I also think that he has recently been more indecisive when coming for crosses as well.

I’ve noticed that he thinks about coming for crosses, changes his mind and then is caught out in no mans land.

If he isn’t good with his feet, indecisive on crosses that only leaves shot stopping and I’m not so sure he’s better than Kepa at that.

Really needs to be dropped IMO, the same way any other player in another position would be left out if they was struggling.

Edited August 21, 20223 yr by 2211

30 minutes ago, Mod said:

Kepa used to before Mendy arrived but would be interested in seeing those good ol’ stats in the limited time he covered him from the last year.

Even the free kick today, Mendy was way off his line. I think we should at least look how Kepa is nowadays, cause it’s been far too long to even judge him now.

If Mendy needs a break, now is definitely the time to do it!

I agree Kepa has been a good deputy and did play well when Mendy was away at the AFCON

Needs to learn and be confident with his feet as kicking it long isn’t coming back in to plan any time soon. 
Has to be quicker with his decision making. We don’t have a target up front so his out ball is Ruben at the moment a lofted ball out wide. 
If it does out you’re not conceding from a throw 40-50 yds from goal.

14 minutes ago, 2211 said:

I also think that he has recently been more indecisive when coming for crosses as well.

I’ve noticed that he thinks about coming for crosses, changes his mind and then is caught out in no mans land.

If he isn’t good with his feet, indecisive on crosses that only leaves shot stopping and I’m not sure he’s better than Kepa at that.

Really needs to be dropped IMO, the same way any other player in another position would be left out if they was struggling.

Havertz hasn't been dropped, nor mount.

25 minutes ago, RMH said:

I know that he lost the ball trying to dribble over the line, but seconds before Silva and Reece had been arguing strongly and that back pass to him was a reflection of them losing focus over it. Yes, Mendy needs to be dropped, I’ve been arguing for it since last season, but I don’t think todays first goal was totally on him. And, unfortunately, that mistake was what set Leeds off to press and fight every single ball.

Aww. C‘mon, are you serious? He has all the time in the world, the whole pitch in front of him and can plain hoof it as far as possible if he thinks his two companions at the back are distracted. In fact, that‘s what a good goalie would have done and not trying to play tikitaka (with himself) while his CBs aren‘t finished discussing.

Which brings me to another hot take though: Reece James isn‘t as good a RCB as he is supposed to. Too cocky and way up the pitch hence his bad positioning at times. If we recall Rüdiger losing a ball up front he‘d go full sprint back til he got it again - don‘t reslly see that with James. Although he obviously is not one of our problems.

Edited August 21, 20223 yr by weetee

5 hours ago, Nibs said:

Clearly the weakest keeper in the "top 6". On current form you couldn't see him getting into many PL sides. Time to be dropped.

Completely agree about Mendy's weakness on the ball; we should see whether Man Utd will swap De Gea for him

In all honesty- City‘s new keeper Ortega from what, second German division, would have been a better fit.

Edited August 21, 20223 yr by weetee

Most keepers have one of those brainstorm occasions every season, at least he's had his early in the season, i don't think we'll see him trying to doing any fancy footwork for a while, it's embarrassing him more than us.

20 minutes ago, coco said:

Most keepers have one of those brainstorm occasions every season, at least he's had his early in the season, i don't think we'll see him trying to doing any fancy footwork for a while, it's embarrassing him more than us.

He did it almost every game once he‘s back from AFCON though. No excuses from my part anymore. That s*** had to stop a long time ago. 

1 hour ago, KonaKai Blue said:

Havertz hasn't been dropped, nor mount.

Watch the supposed second goal by spurs , as Mendy takes two hesitant steps towards the cross, stops , and has a nice view, along with Reese and Koulibaly, of Kane’s header goal.  No excuse for that !

17 minutes ago, Phillip said:

Watch the supposed second goal by spurs , as Mendy takes two hesitant steps towards the cross, stops , and has a nice view, along with Reese and Koulibaly, of Kane’s header goal.  No excuse for that !

Well if our blunt attack could kill games off and score the chances they are meant to, these mistakes from mendy are not as costly. Teams always know they have a chance against us from min 1 to 90 as they are always in the game.

Get Kepa in the team, sick of Mendy being a constant liability. 

11 minutes ago, timetowaste said:

Get Kepa in the team, sick of Mendy being a constant liability. 

I've wondered why he hasn't.

Time after time he costs us either goals, chances or possession when he tries to play with his feet.

Mendy clearly isnt good/confident with the ball at his feet - so why the fudge does Tuchel keep allowing him to try to play sweeper keeper? I can accept that we all cant be Fabregas witht he ball, but if a player has deficiencies in one area, then you play to their strengths and hide the weaknesses. So why does TT not stop Mendy trying to be a sweeper?

If Tuchel has zero intent on allowing a keeper to clear the lines and insists on him playing out, then who is to blame? The player who isnt good enough or the manager who insists on playing him, and playing to his weaknesses?

Its like having a false 9 who is 5'0 and keep trying to cross to him in the hope that he turns into Andy Carroll......oh wait....yeah, we have been guilty of that as well! utter madness!

Mendy is a steady, half decent keeper, but if we continue to ask him to play out, he will be a liability and continue to cost us.

 

Dropping Mendy is not the answer. People forget why Kepa is on the bench. If we solve our attack problems, there is no need to change keeper.

If the attack issues remain the same, the anguish will continue. Kepa doesn't keep clean sheets. 

18 hours ago, HazardousChoice said:

Nowhere near good enough.  Never had been.

He benefited from the Sarri effect Kepa benefited from where a goal keeper with a lot of clean sheets got praised because of the defence in front of him but statistically he wasn't performing well.

He's not a good shot stopper, has one of the lowest save percentages in the league and is the worst player in premier league history with the ball at his feet.  The only thing he's ever done well is claim crosses which obviously got him a lot of praise after Kepa but now he's not as confident coming out as he was when we signed him.

Never going to challenge for the title with Mendy in goal he's a million miles away from the top keepers.

Thought that was Pulisic?

Kepa did a decent enough job whilst Mendy was at AFCON, and has been a decent keeper since Tuchel took over. I honestly would give him a run at the moment and see how he does. 

What Mendy did was horrendous yesterday, but it is easily avoided. If he hasn't got a pass on, put it out for a throw in 50-60 yards up the pitch and let us get set defensively. Alternatively, if we insist on going backwards then the keeper should have a minimum of 3 options that come short to collect a pass, based on yesterday it should have been James, Silva and Cucurella so that Mendy had a pass on in every direction. That didn't happen so just get rid of the ball and re-set. Playing out from the back is such an important aspect of teams wanting to control possession, but you need to know when to just get rid rather than taking your time on the ball.

I would wager that Mendy will cost us another 2-3 goals in similar fashion this season. 

14 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Thought that was Pulisic?

Nah - now that Timo‘s gone Mendy took  over.

Edited August 22, 20223 yr by weetee

Just caught up on the highlights of yesterday’s debacle. It appears we have a no 2 keeper masquerading as a number 1.  We have seen similar mistakes in Mendy many times previously, it was only a matter of time before he was punished. He simply is not good enough with the ball at his feet and has very questionable decision making. Trouble is opponents will also now be aware and an enterprising forward will chase a back pass down. Does his shot stopping give him a pass? When he first arrived I’d have erred on yes, recently though he hasn’t looked the keeper he was. Keepers tend to struggle to regain form once the confidence is broken and I foresee us entering the market again.

Wonder if Slonina will be ready to be chucked in the deep end next year?

Still think we should have made more effort to promote Marcin Bulka the year Courtois left instead of signing Kepa, he looked really good that pre-season.

4 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Still think we should have made more effort to promote Marcin Bulka the year Courtois left instead of signing Kepa, he looked really good that pre-season.

He did look good back then.

Really hasn't kicked on anywhere since, and the move to PSG looks to have ben a complete waste of time, but he has just joined Nice permanently so maybe he'll make more of an impression there ?

 

I'm really hoping Slonina is the real deal - I guess we'll find out soon enough.

Also possible that one of the loan army keepers might develop enough to make it as one of our three keepers. I wonder how the club view the hierarchy  ?

• Nathan Baxter (Hull City)
• Lucas Bergstrom (Peterborough)
• Jamie Cumming (MK Dons)

Also a couple of other keepers (Wady and Adegoke) on loan in non-league ... you can't say our recruiters aren't trying LOL

 

 

8 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

He did look good back then.

Really hasn't kicked on anywhere since, and the move to PSG looks to have ben a complete waste of time, but he has just joined Nice permanently so maybe he'll make more of an impression there ?

 

I'm really hoping Slonina is the real deal - I guess we'll find out soon enough.

Also possible that one of the loan army keepers might develop enough to make it as one of our three keepers. I wonder how the club view the hierarchy  ?

• Nathan Baxter (Hull City)
• Lucas Bergstrom (Peterborough)
• Jamie Cumming (MK Dons)

Also a couple of other keepers (Wady and Adegoke) on loan in non-league ... you can't say our recruiters aren't trying LOL

 

 

I have seen a fair bit of Slonina at Chicago Fire. While MLS is very different to Premier League, Slonina does look very impressive. US have produced some excellent keepers over the years and he looks very capable of making the step up. 

In the short term though (and certainly this season) we have to hope that Mendy can rediscover the form he was in a year or so ago. Kepa is better with the ball at his feet but has other limitations. There is also a good chance Kepa leaves this window, which would worryingly leave us with only Bettinelli as a replacement. 

6 minutes ago, forbzy said:

I have seen a fair bit of Slonina at Chicago Fire. While MLS is very different to Premier League, Slonina does look very impressive. US have produced some excellent keepers over the years and he looks very capable of making the step up. 

In the few clips I've seen, he seems like a good shot stopper, but also from a mentality perspective to get quite animated and fired up ... and we could certainly do with a bit of passion and aggression on the pitch !

- West Ham 

- United

- Brentford

- Real Madrid

- Leeds

 

These are top of my head individual mistakes by Mendy this year. He needs dropping.