Chelsea had their new goalkeeper in goal today for his second start – and his first mistake. Jamie Carragher had his say.
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Chelsea lost to Arsenal today despite goal ahead, and a big problem was new goalkeeper Emi Martinez. He let in Kai Havertz’s shot at the near post for the equaliser, and speaking post game, pundit Jamie Carragher was clear in his thoughts:
“What you have to remember with Chelsea bringing this goalkeeper, I think [Martinez] saves that two or three years ago,” Carragher said, referring to Havertz’s opener on Sky Sports.
“He’s a good goalkeeper, but not a great one, so you go and get someone who has been a great one and some people think he still is. But they are not bringing the goalkeeper that won the World Cup four or five years ago.”
But the pundit wasn’t saying it was a downgrade, necessarily:
“[Signing Martinez] was not a mistake, they got him for £7.5m, it was a really good deal.”
Carragher right on Martinez after mistake
Carragher’s point is well taken, and he’s quite right. But he maybe misses something bigger about Sanchez and Martinez. A big part of the problem with the Spaniard wasn’t just when he made mistakes, it was how those mistakes affected his confidence, and how those effects then transmitted to the team.
Even if Martinez is no better and stopping shots and using the ball, if he can project confidence to his defenders that’s already an upgrade on his predecessor.
In other news…
Levi Colwill’s absence was a big blow today, but Xabi Alonso refused to blame it for his team’s issues in progressing the ball into midfield.
Moises Caicedo would have started this week had he not come on as a sub last week and made his mystery injury worse. Alonso admitted today that Chelsea might have rushed him back.
