Former Chelsea manager Graham Potter insists Blues star Robert Sanchez is “world class” despite the goalkeeper receiving criticism this season.
Sanchez has been Enzo Maresca’s “No. 1 goalkeeper” despite the West London side spending £20.7m on Philip
Jorgensen in the summer transfer window. Former Chelsea star and football pundit John Obi Mikel warned
last week that Sanchez could hinder his former club’s Premier League success.
But Potter sees things very differently, hailing his ex-player after making a number of key saves in Sunday’s 1-1
draw with Nottingham Forest. “His best performances are world class,” Potter told the BBC. “He’s got the strength, the
size, the agility and the speed. He makes targets look really, really small.”
‘He plucks things out of the air just effortlessly. So that doesn’t surprise me. He’s still a young goalkeeper so he still
has to work to be as consistent as he has been, but his qualities are world class.
“I think you have to simplify things sometimes with him. I think the structure that Enzo put in place will also be useful for him.
But he has a wide range of passes, he can go far and he can threaten the last line of the goalkeeper. It’s a real advantage
because as soon as you can do that, it changes the opponent’s defensive structure, because now they think, this
guy is going to go to clear the back line. “He has all the ingredients to be an absolute top-class goalkeeper.”
Meanwhile, manager Obi Mikel said after Chelsea’s 4-2 win over Brighton on September 28, “(Sanchez) had a
nightmare in the first half. The first two goals were his fault, so that’s a problem for me.”
Of course, he played very well in the previous two games, but if you want to be a title-winning team, you need a
goalkeeper of the highest quality. “Don’t make yourself, we don’t have it. We don’t respect Robert Sanchez. He’s a great
goalkeeper, but we need an excellent goalkeeper to compete. »»
Obi Michel continued: “If he wants to be a major goalkeeper, he must start these performances.
We know he’s not very good with his feet, that’s not a problem but we need a goalkeeper that’s assured in the goal, can
make saves but I watched the game [against Brighton] and he was at fault for both goals.’
Sanchez got himself in a little bit of a pickle with his feet,’ former City goalkeeper Joe Hart said. ‘I think he got a
little bit lost in the goal. “It’s just a question of timing – I think he’ll feel he could have done better.”
Gary Neville, meanwhile, added: “I’m always afraid when a new player comes in – and
Jorgensen has come in – because the current player is probably looking over his shoulder a bit.
