The only place to be

Mata has had a bad game - if you want to use the caveat that he's getting back to fitness then that's fine, but he's just not been good enough in the first half. Some players have had poor games and people have pointed that out. No need to get all dramatic about it is there?

Why start with this type of shit? Cech looked slow and apprehensive.

Good first half performance from him.

Oscar for Mata.

Luiz positioning for that goal was atrocious but it was Ramires giving it away mid-transition in midfield that fucked us. Mata has been awful. Eto'o looks 32 years old. Mikel has been rather good. We should be winning easily.

Why is that funny?

I think most people would settle for consistent, imposing performances. Don't buy into the scapegoat bullshit propagated by certain members.

Any truth to the rumours that clubs were put off bidding for Mikel because they thought Choulo might follow him?

He also had a good couple of seasons before that which saw him named to the PFA Team of the Season on a couple of occasions, so more than just a couple of good months. Just never established himself at United.

Yeah, giving us all this money and improving the product in so many ways over the last two decade.

Must've missed that. It's a shame because this is a fantastic community with a diverse range of views but Choulo seems to want to ruin it. It's why I've stopped logging on so much and won't donate a single penny more to the running of this site. Quite how he's still got a position of power around here when he started that thread about me (which he then had to close because it was such a embarrassment to this site) is beyond me. You don't get the same thing with other mods/admins.

I got a whole thread started about me because he got upset with something I said in a private conversation....implied I had a problem with international fans (despite me attending matches and drinking with fans from around the world for almost two decades) to garner sympathy for himself/start a bit of trouble. In his defence I think he has to make a certain number of posts per day and he's not too fussed about the content/quality.

And I stand by them. What's up Choulo? Short of your required post count for the day? Quality over quantity dear. Maybe take a few days off in a quiet room. I'm sure we'll cope.

I've questioned his commitment to the cause, much like I did after his comments before Rubin Kazan and his subsequent performance. Do you need that explaining to you again or are you capable of finding those comments and the explanations associated with them at the time?

Because we don't have any other possible scapegoats, like maybe a £50 million misfiring striker? Why start up with the scapegoat bullshit again? Trolling?

Not sure if this is a parody or not. Based on previous interactions with you, I sincerely doubt it. He has to work with these people day in and day out so of course he wants a good atmosphere. Seriously can't believe there are people paying much attention to this.

Good on him for answering a question honestly. I like footballers who are honest so I'm not sure why people want "political answers' to prevent their feelings from being hurt. Some people really need to worry about real problems.

Pretty much echoes my own points. Courtois is an elite-level keeper. He's a keeper with whom you can compete for titles both domestically and in Europe. The idea of rotating keepers is a silly one in my opinion because that role demands consistency - the defenders need to know instinctively what the guy behind him is going to do. You forgot the one or two CL games he'll get and there's always a chance of an injury to Cech.

And if Courtois is sold then the same applies, but lasts a decade longer. Anyway, I've said my piece. Nothing more to add and honestly wish I hadn't bothered logging on again.

Courtois is better. Talk to any Atletico fan. So when do we go with Courtois? Another season? Maybe another after that? At some point you've got to piss or get off the pot. If you're saying to me right now Courtois isn't good enough for a top European team to compete on all fronts, then I'll leave the discussion. Is that what you're saying?

So he gets a game against Swindon (or similar), a game or two after Christmas and maybe a cup run, and dead rubbers (games which don't count) in the CL to prove he's ready to play week-in and week-out? I don't believe even you believe that's true because you know a bit about how football works. Barca could spend £20 million+ on Courtois and then buy a second keeper to challenge him. I just think it's unlikely. Again, let's be realistic otherwise what's the point? I don't know that though. I'm fairly arrogant, but not to the extent that I'd say with any certainty what would've happened in the 2012 season. Personally though, I'd prefer to stick to talking about the future. It's unknowable as well, but in a far more exciting way. I'm sorry, but keepers don't win positions in training. Cech didn't - he got LUCKY because Cudicini got injured. You're asking Courtois to give up on CL football and glory to take a chance on Cech being injured or for Mourinho to be so impressed by his performance against Torquay United in a League Cup game that he decides to make him number one? If you were Courtois, Courtois's agent, his friend, his father or just someone who liked him would you advise him to do that?

But you just said for Courtois to get a chance Cech has to suffer an injury (like Cudicini did). How else does he win a spot? Seriously? Do they take it in turns? It's a faulty premise you've got there. No true again. He could go to a couple of top clubs and be number one immediately. Barca is a case in point as Valdes is out of contract and it would be unlikely for them to go after Reina too. He is an established national keeper. No, I don't know that and neither do you. It's an unknowable. Do you know the unknowable? Are you tapped into some kind of Schrodinger-esque alternate dimension? Cech is one of the best, but Courtois isn't far behind. I don't think we lose anything in terms of points or progression in cups by substituting Courtois for Cech, and certainly not as much as we'd lose by having two keepers for one spot or selling one of the brightest talents in European football. You made a fairly ridiculous point that didn't pertain to the modern era or the club game - don't cry about it when people challenge your points in a fair manner. Grow up.

40 games maybe, but it's the make-up of those games. Does Courtois get a Saturday game then it's all change for the Wednesday night game? Does he keep a clean-sheet in a fantastic performance and then get dropped for the next game because it's Cech's turn? Or does he just get the small games where he doesn't have to do anything and we never see just what he can do? Maybe we just toss a coin an hour before each game - I'm not kidding. It makes about as much sense as any other selection method. Cech obviously gets heads.

International football in the 70s and 80s isn't comparable to the discussion at hand.

Again, Courtois is better than De Gea. He's more mature and more fundamentally sound. Even if you want to talk about the tough period he had, they now have an established number one. Short-term pain for long-term gain is anathema to modern supporters, although I don't expect us to suffer that. So Courtois should mortgage a career playing in the Champions League and winning trophies on the off-chance that Cech suffers an injury that affords him a chance? I'm not forgetting anything about training. I'm being realistic. The season we finished 6th in the league and were lucky to win a shootout when we were clearly the inferior team? If you say to me right now that Courtois isn't good enough for a team with aspirations to win domestic and European titles then I will walk away from this site right now and defer to your superior knowledge. If however you aren't building your arguments on that premise then you really have to ask yourself why we wouldn't go with Courtois now. Maybe we should just sell him to Barca and watch them struggle with him as their number one.