Thibaut Courtois

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Brilliant save which for me makes him our MOTM which wasn't particularly hard to achieve today. That said, his kicking was particularly shit.

[MCM4PR3Z 411]

He needs to work at his footballing skills, but for a goalkeeper it is the part that is the least important. It is a hundred times worse if you are DDG and your footballing skills and reflexes are excellent, but you still need to work at all the other aspects of your game.

I do hope that he can train as a field player at least once a week from now on, it would be a shame if that never improved.

Truely extraordinary save again though that kept the clean sheet.

[El P. 1,354]

DDG was just lucky Matić went... well, Matić. Matić pulled 'a Matić', I guess.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

He needs to work at his footballing skills, but for a goalkeeper it is the part that is the least important. It is a hundred times worse if you are DDG and your footballing skills and reflexes are excellent, but you still need to work at all the other aspects of your game.

I do hope that he can train as a field player at least once a week from now on, it would be a shame if that never improved.

Truely extraordinary save again though that kept the clean sheet.

I fundamentally disagree. Putting my goalkeeper coaching hat on, I'll tell you footwork is the most important thing in a goalkeeper's repertoire considering 85% of what a goalkeeper does is to distribute the ball.

Agreed about his save, though. You can't coach that. Totally instinctive.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

With that one save, compared to DDG's numerous, he showed why he's superior.

(I do rate DDG highly though!)

1. Neuer

2. Courtois

3. de Gea

4. Buffon

5. Cech

A clear top five. Several other outstanding good goalkeepers in Handanovic, Lloris, ter Stegen, Bravo, Navas, etc., but those five are world class.

[Blue Colored Sky 1,807]

How was Cudicini's kicking ?

As I think we tend to have players with absolutely shit distribution - Cech, Hilario, Turnbull, Begovic and Courtois are all worth each other.

[Rhino's Skin 972]

Thought their keeper was MotM and showed that he is in my opinion the best reactionary shot stopper there is.

Courtois commands his area better though and seems to have more time...must be down to placement and awareness so he doesn't have to make so many saves for the camera as DDG makes

[robsblubot 3,595]

let me put it this way: even if we remained playing like shit, we would still climb up the table just because of Courtois.

He seems to be back - what a performance against United!

[MCM4PR3Z 411]

Thought their keeper was MotM and showed that he is in my opinion the best reactionary shot stopper there is.

Courtois commands his area better though and seems to have more time...must be down to placement and awareness so he doesn't have to make so many saves for the camera as DDG makes

Agree for 200%, a lot of the saves DDG makes are never going to be chances with Courtois in the goal. He reads the game much better. But I understand that football is entertainment and that people tend to choose for showgoalkeepers like DDG. But I'm also a 100% sure that a team will have more points at the end of the season with Courtois as the goalkeeper than with DDG. Courtois is clearly a level above him.

Nice to see De Gea is back, had a few very bad games in a row recently. He also was phenomenal against us.

[The Skipper 20,593]

How was Cudicini's kicking ?

As I think we tend to have players with absolutely shit distribution - Cech, Hilario, Turnbull, Begovic and Courtois are all worth each other.

Cech's distribution is good tbh.

[OneMoSalah 8,817]

Cech's distribution is good tbh.

Was decent but just slow, times he seemed to take a day and an age to roll it out or even pass it.

[DH1988 1,332]

Reports that he wants to go to R Madrid in the summer, usual newspapers.

[manpe 10,861]

Reports that he wants to go to R Madrid in the summer, usual newspapers.

Why not? If Mourinho goes there the chances increase, they have unlimited money to tempt him. I don't know why any truly world class player would want to stay in Chelsea beyond the summer. Maybe Simeone could convince him to stay if he really wants to leave.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

How was Cudicini's kicking ?

As I think we tend to have players with absolutely shit distribution - Cech, Hilario, Turnbull, Begovic and Courtois are all worth each other.

Was decent but just slow, times he seemed to take a day and an age to roll it out or even pass it.

Cech's distribution is good tbh.

Cudicini was fantastic. Remember him being injured against Fener in the CL in 2008 so started taking goal kicks with his left foot and they were just as good. Unbelievable upper body strength as well, I've never seen someone bowl a ball as quickly as he used to.

And agreed, Cech was excellent. Some of his long throws were unreal - long, but flat, meaning they could be controlled well. The best example that springs to mind is against Burnley in 2010 when he threw a ball 50 yards to Joe Cole, who set up Anelka for the first goal in a 2-1 win. Fast forward to 2 mins, 2 secs.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xc209g_200910-pl23-burnley-1-2-chelsea_sport

You see him catch the ball and launch the perfect flat throw out to the winger. Textbook.

The reason he rarely distributed quickly is because we're Chelsea. Teams rarely are left exposed at the back against us: they remain compact. This was one of the few opportunities we had that season to play a counter straight from the goalkeeper. Another example is this, go to 4 mins, 5 secs:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcb0z2_wolverhampton-wanderers-v-chelsea_sport

But when you have a player like Drogba up top, a bad goal kick can become a good one. Now, the only "out ball" we have from one is Ivanovic.

[Fulham Broadway 17,005]

Still think Cech shaded it over him and getting rid to a rival was one of the most stupid things this club club ever did, and as such contributes to our current predicament.

Its happened and we move on. I find Courtois catching a bit suspect, and we definitely miss Big Petes shouty commanding of the area. That said DeGea took a while to reach top form at United so lets give him more time -meanwhile hang on to Begovich !

[CHOULO19 24,332]

To be fair, neither Tibo nor Cech nor even De Gea have been consistently excellent this season. I think Butland has probably been the standout keeper so far this season (though admittedly I don't watch him as frequently as the 3 I mentioned before). 

[MCM4PR3Z 411]

The goalkeeper is the last of our problems. Against Everton he made 2 class saves and the 3 goals were unstoppable. For me he was 8/10 that game. Begovic would have conceded 4 goals imo, so I think it's a stupid solution.

Cech isn't a better goalkeeper or a better coacher (in terms of ability, ofcourse he has more experience), but he knew the other players for over 10 years. Courtois is a new kid and has to let Terry do the defensive coaching. That's the only difference.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

7 hours ago, MCM4PR3Z said:

The goalkeeper is the last of our problems. Against Everton he made 2 class saves and the 3 goals were unstoppable. For me he was 8/10 that game. Begovic would have conceded 4 goals imo, so I think it's a stupid solution.

Cech isn't a better goalkeeper or a better coacher (in terms of ability, ofcourse he has more experience), but he knew the other players for over 10 years. Courtois is a new kid and has to let Terry do the defensive coaching. That's the only difference.

 

I disagree with that, but each to their own. His decision making is particularly poor at the moment. Versus Everton, the first and third were avoidable from a team perspective, and though Courtois wasn't directly at fault for the Funes Mori goal, I would say that's amongst a number of goals he's conceded that he should arguably be stopping. He is nowhere near his best at the minute but frankly he's getting no help from his defence whatsoever.