Rob Green spoke to the Athletic about Robert Sanchez’s recent form at Chelsea, and as you’d expect, the former Blues keeper was none too positive. He’s been in the stadium recently, and has felt all the same fearful vibes from the crowd like we have.
As we all know, those nervous energies quickly turn to negative ones, and Green claims to have sensed those too:
“I have sensed there is a problem myself. I was at Chelsea v Brighton (when they won 4-2) and the tension in the crowd was palpable. There was an intake of breath from over 30,000 people whenever the ball was around him,” the former Norwich stopped explained.
Green had his fair share of stick from fans over the years, and claimed to know how Sanchez can turn things around – but that won’t be easy given how Enzo Maresca likes his last man to play:
“To change that, you must first have an arrogance beyond whoever is there in the stadium and a belief that you are the best person for the job. How I would deal with something like this when I was playing was focusing on the basics. [When] you get enough of those things right for three to four games, it starts to die down. People become more relaxed,” Green continued.
“The way that Chelsea play, especially against teams who use the high press, means Sanchez has to make the key pass to break through the line. So rather than hitting it long, he is trying to find attackers and so on. That is fraught with danger. Even if you are the best at it, it is always going to be a risk.”
There have been risks – and errors too.
Crowd will have to put up with Sanchez for now
Sanchez may be under pressure, but there’s nothing that can be done about it now. Our other options aren’t at the club, and Filip Jorgensen doesn’t seem to have the upside toe make the switch worthwhile.
As nervy as the crowd are, the best thing they can do to actually help the team is get behind him. They can signal their displeasure all they want, Sanchez has been backed by the manager and the sporting directors, and even if they want to shift him they aren’t doing it until the summer.
This Is What I Am Talking About When Jones Curtis What Changing The Direction Of The Ball He Should Have Used His Left Hand To Protect It and Look At Where His FaceIs