Chelsea
goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga gets a "rough ride" and can do nothing about
his world-record £71m fee, according to his former team-mate Rob Green.
Kepa has conceded 19 goals from outside the box in the Premier League since
his debut in August 2018 - more than any other player.
Chelsea are reportedly close to agreeing a deal to sign goalkeeper Edouard
Mendy from French club Rennes, but Green backed him to fight back after the
most recent wave of criticism - starting against Liverpool on Sunday, live
on Sky Sports.
Green told The Football Show: "I believe in Kepa's ability. I believe he has
what it takes to be a top-class goalkeeper. He's a brilliant guy and both
emotionally and mentally he had to settle in to playing in England on his
own at a young age.
"It's a big ask and there are periods as a goalkeeper when you spend a lot
of the time on your own. As a young man, he spends a lot of his time in
London on his own and away from his family. So when things get tough, it
will eat away at him.
"Last season, we saw Frank Lampard pull him out of the team at times and
then brought him back. He had a man-of-the-match performance against
Manchester United in the FA Cup and that's what he can do as he did in his
first season at times for Chelsea.
"You hope he can get back to that level but as it was such a high price tag
they paid, he's always going to get criticism but that wasn't his fault."
Lampard maintained that he is "very happy" with Kepa, while Gary Neville
criticised his performance and said Chelsea will not win a league title with
the Spaniard following the 3-1 win at Brighton.
Leandro Trossard's 54th-minute equaliser from outside the area wriggled
under the outstretched hands of Kepa, once again raising questions over
whether he should remain as Chelsea's No 1.
But Green analysed the goal on Sky Sports and believes Kepa will have
attracted plenty of sympathy from fellow goalkeepers given the trajectory of
Trossard's shot.
"He's been getting a rough ride of late and he's an easy target at the
moment," Green continued. "It was a shot from distance, a strike from 24
yards. People have said he had a clear sight of the ball but there's five
players standing potentially in his line of vision.
"He's seen the shot through bodies, and a strike from distance that goes
through a number of bodies are always difficult because it brings up a
number of scenarios in your mind and can play with the clarity in your mind.
"When you look at the height of the ball as it goes past Kurt Zouma around
12 yards out, you have to commit to a dive at some point. Kepa is on the
move and he's committing to a dive. You can see because of the trajectory of
the ball he's committed to going up and then has to adjust to dive down,
which as a goalkeeper is nigh on impossible because your body is going in
one direction.
"The ball then drops to land on the floor around two or three yards out and
it's dipped a foot in the 10 yards or so since it flew past Zouma. It made
it a really difficult scenario for Kepa because if the ball just travels
left or right, you can move your hands up and down, you can move across.
"He actually gets across to the ball, but it goes underneath him. It's not a
lateral movement that does him, but a vertical one. I think he got a lot of
unfair criticism for it. He'll be disappointed not to save it but the shot
even tricked the cameraman because he's not expecting as great a dip on the
ball, either.
"As a goalkeeper, others will have watched it and felt for Kepa as you can't
really adjust to a dipping shot. It's in the lap of the Gods if you can keep
it out. You can try to throw an arm down, like he did, but it's the width of
a hand, it's two inches. That's the difference between making the save and
not."
Lessons from Alisson
Kepa's opposite number on Sunday will be Liverpool's Alisson, who won the
golden glove with 16 clean sheets in the Premier League last season.
Green believes Alisson benefits from a settled defence in front of him but
says Kepa must aspire to bring the same level of calmness to Chelsea's
defence as the Brazilian does for Liverpool.
"Jurgen Klopp has found a back four that works, found a consistency within
them and with Alisson, it took a while to find that back four but also for
them to establish which 'keeper they wanted. They had other 'keepers that
didn't work out, then they found Alisson and what a revelation he's been,"
said Green.
"For Kepa last season it was a tough ride because he's had changes of
formation, changes of personnel in front of him and not built up that
relationship with some younger, less-established centre-halves than, say,
Virgil van Dijk.
"Alisson brings that calming presence, he's fantastic at that. At this
moment in time, the relationship between the centre-halves and Kepa at
Chelsea isn't there. That's something at Chelsea that's the target they're
looking for, that relationship, that consistency and that understanding."
Green rates Alisson as the best goalkeeper in the Premier League and says
his combination of shot-stopping and distribution put him top of the pile.
"You're looking for a modern-day goalkeeper to not only make shot-stopping
saves, game-changing saves but you're looking for that distribution, you're
looking for that ability to turn defence into attack in a blink of an eye
and also to create and retain possession at times. He can do both," said
Green.
"As a presence and a calming influence in the Liverpool defence, he's not
too flamboyant. This Liverpool team look at him and know they can rely on
him and as a goalkeeper that is priceless."
Neville: No top goalkeeper, no league
title
After Kepa Arrizabalaga conceded another long-range goal against Brighton,
Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher agree that Chelsea need a new goalkeeper if
they have any hope of winning the title soon.
Sky Sports' Gary Neville on Monday Night Football:
"I don't think he is [happy with Kepa]. I wouldn't be, but, yet I know full
well, having been in a coaching position, been in a changing room, you have
to back your goalkeeper. You must back your players, you have to support
them publicly but privately that goal, it's a really poor goal to give away.
"He conceded so many goals from outside the box last season, he's conceded
another one tonight and it will cost you. If you don't have a top
goalkeeper, you won't win that league.
"At this moment in time he makes far too many mistakes. He lets too many
goals into the back of his net that should be saved. Nineteen goals conceded
from outside the box - that is a sorry story for a £70m goalkeeper.
"A few years ago, I used to be quite critical of Loris Karius and Simon
Mignolet. 50 goals a season, but as soon as Alisson came everything became
normal. It was the same at Manchester United in my time when we had that
period between Peter Schmeichel and Edwin van der Sar. As soon as Van der
Sar came, it became normal.
"You will not win a league with a goalkeeper who is letting goals in from
outside his box, doesn't dominate his area and concedes goals from
set-pieces. It isn't going to happen.
"It's a stark warning. Frank Lampard knows this. He's played in
championship-winning teams, he knows what he needs to do, he doesn't like
the goalkeeper, he wants him out and he's going to bring a new one in
because he knows Frank Lampard will be sacked as a manager if he doesn't win
the league in the next two or three years.
"He's spent £200m so he's got to do it. Pep did it, Jurgen Klopp did it and
Sir Alex Ferguson did it.
"Every manager of any salt will be harsh. He's got to be ruthless and do it
for himself because that £70m, he wants to look after the club's money, he
wants to try and get it back, but unfortunately, it's gone."
Analysis: 'Chelsea need an Ederson or
Alisson-level goalkeeper'
Sky Sports' Jamie Carragher on Monday Night Football:
"Edouard Mendy has certainly got better numbers than Kepa. Unfortunately for
Kepa, some of his numbers are the worst in the league.
"Whoever you bring in, it looks like it's going to be better. It's just
whether you are talking about Ederson or Alisson level, and that's the level
you need.
"Teams who win leagues, there is always a position the next summer, even
when you've won the league, that you think you can improve. I can't ever
remember a team, going back to the mid-80s, who won the league with an
average goalkeeper.
"I go back to Neville Southall, David Seaman at Arsenal, Peter Schmeichel
coming in the early 90s and Petr Cech. That Chelsea side had a lot of money
spent on it but when Jose Mourinho came in, Cech came in and they just won
leagues.
"It was the same with Liverpool and Manchester City. It will never change.
"If they bring Mendy in, is he at the level of the goalkeepers we are
talking about? It's not just about being better than Kepa, that's not
enough. It's got to be at the level of Ederson and Alisson, that's where
Chelsea are."
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