Leicester City beat Chelsea in the FA Cup final 1-0 thanks to a quite sensational hit from Youri Tielemans.
The Belgian found plenty of space on the edge of the box, with Jorginho nowhere to be seen, and he hit a crisp strike past Thiago Silva, who turned his body away.
It wasn’t just those two who got some blame though. The strike looked unsaveable at first, but there is a sense that Edu Mendy, with his extra height, would have got a hand to it.
And a quick glance on Twitter shows there are plenty of fans who felt the same way:
A lot of tweets seen/received on this:
Does Mendy save the Tielemans shot?
Just asking the question. It seems Kepa doesn’t quite make those “top corner” saves, height an issue? Let us know!
— Chelsea-News (@ChelseaNewsCo_) May 15, 2021
https://twitter.com/CFCMethod/status/1393625670870200323
Apparently Mendy isnt saving this btw.
Its not even scapegoating at this point. Kepa has been good this season but why do you drop your best GK in a cup final!!! pic.twitter.com/N00zuD2PMF
— CarefreeLewisG🇪🇹📸 (@CarefreeLewisG) May 15, 2021
Mendy saves that with his height only before you now go on about his ability. The presence of Kepa in goal alone gives players confidence to take a pop at goal from any where. Mendy hardly receives long shots and hardly concedes them. His big presence alone discourages players https://t.co/SW4ptTVZiC
— Seun🇳🇬 (@SeunMobolaji) May 15, 2021
I don't see it as an indictment of Kepa's ability, but if Mendy was playing he saves that shot simply due to his size.
— Jai McIntosh (@Jai_Mcintosh) May 15, 2021
I backed Kepa to start, hold my hand up but Mendy saves that because of his size & reach
— MadMontana (@MadMontana) May 15, 2021
Leicester’s no. 1 GK made a massive save when it mattered most.
Mendy didn’t get that chance…
— Alex Goldberg (@AlexGoldberg_) May 15, 2021
Bigger reach and better footwork. Mendy has saved several exactly like that this season. Kepa jumped as the shot was struck.
— Grant de Smidt (@grantdesmidt) May 15, 2021
In the end there’s no point worrying too much about hypotheticals. But it’s another small black mark against Thomas Tuchel, who made a few selection errors today and paid the price in the end.
Win on Tuesday and everything is ok again. But lose and there will be serious concerns.
Kepa has never saved that kinda shot in his Chelsea carrier ….let’s go back and play most of the goals they scored Kepa last season they’re all these
I cannot believe what I read. That was a “worldie” and simply because you freeze it or show it in slow motion people think it should have been saved. To say that because he is not 6 foot 6 ins that there is a greater chance of not getting to it is also nonsense. That was unsaveable. He always gets the blame whatever and usually it is totally unjustified. Leave off him and get to the root cause of allowing Tielemans too much space.
Kepa’s presence on the pitch brings lot of bad luck and fear. Had it been edu mendy . He would have saved that shot. It’s just a similar one he saved in the ucl vs real madrid