Thomas Tuchel has made an honest admission regarding his Chelsea goalkeepers with Edouard Mendy’s poor form and revealed the reason why Kepa Arrizabalaga did not leave in the summer transfer window.
Mendy has begun the season in uninspiring form, making several uncharacteristical errors in the opening games of the season.
The most notable came against Leeds United, with the goalkeeper gifting Brendan Aaronson an opener in a 3-0 loss.
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This was added to late on against West Ham, where Mendy palmed the ball out to Maxwel Cornet, who converted.
However, luckily for Mendy, Jarrod Bowen was penalised for a foul on the goalkeeper in controversial circumstances as Chelsea won.
Parts of the Chelsea fan base have since taken to social media to petition for a recall to the first team for Kepa, who has impressed as a back-up under Tuchel.
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The goalkeeper won the UEFA Super Cup last season with a fine performance from the bench and also looked good en-route to Chelsea lifting the Club World Cup.
Tuchel has now commented on the likelihood of Kepa being recalled, stating that he has full trust in the Spaniard but reiterated his support for Mendy as his number one.
Speaking to the press, as quoted by football.london, Tuchel said: "First, we deal with the players and then we tell you how we dealt with it.
"It's like I say, a very sensitive position in football in general. And not everything is about pure quality and decision making, it's also about the feel, that you feel the confidence.”
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The German continued to discuss Mendy’s poor form in particular, believing that things aren’t going right for the shot-stopper.
"Sometimes it's also having luck as well,” Tuchel continued.
“Somebody sent me an interesting quote about Napoleon, who asked his generals that they should not only have the best quality but also that they are lucky generals.
“This is also what you need from leaders and goalkeepers, and that they have a kind of momentum in which if they make a little mistake it's not punished.
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"He at the moment gets punished a lot for not a lot that he does wrong. But there are no doubts in my mind, the situation is calm, we have two fantastic goalkeepers, two fantastic guys. We are aware of it that he is in that kind of situation but first, we deal inside."
The German concluded by discussing the likelihood of Kepa being recalled, proceeding to reveal why the Spaniard remained at Chelsea despite summer interest.
He finalised: "He checked his options (in the summer) which we were aware of.
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"They were not satisfying for him or for us, so he stayed. I am very happy about that. I was always very clear with him that I wanted him to stay.
“And from my point of view, he's absolutely ready to play. It's on us if we give him the chance or not but he's 100% ready given how he behaves and how trains."
Topics: Chelsea, Thomas Tuchel, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Edouard Mendy, Football
Nick Emms