The Nigerian, who won 10 trophies during his time at Stamford Bridge, expressed major concerns about…Continue Reading
goalkeeper Robert Sanchez after the Spaniard made two mistakes in Chelsea’s 4-2 win over Brighton last weekend.
Despite Chelsea securing their third consecutive league victory with the result, questions were raised about Sanchez’s performance.
The Spanish goalkeeper was at fault for both of Brighton’s goals, failing to collect a high ball that led to Georginio Rutter’s header and then misplacing a pass that allowed Carlos Baleba to score Brighton’s second goal.
Although Sanchez’s errors were overshadowed by Cole Palmer’s impressive four-goal performance, Obi Mikel, who has won the Premier League twice with Chelsea, believes Sanchez could be a weak link that coach Enzo Maresca cannot afford if the team hopes to compete for the title this season.
‘He had a nightmare in the first half, he was at fault for the first two goals so for me, that’s a concern but apart from that we are looking very, very strong,’ he said, speaking on The Obi One Podcast.
‘Of course, the two games before that he performed very, very well but you want to be a title-winning team, you need a top, top goalkeeper.
‘Let’s not kid ourselves, we don’t have that. No disrespect to Robert Sanchez, he’s a fantastic goalkeeper but we need a top, top goalkeeper to compete.
Obi Mikel added: ‘If he wants to become a top goalkeeper, he needs to start putting in those performances.
‘We know he’s not very good with his feet, that’s not a problem but we need a goalkeeper that’s assured in the goal, can make saves but I watched the game on Saturday and he was at fault for both goals.’
Filip Jorgensen, who was brought in during the summer, will have an opportunity to stake his claim as Chelsea’s first-choice goalkeeper in Thursday’s Conference League match against Gent.
Despite this, manager Enzo Maresca has publicly backed current number one, Robert Sanchez, acknowledging that his possession-based approach may lead to some early challenges.
‘Filip has to do well because we need him doing well, not because he has to put pressure on Robert,’ the Italian said at a press conference on Wednesday.
‘I said after the game, usually we like to see the end part of the thing and that was a Robert mistake but the mistake started with Malo [Gusto] because we conceded a chance and then we conceded a goal.
‘It is not Robert’s or Malo’s problem. We will make some mistakes. I don’t think Filip needs to put pressure on Robert. We need him to play a good game because the team needs that.’
