Top performance during the 120 minutes. 

Terrible in the shoot out. 

No chance on the first goal.  Don’t like how far out he came on the second but still should have stopped it.  Decent distribution, and made the rest of the saves he should have.  With Rüdiger and Kante back in the fold to tighten up our own half, it will make Kepa stronger.

4 minutes ago, mwblue10 said:

No chance on the first goal.  Don’t like how far out he came on the second but still should have stopped it.  Decent distribution, and made the rest of the saves he should have.  With Rüdiger and Kante back in the fold to tighten up our own half, it will make Kepa stronger.

There was that cross shot which he pushed out into the middle of the box instead of the side, which could have cost us. 

 

48 minutes ago, Dixons said:

There was that cross shot which he pushed out into the middle of the box instead of the side, which could have cost us. 

 

He's no Cech or Courtois with his shot stopping but excellent with his feet and sweeping.

I know someone will come at me with the generic "but saving ability is the most important thing" maybe if he's playing for Palace however if/when Lampard's system comes to fruition he will have to control and pass under pressure about 10 times for every shot he has to face.

He should have saved the second. I'll be honest he's not my cup of tea at the moment. Doesn't come for crosses and has an odd habit of saving back into dangerous areas. Weak wrists too.

That said he is still young and has a good chance to improve particularly in his wrist strength.

He should have saved the second. I'll be honest he's not my cup of tea at the moment. Doesn't come for crosses and has an odd habit of saving back into dangerous areas. Weak wrists too.

That said he is still young and has a good chance to improve particularly in his wrist strength.

Wasn't this De Gea first couple of seasons at United or first 2.5 seasons at United ??

10 hours ago, Spiller86 said:

He should have saved the second. I'll be honest he's not my cup of tea at the moment. Doesn't come for crosses and has an odd habit of saving back into dangerous areas. Weak wrists too.

That said he is still young and has a good chance to improve particularly in his wrist strength.

I think you’re being slightly picky but I agree he can improve in certain areas.  The keeper position has changed greatly recently with the focus on sweeper keeping - Kepa is right up there with the best in that regard.  He takes more stick due to his price tag, but when account for his age and ability relative to Alisson’s age, ability, and price, I think we got the better deal.

3 hours ago, mwblue10 said:

I think you’re being slightly picky but I agree he can improve in certain areas.  The keeper position has changed greatly recently with the focus on sweeper keeping - Kepa is right up there with the best in that regard.  He takes more stick due to his price tag, but when account for his age and ability relative to Alisson’s age, ability, and price, I think we got the better deal.

I have to disagree with you there tbh, Alisson is up there with Ter Stegan as the most complete keeper in the world, he doesn't really have any real weakness to speak off.

Kepa defiently has the ability to grow and be up there with them but right now he's a level below.

Thought Kepa was poor against Norwich. 2nd goal he should have kept out, also palmed one right back into their attackers which could have been very costly.

42 minutes ago, Argo said:

I have to disagree with you there tbh, Alisson is up there with Ter Stegan as the most complete keeper in the world, he doesn't really have any real weakness to speak off.

Kepa defiently has the ability to grow and be up there with them but right now he's a level below.

Alisson is definitely a great keeper and ahead of Kepa, but the gap isn’t as big as some would have you believe, and the cost works against him.  Put Kepa in the Liverpool side and he’d be much higher rated.

6 hours ago, mwblue10 said:

I think you’re being slightly picky but I agree he can improve in certain areas.  The keeper position has changed greatly recently with the focus on sweeper keeping - Kepa is right up there with the best in that regard.  He takes more stick due to his price tag, but when account for his age and ability relative to Alisson’s age, ability, and price, I think we got the better deal.

His passing is solid from both feet, but let's not fall into the David Luiz trap and let nice passing paper over the cracks in what is his core job. 

He has areas to improve and we saw De Gea get better in the air for example, so it's possible. I wouldn't put him in the same bracket as Alisson or Ederson in the Premier League at the m moment though. 

45 minutes ago, Spiller86 said:

His passing is solid from both feet, but let's not fall into the David Luiz trap and let nice passing paper over the cracks in what is his core job. 

He has areas to improve and we saw De Gea get better in the air for example, so it's possible. I wouldn't put him in the same bracket as Alisson or Ederson in the Premier League at the m moment though. 

I would have him on par with Ederson tbh.

And re core job for top teams playing progressive football i would say passing is a keepers core job these days, i mean don't get me wrong they have to be competant shot stoppers but we see Kepa distrubuting under pressure a lot more than facing shots. Any modern coach would pick an excellent passer but good shot stopper over an amazing reflex stopper who treats the ball like a hot potato when at his feet. The game naturally evolving (for the better in my opinion), back in 2010 only Valdes had a pass % above average now almost every top keeper has a pass % above 75, last season only DDG was the exception.

I like him a lot, but saw some interesting analysis of his via twitter the other day. Not technical enough to know whether it matters, but worth talking about ...

https://twitter.com/smarterscout

The warning signs were already there last season for #Kepa Arrizabalaga . He's had mediocre shot-stopping in open play and on non-headers from dead balls, as well as, ahem, low-key defending. His ball retention is excellent, but he has to get the ball first!

 

 

His wrists seem a bit weak, he seems to always get a hand to the ball but it still goes in. 

For ffs give the guy time to he still young, some fans are so spoilt. De Gea was labled as rubbish weak shot stopping not strong enough imagine if United listen to the media and fans they would have sold one of the best keepers in the world....

Kepa has all the same attributes and even more to be better than De Gea.

Really like Kepa, he's young and potential is huge, so what if he doesn't perform perfect all the time, we have a very exciting young team that will make mistakes, I'm more concerned about passion and desire than winning or losing.

KTBFFH

I like Kepa, my only major criticism of him though is if we are going to insist on zonal marking then he needs to dominate the area between the goal line and the six yard box. Anything that comes in there should be his, whether that means catching or punching it. I think the goal that we conceded against Leicester could have been avoided if he was more dominant in those situations.

Like i said though, i do like him and i think he has the potential to develop into a world class keeper. 

I'll start off by saying i really like Kepa, when a team is trying to play football like Chelsea, you need a keeper thats very good with their feet, can pass first time and not be afraid to leave their line to sweep up, sure Kepa could be a more dominant in the 6 yard box but he doesnt have the height or strength for it, Chelsea, for about 15 years before Kepa, were blessed with 2 absolute monsters in that regard in Courtois and Cech who are both well above 6'4 , Courtois was one of the most dominate GKs i've seen in claiming high balls but Kepa doesnt have that in his locker, he must be giving up about 3 inches or so to those guys so dominating the area is something he wont do or will ever do, IMO.

He does however have fantastic reflexes and a great spring, a trade off for his size and physicality.

I think given the circumstances in losing Courtois, we couldnt have asked for a better GK to play the type of football that Sarri and Lamps want to play, the only other GKs you'd want to play that style and that are currently better than him are Ederson, Ter Stegen, Alisson and none of them were available at the time, Alisson was but Liverpool beat us to him and TBH, hes had more in play mistakes last year than Kepa last year.

Hes very similar to De gea, although his distribution is much better and if you compare both of their first seasons in PL football, Kepa has made the transition a lot more smoothly than De Gea did all those years ago and hes now Spains #1 GK, I think we'll be fine with Kepa long term as he adjusts to the PL even more.

18 minutes ago, Delnino said:

I'll start off by saying i really like Kepa, when a team is trying to play football like Chelsea, you need a keeper thats very good with their feet, can pass first time and not be afraid to leave their line to sweep up, sure Kepa could be a more dominant in the 6 yard box but he doesnt have the height or strength for it, Chelsea, for about 15 years before Kepa, were blessed with 2 absolute monsters in that regard in Courtois and Cech who are both well above 6'4 , Courtois was one of the most dominate GKs i've seen in claiming high balls but Kepa doesnt have that in his locker, he must be giving up about 3 inches or so to those guys so dominating the area is something he wont do or will ever do, IMO.

 

Totally get what you're saying here. What i was trying to say was that it should be a requirement if as a defensive unit we are going to operate zonally then he dominates at least the 6 yard box.

I used to play in goal and was always taught/ coached with crosses to get to the ball at the highest possible point. So, whilst Kepa may not be the tallest - if he is jumping with his arms stretched then he would be taller than most attackers around him.

If we want to operate with zonal marking, then he needs to dominate the 6 yard box. If he is not willing to do that, then one of the centre backs (ideally Rudi when fit) need to dominate that area.

3 hours ago, Delnino said:

I'll start off by saying i really like Kepa, when a team is trying to play football like Chelsea, you need a keeper thats very good with their feet, can pass first time and not be afraid to leave their line to sweep up, sure Kepa could be a more dominant in the 6 yard box but he doesnt have the height or strength for it, Chelsea, for about 15 years before Kepa, were blessed with 2 absolute monsters in that regard in Courtois and Cech who are both well above 6'4 , Courtois was one of the most dominate GKs i've seen in claiming high balls but Kepa doesnt have that in his locker, he must be giving up about 3 inches or so to those guys so dominating the area is something he wont do or will ever do, IMO.

He does however have fantastic reflexes and a great spring, a trade off for his size and physicality.

I think given the circumstances in losing Courtois, we couldnt have asked for a better GK to play the type of football that Sarri and Lamps want to play, the only other GKs you'd want to play that style and that are currently better than him are Ederson, Ter Stegen, Alisson and none of them were available at the time, Alisson was but Liverpool beat us to him and TBH, hes had more in play mistakes last year than Kepa last year.

Hes very similar to De gea, although his distribution is much better and if you compare both of their first seasons in PL football, Kepa has made the transition a lot more smoothly than De Gea did all those years ago and hes now Spains #1 GK, I think we'll be fine with Kepa long term as he adjusts to the PL even more.

Generally agree with what you have put here, except I think the comments about Kepa's quality on the ball is a bit overstated. I think he is comfortable passing the ball along his back line when the heat has been taken out of attacks,, but form what I have seen his completion rate for middle and long length passing or kicking out of his hands is pretty shoddy to be fair.

I don't know how to create online clips to illustrate this but throughout most games when he clips the ball to the midfield areas, he has rarely completed with our players and often the ball has been swept up by unopposed opposition players.

I would also disagree that his distribution is better than DDG, whose accuracy from the floor and out of his hands has been one of his strongest attributes.

That said I also agree that Kepa, in the right system and playing to his strengths can become a top keeper for us.

26 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

Generally agree with what you have put here, except I think the comments about Kepa's quality on the ball is a bit overstated. I think he is comfortable passing the ball along his back line when the heat has been taken out of attacks,, but form what I have seen his completion rate for middle and long length passing or kicking out of his hands is pretty shoddy to be fair.

I don't know how to create online clips to illustrate this but throughout most games when he clips the ball to the midfield areas, he has rarely completed with our players and often the ball has been swept up by unopposed opposition players.

I would also disagree that his distribution is better than DDG, whose accuracy from the floor and out of his hands has been one of his strongest attributes.

That said I also agree that Kepa, in the right system and playing to his strengths can become a top keeper for us.

Kepa's passing is unbelievable for a keeper - he's brilliant with the ball at his feet. He can spray passes accurately with both left and right foot, and Rob Green said that he was so good with his feet that he could easily play in midfield.

Here's a little clip of Kepa's passing ability. 

He's far and away superior than De Gea with his feet.

 

 

Once again picked ahead of De Gea for Spain. 

He's not had the strongest start to the season but clearly his stock has risen after his first year at Chelsea. 

55 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Once again picked ahead of De Gea for Spain. 

He's not had the strongest start to the season but clearly his stock has risen after his first year at Chelsea. 

Apparently it's been on the cards since before he came here. Spain fans have wanted it for quite some time and apparently Hierro came close to picking him for the RO16 world cup game vs Russia.

De Gea is maybe slightly better at reacting to shots but Kepa is miles ahead of distributing the ball. I don't wonder he has dropped De Gea. Both brilliant players.

On 28/08/2019 at 13:14, WhiteWall said:

Generally agree with what you have put here, except I think the comments about Kepa's quality on the ball is a bit overstated. I think he is comfortable passing the ball along his back line when the heat has been taken out of attacks,, but form what I have seen his completion rate for middle and long length passing or kicking out of his hands is pretty shoddy to be fair.

I don't know how to create online clips to illustrate this but throughout most games when he clips the ball to the midfield areas, he has rarely completed with our players and often the ball has been swept up by unopposed opposition players.

I would also disagree that his distribution is better than DDG, whose accuracy from the floor and out of his hands has been one of his strongest attributes.

That said I also agree that Kepa, in the right system and playing to his strengths can become a top keeper for us.

strongly disagree with this.

De Gea's distribution is very poor in comparison. Kepa can dink a ball out to anyone with either foot. It just so happens we're a team of dwarfs so usually lose the second ball.