Shaka Hislop criticised Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez for his distribution in last night’s win against Brighton.
The Blues recorded a 1-0 home victory against Brighton in the third round of the Carabao Cup, with Nicolas Jackson scoring the match-winning goal.
On top of ending the team’s goal drought, they also kept another clean sheet.
Robert Sanchez, 25, is under the spotlight this season after stepping into the role of the first-choice goalkeeper.
We’ve seen some encouraging performances so far from the £25million (Sky Sports) keeper, but he did receive a small amount of criticism for yesterday’s display against Brighton.
ESPN pundit Shaka Hislop did pinpoint Sanchez’s passing as a real weakness against Brighton, which nearly led to two goals for the visitors at Stamford Bridge. In particular, the Spanish shot-stopper was very fortunate not to be punished by Joao Pedro, who chipped the ball over the crossbar after collecting a pass straight from the Chelsea goalkeeper.
“I understand that this is what Chelsea want to do, build from the back and that’s why he was brought in…” Hislop told ESPN.
“I’m not sure what he’s aiming at in this first one [when he passed straight to Joao Pedro]. This second, at least he gets a blue shirt, it’s designed to be stolen.
“He’s a lucky boy that Brighton didn’t punish him for those mistakes because we could be having a very different conversation.”
We’re not convinced Sanchez is any better on the ball than predecessor Kepa Arrizabalaga.
The goalkeeper position has become increasingly more important over the past decade when it comes to playing out from the back, which is clearly something Chelsea are trying to do under Pochettino.
We’ll certainly be keeping a close eye on the Spanish keeper in the next few month to see how that part of his game fares.
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