Robert Sanchez is public enemy number one for Chelsea fans right now, and it’s not getting any easier.
The first significant chance of today’s game against Tottenham came from a Sanchez mistake, when he put Benoit Badiashile under pressure with a bad pass.
There were more ricks to come – including two terrible goal kicks direct to Spurs players in our own half.
It’s not just the occasional bad kick or dodgy touch that’s the problem. It’s the way that those mistakes spread fear through a young team. It’s like the reverse of having John Terry marshalling your back line. You’ve got the opposition fans getting excited every time your goalkeeper touches the ball, panic spreading through your own side.
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Cole Palmer after scoring a screamer against Aston Villa. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
Robert Sanchez celebrates Bournemouth penalty save.
Gus Poyet on the touchline.
Robert Sanchez misses a high ball. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
Robert Sanchez misses a high ball. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
Pressure build on Maresca after another Sanchez stinker
Maresca has backed Sanchez time and time again, as you’d expect. When he makes a mistake, he blames himself as the manager for asking a lot of his stopper.
The manager’s defiance of the criticism reached a new zenith in midweek when he said his team for today was “Robert Sanchez plus ten”.
Maresca won’t have his mind changed by a few mistakes today, but eventually the weight of pressure on him to make a change from these accumulated errors is surely going to be too much to handle.
The problem is that Filip Jorgensen, his most likely replacement, hasn’t really shown himself to be a clear upgrade yet. He hasn’t made as many mistakes, but that’s in part because he’s just not had as many chances to make them. His games in the Conference League are generally a cake walk, and we still have no idea how he’d perform if thrown into a hectic game like the one at White Hart Lane today.