Thomas Tuchel explains Kepa substitution for Chelsea against Villarreal
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel went on to explain why he brought on Kepa Arrizabalaga for the penalty shootout against Villarreal (h/t Daily Mail). The Spaniard was called into action right at the close of play during extra time, with both sides heading for a shootout.
Kepa would vindicate his manager’s trust with his heroics in the shootout. He became the star man for Chelsea after saving two of the seven spot-kicks from Aissa Mandi and Raul Albiol to hand Chelsea a 6-5 win, confirming their status as UEFA Super Cup winners.
It was a hard-fought match for Chelsea as Villarreal gave quite the competition for the entirety of 120 minutes. Hakim Ziyech’s early goal would give Chelsea the lead, but Gerard Moreno would equalise matters close to the game’s latter stages. Both sides got very close to sealing the deal on occasions but it ultimately went to penalties.
Tuchel explained why Kepa was sent on
Villarreal were in familiar territory after they had won a shoot-out against Manchester United in the Europa League final. However, Thomas Tuchel pulled a wildcard out of the bench and sent on Kepa in place of Edouard Mendy. Post the game, Tuchel went on to explain his decision.
“This was not spontaneous. We talked about it with the goalkeepers before my first cup game against Barnsley. We had some statistics that we prepared and they showed that Willy Caballero is the best in penalty defending and they analysed like a thousand penalties from Willy. Second best was Kepa and third best was Edou. The analysis and goalkeepers coaches introduced me to the data, we spoke to all three goalkeepers very open and told them this can happen in knockout games.
“If we have a change left that we take this change not for personal reasons but to help the team, to improve the chances as we have this proof off statistic.
Tuchel also singled out Mendy for him to accept the change.
“It’s fantastic Edou accepts it. He puts his ego to one side when we take this decision and he is aware why we do this, this is the key. He knows it’s not a sudden idea of the manager. There is proof that Kepa is better in this discipline and these guys are team players. I’m happy for Kepa and Edou to have a goalkeeper like this who is not too proud to step out of the field and happy to take this for the team.’
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The substitution sparked memories of 2019’s Carabao Cup final when Kepa refused to come off despite Maurizio Sarri wanting to bring on Caballero. Nonetheless, there was no problem this time around as Kepa went on to play a crucial part in the shootout, saving the decisive 7th penalty.