Spanish journalist Alvaro de Grado is not always on the Chelsea beat, but his take on Robert Sanchez’s situation sums it up very neatly.
The goalkeeper cost his team once again today when he got an early red card for bringing down Man U striker Bryan Mbeumo.
There’s really no defending him in this case. He was dropped in it by bad defending, but make it 100 times worse.
Spanish journalist on Sanchez failures
“I have the impression that Sanchez’s spectacular performance in the Club World Cup final bought him some extra time that Chelsea weren’t going to give him, but they’ve ended up giving it to him. Chelsea still have a serious problem in goal despite so many signings: Robert Sánchez raises a lot of doubts, and mistakes like the one today are the kind that prove costly.”
We tend to agree, but there’s more to it than that. It wasn’t just good showings at the Club World Cup, but also his improvements towards the end of last season, and the regular spectacular saves we see, as in midweek against Bayern. But those things should not be enough to keep a mistake prone player take up the gloves.
Egos getting in the way of wins when it comes to Sanchez
It also feels like there’s also ego coming into this. The people who bought him are determined for him to succeed so they can be proven right.
Everyone from the outside – fans, pundits, supporters of Chelsea and of other teams, people observing from other countries, all think he’s not up to it .The only people who do are the one who made the decision to sign him.
Can that really be a coincidence? The name Mike Maignan looms large over this discussion after his summer links.
