Poor Robert Sanchez. He had only just put his head above the parapet this week and claimed he was in the “best form of his career”… and we could all predict what would come next.
The Spanish goalkeeper made a crazy dash off his line to try to claim a loose ball, but ended up looking foolish as Georginio Rutter was able to just head it into the net which Sanchez had just vacated.
That mistake seemed to spook him – as we saw last season, he often follows one error with another – and his play on the ball was horrendous after that. The start of the second half brought no relief, and he started that period with two sloppy efforts that had Enzo Maresca screaming at him.
Sanchez did make some good saves later in the game, but the damage was done, the downward confidence spiral had begun. Maresca will surely be thinking more than ever about summer signing Filip Jorgensen and his potential to one day be the first team option.
Enzo Maresca was furious in technical area after Robert Sanchez's second error of the game led to yet another Brighton goal. Filip Jorgensen will get chance to impress in Conference League vs Gent this Thursday…
— Kieran Gill (@kierangill_DM) September 28, 2024
Difficult circumstances for keeper to earn his place
Jorgensen hasn’t looked all that impressive in his games either, so it’s not like it will be easy for him to force his way into a team which is doing well and winning, even if that’s despite Sanchez rather than because of him at times.
Jorgensen’s other problem is that the games he gets – in the domestic cups and in the Conference League – are generally against teams which sit deep and barely test him, so it’s very difficult to impress defensively. He will get plenty of the ball though, and can try to show the calm and assurance that Sanchez lacked today.
We still don’t think it’s happening anytime soon, but the dossier of Sanchez flaws only grows larger.
His mistakes today were obvious and horrendous, but even before that the data showed that he’s a below average keeper. A lot of people conflated two clean sheets with some transformation that plainly hadn’t happened. And it’s not like continuing to play him is going change anything. All it will do is continue to cost us in bad goals conceded and stoppable shots allowed in.