Chelsea news as Enzo Maresca has the same goalkeeping issue that three other managers suffered from after Filip Jorgensen howler
Just three weeks after asserting Filip Jorgensen as his new No.1 goalkeeper, Enzo Maresca refused to confirm that he would start Tuesday's match against Southampton. Chelsea's search for solidity and quality in the position goes on.
It has been over three years now since Edouard Mendy was the undoubted first choice and he is the last man to achieve such a status for more than one season. Mendy arrived late in the summer of 2020 and usurped Kepa Arrizabalaga immediately.
Just over 12 months later and he was in the top three UEFA goalkeepers of the year and played a significant part in Chelsea's Champions League victory. He only conceded one goal in the knockout stages of the competition and was the foundation for an elite defensive unit.
Ever since then there has been fluctuation and uncertainty. Chelsea have never replaced Mendy and due to his 18 month peak, they haven't had someone more reliable since Thibaut Courtois. Kepa, hanging around, replaced Mendy under Graham Potter following injury and a poor run of form which started in early 2022 but was unsurprisingly no long-term answer and lost his own place when Mauricio Pochettino arrived.
Chelsea signed Robert Sanchez from Brighton and then Djordje Petrovic to support him in 2023. They were the first £40million in a total outlay of over £78million that has been committed to finding a world-class shot-stopper.
Jorgensen is the latest but the club have faith in teenage giant Mike Penders. He is slowly increasing his senior portfolio at Genk - albeit he missed Sunday's match with Gent having picked up a red card the week earlier.
Penders will need a Courtois-style of progression and patience during his formative years to become an option, though, and is still surely at least three years away from any sort of consideration. Given the fortune Maresca has had in the position, it is no surprise that his performances are already being tracked by supporters desperate for something better.
Sanchez, in particular, has become deeply unpopular. Owing partially to his lack of top-level experience - Sanchez is an EFL graduate who has a track record of notable and embarrassing blunders - and also to the affiliation with Brighton, where he was signed from, Sanchez is out of supporters at Stamford Bridge.
He is still well-regarded by those at Chelsea, including Ben Roberts, head of global goalkeeping. He arrived with Potter and is one of three senior figures in the recruitment department to make the 60-mile move from the Amex Stadium to Stamford Bridge under Clearlake Capital-Todd Boehly's ownership.
Sanchez has lost his place to two separate other goalkeepers at Chelsea under two different managers, though. First it was Petrovic who kept him out between December 2023 and May 2024 before Jorgensen took over the gloves following defeat at Manchester City last month.
Maresca, favouring a ball-playing goalkeeper, did not look at Petrovic and he was instead loaned out to RC Strasbourg. Chelsea were willing to sell him after just one year but could not find any suitors willing to pay their demanded price.
Petrovic is now operating in a possession-heavy team under Liam Rosenior, who BlueCo appointed due to his tactical preferences and style of play. It is ironic that Petrovic is succeeding in this scenario given Chelsea's plight and reasons for trying to move on from him.
His problems at Chelsea were still evident. Petrovic struggled towards the end of his debut campaign in England, making several mistakes with his hands rather than feet, which raised concerns. The Serbian was also less willing to play short under pressure than Sanchez.
The latter was culpable for gifting away chances and goals himself - something which has continued on into this season. Petrovic, however, has shown signs of seriously improving.
Whereas his post-shot xG (expected goals) was -6.70 last season - meaning he allowed nearly seven more past him than would have been expected - it has been among the best in Ligue 1 this term. Only three other 'keepers have bettered his +6.10 post-shot xG, which suggests he has stopped six more than metrics predict based on the efforts faced.
Alongside this, Petrovic is also completing a higher percentage of his long kicks as well, indicating that his passing is improving too. He is making more defensive actions outside of his area than last year, playing further forward by three metres on average too.
By all accounts, Petrovic is on course to have the best season of his senior career. He is more involved in build-up under Rosenior than he was at Chelsea and has become a fan-favourite in France. There may well be questions over his suitability at Chelsea but given the two who have been hand-picked to go ahead of him, there is more than a strong argument to say he is the top-performing goalkeeper owned by the club.
Jorgensen letting Marco Asensio's late volley under his body against Aston Villa is the latest in a long line of goalkeeping mistakes by Chelsea's 'keepers. Unfortunately for the 22-year-old, who had been solid enough prior to the goal, the error lost Chelsea a point they had probably deserved.
In the big moments there is still an underlying inconsistency in Chelsea's goal no matter who is present. Sanchez's save figures are middling, with a post-shot xG of +0.70, but he has made the most mistakes leading to goals in the division. He made two catastrophic faults within three weeks against Wolves and Manchester City to finally see faith run out and Jorgensen get the nod.
Maresca has tried to claim that Sanchez is better with his feet but decision-making worries and an overall lack of trust from his teammates make matters increasingly shaky. Jorgensen is still early on in his Premier League career but is not performing much more than average in any sense.
For what will be the third summer in a row, Chelsea need to address the problem area and cannot fall back on Penders as a reasonable plan. Until then, Maresca essentially has to plan for mistakes in all phases of the game from his goalkeepers and that is now way to work efficiently.
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