“You must give him time” – Under-fire Chelsea starter backed to reach level of previous world class players | OneFootball

No matter how well things are going at a club, there’s always a scapegoat.

Someone has to be bottom of the league, someone has to be linked with moves away, and someone has to be blamed for dropped points.

So even though things are going great at Chelsea, there’s one person taking flak. The public have settled on Robert Sanchez as their sacrificial lamb, and every week he’s the subject of debate from fans and pundits.

One person who is backing him despite the criticism is former Blue Gus Poyet. In quotes picked up by ChelseaNews.com, Poyet gave the stopper backing which we’ve previously only seen from Enzo Maresca and others actually at the club:

“Personally, I like Robert Sanchez. With goalkeepers, it all depends on what you are looking for. Petr Cech and Thibaut Courtois were brilliant shot-stoppers for Chelsea, but it is difficult to find goalkeepers of such a high level,” Poyet mused.

“When you’ve had the best goalkeeper in the world the ones that come next are never going to be on the same level, but you must give him time.”

Robert Sanchez misses a high ball. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

Poyet backs struggling stopper after impressive Villa performance

“I never watch Chelsea and get the feeling that he is a problem. I like to define goalkeepers by the moments when they save the team, rather than cost the team. Against Aston Villa he made a great save at 1-0 and Chelsea went on to win the game, that’s what you need from your goalkeeper. When things are going as well as they are right now at Chelsea people want to find a problem, they want to find what is missing.”

He’s certainly right that the Villa game was one of Sanchez’s more impressive. But if we want to win the top prizes, we still maintain we’ll have to upgrade.