Enzo Maresca has said Chelsea continue to “trust” error-prone goalkeeper Robert Sánchez but warned he wants to see a positive reaction from the 27-year-old after his latest mistake in Saturday’s 3-1 defeat to Manchester City.
Josko Gvardiol had cancelled out Noni Madueke’s third-minute opener before Sánchez gifted Erling Haaland a chance to put City in front on 68 minutes.
Sánchez raced off his line but was nowhere near meeting Haaland as he wrestled clear of Trevoh Chalobah, allowing City’s main goal threat the opportunity to lift a finish high into an unguarded net.
Phil Foden added a late third as City climbed above Chelsea into fourth place and Maresca was left to defend Sánchez, who he described before the game as “getting better, but still far, far, far from where I want him to be.”
Maresca said after Saturday’s game: “We trust Robert for sure but the first one that is completely aware he is making mistakes in this moment is Robert.
“For sure, we continue to trust Robert. We trust Robert but now we have one entire week [until the next game], we see the reaction and then we decide for the next game.”
Sánchez’s mistake was his second in a week after he failed to catch a cross against Wolves on Monday and allowed the Premier League strugglers to briefly draw level.
The Blues spent £20.7million ($25.7m) last July to sign Filip Jørgensen from Villarreal but he has made just two league appearances to date.
Maresca may feel the need to shake things up after a run of just one win from seven Premier League games but he insisted his team, now in sixth place, was still progressing.
“In my opinion we are better team than one month ago, two months ago,” he added. “These kind of games are for sure going to make us better because we need to live this experiences.”
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