“Kepa is not so good at putting all the eggs in the basket”

The final of the Carabao Cup came to the end after 90 minutes and the two parts of extra time. A sensational match that the 0-0 did not do justice. With the lottery of penalties just around the corner, Thomas Tuchel made a decision: take Mendy out and put Kepa in. The Spaniard had the opportunity to vindicate himself in a final, after being left out of another, the Club World Cup, a few dates ago. But the line between heroes and villains in football is very thin and on this occasion, the German coach’s bet came out cross.

Tuchel justified himself after the crash and assumed the ‘fault’: “We had already done it before with Kepa, he is slightly better at saving penalties and that’s why I made the decision. It is not usual for all 11 players to have to shoot, he did it too quickly. Sometimes, these things turn against you, but they are done when they have to be done”. And it is that, neither Kelleher nor Kepa saved any shot. On the other hand, in the goalkeeper’s turn, the Liverpool player showed why he was a striker until age 14. While the Spaniard launched his into the clouds, giving out the trophy to reds.

Redknapp, on the charge

Subsequent criticism was not long in coming. Not against Kepa anymore, although indirectly, but against Tuchel. Jamie Redknappa former Tottenham player and now an analyst, used the microphones of Sky Sports to sentence the decision: “It is a case in which you are too smart for your own good. Tuchel decided to take him out for penalties, because he thinks he is better at stopping them. I think it complicates it too much. Mendy is a bigger goalkeeper. How can you say you wouldn’t win with Mendy in goal? I think it doesn’t make sense And it’s proven nonsense again, tonight.”

“He wasn’t even close to saving a penalty, not even close. We all agree that anyone can miss a penalty, but this just doesn’t make sense to me. It is not good enough to put all the eggs in the basket. I hope this buries the idea of ​​putting in goalkeepers only for penalty shootouts. Mendy is one of the best goalkeepers in the world and instead you put in Kepa. Ridiculous“, he added before finishing off his speech with one last dart. “I didn’t like his behavior when the penalties were going to be taken, and then he takes one of the worst penalties you’ll ever see. I don’t understand why he would do that“, he finished.