Edited January 17, 20233 yr by yaz

There is no much thing to say about Kepa. He has played quite well in general, much better than Mendy who had a nightmare season. 

But Kepa is just not a good gk. It is much easier to hide an average outfield player but it is difficult to hide average gk. 

 

Doing a fantastic job this year. Some of the saves hes pulling off are top notch, especially the one yesterday against Pereira

We have a lot of criticism on here, probably a good 40% from me alone, so is nice to be able to say great job to Kepa. 

He has had the odd wobble but in general I think he has been excellent and may well mean we don't need to look for a number 1 next season. Big upside from him is he has grown in to a leader, least I see him doing his best to lead, something I have not seen from Mendy.

8 hours ago, Oli said:

Doing a fantastic job this year. Some of the saves hes pulling off are top notch, especially the one yesterday against Pereira

Hes shown great resilience and testicular fortitude to fight back from being a figure of fun to be a nailed on first choice and a player we now can rely on. Great to see.

Without him we lose yesterday simple,Potter is lucky he’s here or we would be below 10th

also as mentioned he’s doing a fantastic job rising as a leader 

5 minutes ago, El regreso said:

Without him we lose yesterday simple,Potter is lucky he’s here or we would be below 10th

also as mentioned he’s doing a fantastic job rising as a leader 

If, buts and maybes work both ways.

Without Tim Ream we win.

Every decision Potter has made to replace a player has worked in our favor. 

2 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Every decision Potter has made to replace a player has worked in our favor. 

Hopefully next is replacing Havertz.

15 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Hopefully next is replacing Havertz.

And maybe himself.

Yep - nailed down number 1, and is far more convincing at the moment than mendy has been over the past 12 months. Hopefully getting some value back

Us football fans to tend to have short memories, it's not even been a month since he cost us two league games on the spin against Man City and Fulham. He still definitely needs replacing in the summer.

Kepa currently has the highest save % in the league this season with 83.3%.

42 minutes ago, Frankie8Lampard said:

Kepa currently has the highest save % in the league this season with 83.3%.

Never felt he was a bad goalie even when he was dropping clangers under Lamps & getting mocked. It was clear we weren’t well set up. We are presently joint 3rd for clean sheets in the PL which is crazy when you consider the argument for the last 2 seasons was we didn’t have the players, and a DM to play a back 4.

It is great to see him playing with confidence, and honestly something we should all continue to praise.  It is so rare at a club like Chelsea (the modern version) that any player recovers from such a slump.  Mendy's wobble and injuries really did open the door, and he took it.

Even before Kepa's wobble, my criticism was his weak wrists.  That save vs. Fulham was anything but - superb save.  He is good with his feet also - think we might be on to something here!

How many goals is this guy going to be responsible for? The attempt on the first goal was shocking.

17 minutes ago, I am a CPA said:

How many goals is this guy going to be responsible for? The attempt on the first goal was shocking.

I'm glad on a personal level he's restored some level of confidence after the 19/20 season but today, Fulham away and City at home, three times since the new year he's cost us.

Mendy with a recent portfolio like that would be getting slaughtered left, right and centre. Always bemuses me how the more expensive signings seem to get treated with kid gloves while the cheaper ones are getting held to the highest standards, was exactly the same with Torres compared to Eto'o/Ba/Sturridge aswell.

18 minutes ago, Argo said:

I'm glad on a personal level he's restored some level of confidence after the 19/20 season but today, Fulham away and City at home, three times since the new year he's cost us.

Mendy with a recent portfolio like that would be getting slaughtered left, right and centre. Always bemuses me how the more expensive signings seem to get treated with kid gloves while the cheaper ones are getting held to the highest standards, was exactly the same with Torres compared to Eto'o/Ba/Sturridge aswell.

If he wasn't so small he would have got a hand to Ward-Prowse's free kick as well.

People are blinded by a few decent reflex saves but what about everything else that constitutes an elite GK?

We need an elite GK in the summer, there's no way we win titles without one forget about it.

5 minutes ago, I am a CPA said:

We need an elite GK in the summer

Should have tried to get him as part of the Courtois deal but better late than never.

Edited February 27, 20233 yr by Argo

Disappointed that Kepa did not save the goal, however that goal was all Enzos making, very poor on his part. Looked like a panicked kid give up a goal to save a corner.

1 hour ago, axman2526 said:

Disappointed that Kepa did not save the goal, however that goal was all Enzos making, very poor on his part. Looked like a panicked kid give up a goal to save a corner.

And Felix who tried an impression of a tackle on Skipp but failed like a kid playing against grown man. It was a pathetic goal in concede all around, failed to win first header, nobody going for the knock down, first shot was parried away, panicked  clearance to nowhere, then..

Looking at those 2 goals we conceded, did we really improve defensively with all those defenders and MF we signed?

 

Edited February 27, 20233 yr by icecoolguy22

We need a truly reliable goalkeeper in the summer. Kepa is alright but not good enough to be a top 4 GK in the PL. He should have saved the 1-0. What did make the safe a bit harder than it looked was that he didn't see the ball until it passed Koulibaly's head. Still should have done better.

Mendy unfortunately is not the answer either. He is just not good enough with the ball. Also really bad at leaving the line. Something that Kepa is pretty good at. 

I have been very critical of Mendy - and stand by that criticism.

But only fair and balanced to also call out Kepa. With him, I don’t feel like it is a list of explicit errors (like we saw Mendy constantly giving the ball away for example) - but instead, a general lack of ability. 

He simply doesn’t garner confidence, is too small and his hands/wrists are weak.

Agree that Enzo and Felix all contributed to the first goal conceded yesterday - but the shot was right at Kepa, and despite errors of others, he should have saved it. Weak hands meant he didn’t. 
 

After going some way to repair his confidence and reputation, it does feel like it will start getting knocked back again. 

                Credit where it is due. He had a really good game against Dortmund last night.