Thibaut Courtois

[Chelsea? 892]

Fair enough. everyone has the right to have an opinion.

lol, wasn't expecting a subtle responds. had my sword and shield out.

In all seriousness i don't really know much about GK's to know which player is better. I just want to see Courtois get the spot because I don't want to lose him. But letting Petr go would be the first of the old guard I'll be sad to see leaving. (maybe cole and essien too)

[manpe 10,861]

But letting Petr go would be the first of the old guard I'll be sad to see leaving.

Drogba? Lampard?

[burrogol 16]

Where in La Liga. Is that we play? How many times have we seen top players in other leagues come to the EPL and fail?

Sounds like Romelu upon Costa's arrival...

On topic: I think also in la liga they have pacey/physical situations tbh - especially for GKs-

Hasn't he shown last year he can deal with intense games vs. British opponents?

[CMS 382]

My god what a load of shite.

Jose isn't going to play Courtois simply because he has demanded he won't sit on a bench. He will play him if hes done enough in training to prove hes the better goalkeeper out of him and Petr. You said people are writing thinking they know what they are talking about even though what you said is pretty fucking stupid. Jose isn't going to make someone first choice because they demand it. Look at what happened with Lukaku. Idiot.

You are the idiot and the stupid one here. If you are not able to discuss intelligently then shut up. What's with the insults? I'm having a conversation with intelligent people who can also agree to disagree. Who let you sign on here anyways? No one invited you into it.

[CMS 382]

Sounds like Romelu upon Costa's arrival...

On topic: I think also in la liga they have pacey/physical situations tbh - especially for GKs-

Hasn't he shown last year he can deal with intense games vs. British opponents?

La liga does not have big tall extremely physical players like the EPl. He's not going to have a free roam in the box to pick up flighted balls like he did over there. We have huge players like Kompany, Lescott, Jones,Ager, Etc etc., who will challenge and block you from all that. Plus players like Kevin nolan, Lambert, etcc are very hard and taller than average Joes in Spain. So its not going to be that easy. He will be successful, but not what some are thinking like its going to be a cakewalk.

[CMS 382]

#sigh

I feel you. Most top goalies play till they are like 40 or 41. Van Der Sar at Man U played till 40+, Buffon is how old, etc. etc. GK position is not like a field player where you need fresh legs as in younger players. 32 is very young in GK age. Our own Schwarzer Nigel Martin, David Seaman kept till how old? Gordon Banks, Peter Schmeichel (sp) Scary guy.David James, Jan Tomaszeweski, Harald Schumacher, Angelo Peruzzi, Jose Luis Felix Chilavert , Fabian Barthez , Etc. The guy is young, so we should just discard of club legends, because we are scared of losing him. If he really loved Chelsea, it should not an issue in the first place. Every player will have his up and down part of his career, and clearly, Petr has not shown us that he is in a downward spiral.

[Stingray 9,441]

This guy comes in and acts like a petulant child arrogant prick and gets what he wants without doing a damn thing to earn it in return

Now that is surely not an exaggerated interpretation :-)

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Easy guys.

Actually I think the media make it looks like there is a heat condition about this GK competition, the one who will be benched today will be unhappy for their entire life and want to leave. I don't think it is that bad. Probably Jose, Courtois and Cech are laughing together right now.

[The only place to be 11,313]

What has he done to earn the first spot ahead of Cech? performance wise, cech has always been better than him and premier league proven.

Cech was flakey at crosses last season and made enough mistakes to be dropped for Mark Schwarzer.

You're referring to Cech of about 18 months ago and if his form was still at that level then you'd be right.

Ofcourse Thibaut "parry shots back into dangerous zone" Courtois is better.

And Petr 'flaps at crosses and costs us goals' Cech is better?

You can pick moments out of matches and extrapolate larger issues if you want, but for me it comes down to this.

I want Courtois to continue his form of the last 12 months.

But I want Cech to REDISCOVER his form of about 18 months ago. That's the real difference between the two. Courtois is the better keeper right now.

[The only place to be 11,313]

No because Cech is quite frankly a better goalkeeper and one of the very best the league as ever seen and he only gets to displace Cech by actually earning it through outperforming Cech in a chelsea uniform in an ideal world.

Cech was dropped last season. Cech cost us goals last season. Cech cost us points last season.

And he's one of the best keepers this league has ever seen, but you can't live off past glories forever.

Cech usually has to do alot actually. a whole lot more than Thibaut.. . .The presence of David Luiz alone makes that impossible. Even in our best defensive year 04/05 I remember vividly spectacular saves cech had to make like against Barca, Blackburn, Liverpool,Newcastle, Fulham just to name a few. His award as the best goalkeeper that year was well earned and fully deserved.

Atleti on the otherhand are just a different beast collectively, they are arguably the most stingy and annoyingly resolute team I have seen in recent years, they simply do not allow their opponent to create clear cut chances

And Courtois made world-class saves last season too. Against Milan he made probably the save of the season.

Both Chelsea and Atletico had miserly defences last season BUT Cech was still dropped last season for poor form. He made more errors last season than I can remember him making in perhaps the four seasons before that.

Cech is a legend at this club but Courtois is the form keeper in Europe behind Neuer.

I was actually against using pre-season as a barometer for choosing the goalkeeper but Cech actually flapped at another cross against Bremen (I think off the top of my head) just like he did a few times last season. You can't ignore actual match performances and simply repeat 'well Cech is a legend'. You won't get an argument from anyone.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Tone down the discussion, guys. Cut down on personal insults, please.

And may I remind everyone that BOTH are still our players. There is absolutely no need to insult or disrespect either of the great goalkeepers.

[Tomo 21,733]

I feel you. Most top goalies play till they are like 40 or 41. Van Der Sar at Man U played till 40+, Buffon is how old, etc. etc. GK position is not like a field player where you need fresh legs as in younger players. 32 is very young in GK age. Our own Schwarzer Nigel Martin, David Seaman kept till how old? Gordon Banks, Peter Schmeichel (sp) Scary guy.David James, Jan Tomaszeweski, Harald Schumacher, Angelo Peruzzi, Jose Luis Felix Chilavert , Fabian Barthez , Etc. The guy is young, so we should just discard of club legends, because we are scared of losing him. If he really loved Chelsea, it should not an issue in the first place. Every player will have his up and down part of his career, and clearly, Petr has not shown us that he is in a downward spiral.

Do you remember Seaman in the latter stages of his career? He was all over the place and conceding corner goals against Macedonia.

VDS is the only example in recent times that stayed to a high level till he was 40, for one VDS there are hundreds of Cassilas and Givens.

[Daniel1980 1,425]

And here I thought Oscar vs Mata was bad.

[nyikolajevics 2,599]

I feel you. Most top goalies play till they are like 40 or 41. Van Der Sar at Man U played till 40+, Buffon is how old, etc. etc. GK position is not like a field player where you need fresh legs as in younger players. 32 is very young in GK age. Our own Schwarzer Nigel Martin, David Seaman kept till how old? Gordon Banks, Peter Schmeichel (sp) Scary guy.David James, Jan Tomaszeweski, Harald Schumacher, Angelo Peruzzi, Jose Luis Felix Chilavert , Fabian Barthez , Etc. The guy is young, so we should just discard of club legends, because we are scared of losing him. If he really loved Chelsea, it should not an issue in the first place. Every player will have his up and down part of his career, and clearly, Petr has not shown us that he is in a downward spiral.

You are right but Cech has suffered some bad injuries. Head, knee, shoulder, ankle... Schmeichel and James were better and better as they were aging while Cech was outstanding at the age of 22.

[iseah100 5,612]

Tibo will start. Love Cech, but Courtois is one of the best in the world and still only 22.

[DH1988 1,319]

Worried the same as I was when cech started over cudichini

[ParNolio7 285]

What a silly discussion over nothing... We have two fantastic goalkeepers. If keeper A will have a bad run of performances, keeper B will step in. And the other way around. Be happy

[Despiadado.Maleante 1,046]

But Oscar.