Robert Sanchez was a liability we all saw coming, so why didn't Chelsea?

This is not a hindsight take

Life gets in the way. We have work, school, mortgages or having to recycle. It is easy for all of that to make you forget that Robert Sanchez is actually Chelsea’s first-choice goalkeeper. And instantly asking HOW?

Passing the ball directly to a Brighton player inside his own box, rushing out of his goal in the same game which led to Brighton’s opener. Some equally concerning moments away at Anfield that could have led to worse, and most recently, rushing out and tripping over Rasmus Højlund to gift Manchester United a penalty.

Quickly following events at Old Trafford, the briefings were back (oh how I’ve missed them). This time talking up Robert Sanchez as someone the club have full faith in, with Matt Law reporting that “The feeling within the club is that Sánchez has all the ingredients to be one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League and that his decision-making will eventually catch up with his talent.”

This cry for patience would land more convincingly if Sanchez’s career had demonstrated a keeper with competent decision making with some raw potential that just needed ironing out. Of course, people have memories, they not only know how poor Sanchez was for Chelsea last season but also the negative reviews of his time on the south coast with Brighton.

Last season was more than enough to disqualify him from being a serious canditate to resolve Chelsea’s now long-standing problem in the goalkeeping position.

It spoke volumes about his unconvincing start to life at Stamford Bridge that within months of joining, Djordje Petrovic would usurp him at first choice and never reclaim the position under Mauricio Pochettino, despite having zero prior Premier League minutes compared to Sanchez’s years with Brighton.

This all with the context of Petrovic not being an outstanding keeper but certainly competent enough to retain faith, and actual confidence he could, with time, get better.

Sanchez however became the de facto preferred choice following Enzo Maresca’s appointment in June. The justification coming from a strength or comfort with the ball. A prerequisite to playing in Maresca’s possession heavy system.

However, fans had already analysed Sanchez’s “comfort” on the ball the previous season and witnessed him make a series of poor choices, the most notable against Arsenal, allowing Declan Rice to bring a struggling Gunners back from 2-0 down with Chelsea seemingly cruising towards a big home win.

The numbers however did not concretely show how liable the Spaniard was in this aspect, given some of his blunders would not be punished or salvaged by peers. But the risk was there and over a season they appeared to become more pronounced not lessened.

A major irony of discourse around Sanchez and Petrovic was that the only keeper that ever appeared vulnerable with the ball at his feet was Sanchez, despite Petrovic not being deemed someone moulded as a ball-playing keeper. A similar contrast between perception and reality persisted with Edouard Mendy and Kepa Arrizabalaga, with the latter consistently touted as someone proficient in that aspect.

During pre-season Petrovic became one of a few strong performers from last season who were suddenly ostracised, eventually finding a temporary home at Strasbourg for the season on loan. This while Sanchez made some costly errors and was at the heart of a defence which conceded a number of goals during a concerning pre-season.

Whilst cries for a top keeper were heard from fans, the addition of Filip Jorgensen from Villarreal did more to raise eyebrows, cementing that Sanchez would be entrusted as the senior pick for Maresca.

Up until mid-September, Maresca and others could argue the decision was paying off. His contributions against Bournemouth were commendable, he had orchestrated a brilliant pass at Wolves which led to a sublime Cole Palmer finish and his stops in a frantic draw with Nottingham Forest prevented a late defeat.

Though Sanchez still remains a figure miles away from gaining resounding trust, just listen to the reaction whenever he has the ball at the Bridge. Most expected him to eventually revert to previous flaws given this is not a player who had just broken into senior football. Even if the reference of his age is not completely farcical given goalkeeper’s longevity is different to that of most outfield players, it is undercut by a negative track record of costly errors.

Maresca has on several occasions come out to defend Sanchez after high-profile errors, choosing to cite how he takes responsibility for them due to his approach.

"He also did so many good things. At the end, it's football. I ask him to do that. The moment he stops doing that, he is not going to play. It's not his mistake, it's my mistake. Playing from the back."

Also saying after the 4-2 win over Brighton in September:

"The second one is not about trying to play from behind. For me, it's more about reading the moment. We were 1-0 down and then 3-1 up, in that moment we don't need to take any risks. It's more for them to take risks, not us. I said to Robert [Sanchez] and the players, 'from now on, we are going to concede 10 more goals like the way we conceded the second goal'. It's the way we want to play.

"We already scored goals with Robert involved in the build-up but it is important after the mistake, the team continue in the same way. It means they enjoy, they like and they see also that we win games."

It is probably easy for Maresca to shrug off an error following a victory that buoyed Stamford Bridge. But it is flat out inconceivable to buy that if Sanchez passed the ball 10 more times to an opponent inside his own box that led to a goal conceded, he would stick with Sanchez.

Maresca has gained respect from supporters so far this season for appearing honest with his public communication. Backing that up with some striking personnel calls, or switches in approach from his predecessors to struggling players.

On Sanchez that streak has gone missing. Though this may be due to the reality he already is widely doubted by supporters and/or he does not have a great alternative to replace him with.

It is hard to gauge how much of Sanchez’s inclusion is the fault of Maresca vs. the club not addressing a vital position after multiple transfer windows. The club and Maresca both had Petrovic there as an option to use should they wish.

Having a liability in your goal is not something you can tolerate for long if you want to do anything. The historic examples of both Liverpool and Manchester City are valuable given they initially suffered when trusting error-prone keepers.

Claudio Bravo comically fumbling high crosses as his passing were heralded as his most important attribute. Pep Guardiola witnessed his poor positioning or shot stopping becoming one of the clear failures in an underwhelming first year. City then bought Ederson and the rest is history.

At Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp went through Simon Mignolet and Loris Karius before finally getting one of the world’s best in Allison Becker.

Eventually, there comes a harsh truth ; unless you uncover the best, you have to pay big to buy them.

Chelsea thought they had the former with the signing of Edouard Mendy in 2021 from Rennes. Sadly in retrospect it appears more a golden streak of top form than a long-term replacement for Thibaut Courtois who departed in 2018.

The bizarre quirk of current Chelsea is that they have quickly assembled a LOT of goalkeepers. A majority of which are punts on future potential scattered on loan across Europe, a £17m deal for Mike Flanders from Genk in August adds to Petrovic and Gabriel Slonina who could all prove bigger gets in years to come.

However, that is banking on their development happening rapidly and sacrificing the present for some theoretical future. It also creates a pretty stupid justification for accepting fundamentally flawed players in vital areas when you did not need to.

Just because you have young keepers, does not mean you give up on recruiting seriously. Chelsea need to qualify for the UEFA Champions League for this season to be deemed a success. The race for a seat at Europe’s top table is far more stressful than it used to be.

Albeit a better than anticipated start under Maresca in the Premier League, the race could come down to razor thin margins in the spring of 2025. Those fine margins could be undermined by having a flawed keeper. If that proves to be a downfall for Maresca, very little sympathy should be handed out to Chelsea’s decision makers, they confidently decided to walk into this important campaign with Sanchez.

Currently the issue for Maresca is that even in private if he has deep concerns, his understudy Jorgensen has done little to show great signs of being significantly better. This is not an issue you can hope will go away, it will remain a barrier to progress.

But….we all saw this coming. How could they not?

Subscribe to YouTube channel SonOfChelsea and you can listen to the show on your favourite Podcast provider