn’t make all the difference to a struggling Blues team have been put to rest once and for all by Edouard Mendy. He’s proven the point. Mendy singularly has made a world of difference to a club that couldn’t get out of its own way even against the bottom of the table teams last season and earlier this season. A great keeper can make a tremendous difference in several ways. Here’s how Mendy has made things click.
1. Mendy has shut the door.
Since arriving at Chelsea, Mendy has achieved an immense record of four clean sheets in five starts. In addition, he only allowed one goal in the other start. That’s a goals-per-game average of .20 per. That’s Petr Cechesque. As well it should be. It was Chelsea’s legendary keeper, Petr Cech, who most likely inspired the club to sign the statuesque 28-year-old Senegalese keeper to join the Blues from Cech’s former club, Rennes. What a signing he has been.
Prior to Mendy’s arrival, Chelsea had been floundering in goal. Whether it be the chronically underperforming Kepa Arrizabalaga or perennial back-up and aging Willy Caballero who delivered good and not-so-good performances, the results were fair to middling. Some efforts were okay, and some were quite bad. But Mendy has changed all that in a hurry. It’s not accidental. He has traits that made it happen.
Mendy is a long goalkeeper who still has terrific reflexes. That means that the natural ability that can’t be taught such as height, length, and reach. Combined with those stellar reflexes, he can extend to distances that shorter and less lengthy keepers just can’t. It’s a simple fact of geometry. If you have longer legs, longer arms, and longer hands you may be able to reach further to save than someone who is less physically gifted. In Mendy’s case, as Cech almost certainly determined and communicated to manager Frank Lampard and the Chelsea management hierarchy, he most certainly can. The result, clean sheets, and fabulous saves are becoming routine.
2. Mendy inspires confidence in his defenders
Mendy’s arrival has also changed the entire dynamic of Chelsea’s defense, herein meaning the five or six players responsible for the most part for the team’s ability to keep great chances on goal to a minimum. This has happened because the defenders can now feel confident that if they take assertive action to try to thwart an attack, that Mendy on most occasions will not concede a frivolous or unnecessary goal. They therefore can be aggressive to make a tackle or otherwise snuff out an attack. That confidence can pay off big-time.
No longer do Chelsea’s defenders have to be overly concerned that a shot of little consequence will find its way into the net under or maybe beyond an outstretched arm. They are secure in the strong likelihood that Mendy will save those attempts most of the time. This confidence has to inspire tenacity and fearlessness in a defender. And with those sentiments, a feeling that they can extend to snuff out a play and not feel that a goal is a great probability even if they fall short in the attempt. It’s a great comfort to the defenders and will embolden their best efforts.
3. Mendy’s excellence inspires attackers to excel
A third reason why Mendy’s emergence as Chelsea’s top keeper has galvanized and motivated the club is in the aspirations of the team’s attacking midfield and forwards. Fearing that a weak keeper could make a midfielder pay for a forceful drive toward the goal or a long pass to a streaking forward will restrain those players from taking risks, unduly fearing that an errant attempt may result in a swift counter and a goa without a top keeper to backstop the team.
This attitude can constrain the effort, concede the initiative to the opponent, and thwart the spontaneous nature of the attack that leads to goals. Mendy’s Gibraltar-like presence on the backline will inspire the attackers to take risks, drive forward to the goal and make the plays that will result in goals, and win matches. Mendy will thus aid the attack just by his being there as a reliable last line of defense.
Those are three reasons why the signing of Mendy was such an important one for Chelsea. The need was clear, the solution as to who it should be not so much. But, relying on the former master in goal for Chelsea made all the difference. Cech looked to his old club Rennes for the answer, and to-date, he has clearly found it much to the delight of Chelsea’s management, manager, and of course, its fans. Bravo Cech. Bravo, Lampard who relied on his judgment, and bravo Chelsea’s management team for following their advice. The prospects for the Blues seemed bleak before this signing, but now the sky is the limit. As the attack rounds into form with the other great attacking additions, anything is possible.