Debunking narratives (Part IV): Edouard Mendy is a liability on the ball

In the wake of Chelsea’s losing 3-0 to Leeds United at Elland Road and 2-1 at St. Mary’s to Southampton, many have been vocal with their opinions that the Blues’ first choice goalkeeper is error prone. Supporters have gone as far as to claim Edouard Mendy is not good on the ball and he should be dropped now, even if temporarily. This is a two-fold debunking session as two claims will be looked at in this piece. The first being that he’s just not good with the ball at his feet; the second being that he should be dropped in the wake of the error he made against Leeds.

Mendy was playing for Rennes in the second division not quite six years ago. Five years later, he would go on to break the records for fewest goals conceded in a 13-match Champions League campaign and most clean sheets recorded in a single UCL campaign. Mendy has risen through the ranks of European football. When he arrived, Kepa Arrizabalaga was Chelsea’s starting goalkeeper and it was becoming increasingly obvious that the Spaniard could not be trusted long-term between the sticks. Mendy became the Blues’ No. 1 choice straightaway, showing his top goalkeeping ability for while Frank Lampard was in charge of Chelsea, and then later when Thomas Tuchel took over halfway through the 2020/21 season.

Chelsea’s Edouard Mendy is not a liability on the ball, despite fans’ reports

At some point in Mendy’s Chelsea career, he was required to get more involved in play. The narrative is that Mendy wasn’t playing possession football where he was coming from and therefore, he isn’t good with the ball at his feet. He’s a tall dude (6-foot-6) and he is a keeper’s keeper. Mendy does not have the poise of an Ederson, which is fine, as Ederson is much shorter and was formerly an outfield player. No other goalkeeper was ever going to pass like Ederson anyway. The question is, is Mendy good on the ball?

To answer that, there has to be an agreement on what that even means. Goalkeepers aren’t dribblers and the most adventurous ones attempt about four or five total dribbles over two or three-season periods. Alisson has attempted six since the start of the 2020/21 season, Mendy has attempted two, and interestingly enough, Ederson has attempted none. This means dribbling cannot be a stat that is referred to when we say “good on the ball.” The only other measurable metric is passing. Passing for a goalkeeper is interesting because, while they have the whole pitch to look at, they’re never that involved in play. Even in Pep Guardiola’s team, Ederson is less involved in play than Alisson is for Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.

Goalkeepers are hardly ever marked or pressed, but their passing targets often are, which means they often have to go long to progress play. This season, Mendy has completed the most long balls out of himself, Alisson and Ederson. He has a long ball accuracy of 50%, which is high for a goalkeeper. Goalkeepers often average a long ball accuracy of about 35 or 45% as their passes are often as likely to be received by the opposition, as it is to be received by their teammate.

Mendy ranks in the bottom five for long balls per game for goalkeepers in the Premier League this season, so does David de Gea, Alisson and Ederson. This makes sense as many of these clubs—including Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City—average more possession than the other clubs in the league. Thus, these clubs are making more short passes on average, especially from their centerbacks and goalkeeper.

Mendy sits amongst the top five goalkeepers for long passers completed though. Ederson ranks above him, but Alisson is far below. However, this is just this season, and it’s a small sample size. Last season, while neither Mendy, Alisson or Ederson ranked in the top 20 goalkeepers in the league for accurate long balls per game, Mendy ranked in the top three for percentage of accurate long balls per game. Only Alisson (48.1%) and Ederson (59.3%) ranked higher than him.

Last season, a higher proportion of his passes were long balls, with 31% of his attempted passes being long balls. Alisson (27%) and Ederson (26%) ranked below him. This indicates that Mendy often doesn’t have short passing options, and as a result, he finds himself having to go long. This shows how goalkeepers’ passing numbers are affected by players around them and how the impact of the players around them directly relate the perception of a goalkeeper’s ability on the ball. Since the beginning of the 2021/22 season, Mendy has averaged a better long ball accuracy (49%) than Alisson (43%), and he has only been bettered by Ederson (57%) and Hugo Lloris (55%).

From the data, Mendy finds himself needing to make more long passes than Alisson and Ederson, and he’s still bests Alisson in long ball accuracy over a sustained period. Alisson is recognized throughout the world as good on the ball, so why isn’t Mendy?

The second question is “is Mendy error-prone?” Or, a better question may be “should Mendy be dropped after his error against Leeds United?” A lot of the dispute is not about whether Mendy is Chelsea’s clear No. 1 choice, which he is. It’s about giving players playing time on merit, and some believe Mendy not deserving of his spot any more because of “frequent errors.”

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Mendy made that ridiculous attempted dribble that led to Leeds United going 1-0 up in the game at Elland Road. Chelsea fans were—of course—frustrated, as it was a completely needless goal to concede. Some went further to vent and talk about how Mendy “has been making these errors” for a while. Some even went to the extent of calling him a liability on the ball.

If we ignore the fact that Mendy is objectively one of the best goalkeepers in world football, we have also shown that he’s one of the best goalkeepers in the PL in terms of distribution. Mendy is not more guilty of errors on the ball that some of his revered counterparts. Mendy made four errors leading to shots/goals. Errors leading to shots/goals for goalkeepers either come from a misplaced short-to-medium range passes that directly leads to a shot or goal, a failed dribble by a goalkeeper that results in a shot or goal or a scoffed save.

In the first instance, it’s important to note that if the team wins the ball back after a misplaced pass by the goalkeeper and they lose it again and it results in a short/goal, it doesn’t count as an error leading to shot/goal for the goalkeeper. Compared to Mendy’s four errors leading to shot/goal, Alisson made one such error and Ederson made zero errors. Therefore, Mendy’s critics are right in this regard, he’s made too many mistakes.

It’s outrageous how error-prone he is … but wait: how far back do you want to go?

In the 2020/21 season when Mendy arrived, he made three such errors, Ederson made four and Alisson made seven. Yes, seven. Thus, why did Liverpool or Manchester City fans not call for the error-prone first choice goalkeepers to be dropped? Because they didn’t have a £72m goalkeeper sitting between the sticks who was brought in on the premise that he was good on the ball.

What Manchester City gets with Ederson in goal is so much different. His performances definitely outweigh the occasional error leading to a shot or goal he might make. In terms of errors leading to goals, Mendy has made two errors leading to goal since he arrived, Alisson has made four and Ederson has made zero. This is also considering that Alisson and Ederson have centerbacks in the front of them that keepers absolute confidence to play out from the back.

Alisson is by far one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League and he has been for a while now. That, the availability of options and the fact that he’s well respected in the broader football community means he has never come under any scrutiny in terms of goalkeeping errors. This is not a call for everyone to dub Alisson a liability on the ball because it would clearly be absurd. As absurd as it is claiming that Mendy is a liability in possession.

For those who think Chelsea has other options in goal, I suggest taking a look back. The Blues played the Carabao Cup final in February 2022, and while they still had several cup games and a cup final after that Carabao Cup final, Arrizabalaga never made an appearance for Chelsea again. This indicates that Tuchel has lost trust in Arrizabalaga and he is tired of pretending.

“But Kepa was good when he was called upon last season under Tuchel.” Yes, for the four league games he played, he was very good. However, that trust in Arrizabalaga vanished after the cup final. That said, it’s also as important to point out that Mendy is better than Arrizabalaga in goalkeeping and distribution. Furthermore, while Arrizabalaga did not make an error leading to goal last season, he made three such errors in the 2020/21 season, in just seven games.

In conclusion, in the bid to criticize players, fans need to be careful of revisionism and overreactions. The calls made in the wake of Mendy’s error against Leeds were an outrageous overreaction, as his counterparts also made errors and availability bias doesn’t make their fans call for them to be dropped. It’s no dispute Mendy is Chelsea’s best goalkeeper in every department. Therefore, he remains in goal, and yes, there’ll be the occasional error here and there.