Chelsea must bench Robert Sanchez after atrocious display v Man City | OneFootball

Chelsea fell to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Manchester City after a deflating performance against the Premier League Champions.

The Blues received a gift for the first goal and should have capitalised on other opportunities to double their lead (a theme of the season).

However, Chelsea allowed City back into the game before half-time as Josko Gvardiol scored the equaliser. Marc Cucurella and Robert Sanchez bungled what should have been an easy ball to deal with, allowing the Croatian to score.

A distraught Chelsea side tried to hang on for dear life, but it was not to be, thanks to another mistake by Sanchez.

Sanchez’s mistakes have been another recurring theme of the season for the west Londoners. The former Brighton & Hove Albion goalkeeper has made five errors leading to goals in the Premier League – no one has made more.

Since last season, he has made 12 mistakes that led to goals – no one has made more.

The Spaniard only needed to stay in his goal and allow his defence to hold off Erling Haaland, but he stormed out of his line headlessly and allowed the Norwegian striker to chip him easily.

Interestingly, the five errors that led to goals do not account for his atrocious kicking, appalling concentration, and propensity to make the backline nervous with his antics.

In the first half, City allowed him to kick the ball, and after some nice switches to Cucurella, Sanchez started throwing them away, recording 53.8% pass accuracy while losing possession 19 times.

His poor performance received negative reviews, with Express giving him a 2/10 rating. They said, “Khusanov was on for the pantomime villain role but Chelsea’s stopper had other ideas. He didn’t improve from spilling an early Gundogan effort, taking a mindless decision to race off his line and Haaland punished him. Maresca’s faith in him looks misguided at best and stubborn at worst.”

Chelsea cannot afford to keep letting Sanchez cost them points. Manager Enzo Maresca defended his mistakes over the week, but the Italian was clutching at straws. He needs to make the right call and drop the keeper, possibly till next summer, when he can be sold.

Former boss Mauricio Pochettino did the same, and Maresca needs to put his foot down. It does not bode well when a player is subpar and keeps getting in the starting XI.

Filip Jorgensen might not be the most convincing, but he needs his shot to prove his mettle and usurp the calamitous figure currently between the Chelsea sticks.

Chelsea’s sporting directors and goalkeeping coach, Ben Roberts, must hold their heads in shame for failing to solve this problem.

Chelsea have not had a worthy number one since Thibaut Courtois despite shelling over £1.5 billion. The decision-makers at the club need to face the music for such poor squad planning. Watch them spend £60 million to sign Alejandro Garnacho