Joe Cole has offered his thoughts on Edouard Mendy following his dismal performance against West Ham this weekend.
Edouard Mendy has become a subject of some harsh criticism following Chelsea’s unexpected 3-2 defeat to West Ham on Saturday. The reigning European champions were cruising at the top of the Premier League table, but the loss allowed Manchester City and Liverpool to overtake them at the top, causing quite a dissatisfaction among the supporters.
One of the prime targets for the critics was Mendy, who was directly culpable for conceding at least two of the three goals West Ham scored in the afternoon. It was a rare off day for the Senegalese international, who was controversially snubbed for the Yashin Trophee during Monday’s Ballon d’Or ceremony.
He started his afternoon with a failed clearance, gifting West Ham a penalty for the opener. It was followed by some poor positioning to defend Jarrod Bowen’s second before being caught completely off-guard by Arthur Masuaku’s surprising winner.
Mendy’s performances have led to some harsh criticism in the local media spheres. However, speaking to BT Sport after the game, as cited by Football.London, ex-Blues winger Joe Cole believes that the goalkeeper should not be targeted for the surprising defeat to West Ham.
Edouard Mendy had no chance stopping this deflected cross ?
(via @NBCSportsSoccer) pic.twitter.com/KCMenn43Wn
— B/R Football (@brfootball) December 4, 2021
“Mendy was at fault for the penalty. But the other was a freak of a goal. You can’t blame him, he’s been fantastic for such a long time. Goalkeepers are human beings not robots,” he told BT Sport.
“It took a little deflection – freak of a goal. It will take something like that to beat this Chelsea team. It will be a world-class goal or something out of the ordinary,” added the former Chelsea midfielder, whose comments arrived just after Thomas Tuchel delivered his post-match thoughts. The German notably suggested that Mendy was going through some personal issues and a rough patch, in general.
Nevertheless, the Senegalese international will be disappointed with his performance and will look to make amends in Chelsea’s next game against Zenit St. Petersburg in midweek. Overall, Mendy has had a solid season so far, with 11 clean sheets in 20 competitive appearances.
Unfortunately, he won’t be available for long, as the goalkeeper is expected to depart in January due to the upcoming AFCON, potentially leaving the responsibility on Kepa Arrizabalaga to keep the goal for Chelsea in the early parts of 2022.
