Interviews

Sanchez: I was close to my very best against Chelsea

Goalkeeper pulled off some incredible saves on Saturday.

By Bruce Talbot • 01 November 2022

By James Boardman
Rob Sanchez pulled off a number of saves against the Blues.

Rob Sanchez was happy to ‘affect the game’ against Chelsea and help Roberto De Zerbi claim his first three points as head coach.

There were several contenders for the man of the match award after Saturday’s 4-1 win at the Amex, but Albion’s Spanish stopper had a strong claim thanks to some great saves at crucial times.

As reported in the Albion Analytics piece on the win, Sofascore’s algorithm rated Rob as the best player on the day. His seven saves and four crosses stopped were both individual season's bests and he only managed more saves once last season (8 vs Manchester City).

“I think it was a really important win for us, to give confidence to the players and the manager after five games when I think we have been a bit unlucky,” said Sanchez. “For him personally it is a 100% relief. We wanted to give him his first three points so we’re happy to do that because he knows how quickly we had adapted to the way we want to play.

“Sometimes you can affect the game, other times less so and sometimes not at all. Saturday was one of those days when I was really busy and I thought I did my best in most of my actions.”

As well as getting used to De Zerbi’s methods, Sanchez has been working with a new goalkeeping coach Ricard Segarra, who has been brought in by the Italian.

02:21

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PL Highlights: Albion 4 Chelsea 1

“With Ricard and [assistant goalkeeping coach] Jack Stern we have a good goalkeeping department. We have tried to keep things simple, working hard, watching the games back and doing everything we can to be ready for the games,” added Sanchez.

“Saturday has given us a lot of confidence. We will train well this week and try and get another win [against Wolves] on Saturday.”