Ian Wright has taken aim at Thomas Tuchel for replacing Edouard Mendy with Kepa in Chelsea’s Carabao Cup final defeat to Liverpool, saying the decision ‘cost’ the club the trophy.
Mendy produced a number of superb saves as last week’s Wembley showpiece went the distance, with neither team able to break the deadlock across 120 minutes of action.
But Kepa – who had started every previous round for Chelsea – was sent on in the dying moments of extra time in preparation for penalties given he had the superior penalty record heading into the shootout.
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However, Tuchel’s substitution backfired, though, as Kepa failed to deny any of Liverpool’s attempts from 12 yards before ballooning his effort over the crossbar to hand the Cup to the opposition.
The Chelsea manager took full responsibility and insisted he had no regrets about taking Mendy off, while the likes of Gary Neville and Redknapp were left baffled by the decision.
Legendary ex-Arsenal striker Wright – speaking on Ringer FC’s Wrighty’s House podcast – claimed that Tuchel had badly ‘slipped up’.
‘Coming off of AFCON, coming off the fact that he’s voted the best goalkeeper in the world. Tuchel… he slipped up there, man! F***!’ Wright said.
‘Sorry, I’m not taking him out there. Leave Mendy in the goal! ‘If I’m going to take a penalty against one of them two I’d want to take it against Kepa simply because I know that he’s a goalkeeper that I believe I can beat. Mendy would frighten me.’
According to Wright, Kepa should have denied Ibrahima Konate’s spotkick after going the right way and getting a hand on the ball.
‘The Konate penalty alongside Timo Werner’s were probably the worst two penalties,’ the former England forward added. ‘Konate’s penalty was absolutely perfect for a goalkeeper to save. It was at that nice height and it wasn’t anywhere near the side netting.
‘It was in the middle of the goal and he got a hand to it and he didn’t save it. That for me was like, “Oh my gosh, this isn’t going to work out!”
‘He should have saved that as that’s the reason he’s there. He’s got to seek out that penalty.
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‘The way [Konate] hit it… to the side of the goal and coming back towards the goalkeeper’s arm says to me that he’s just trying to take the best penalty that he can. He [Kepa] went the right way and still didn’t save it.
‘I think that decision cost Chelsea the game in respects of winning that game.’
