Thibaut Courtois

[MCM4PR3Z 411]

What do you guys think of this post? I'm curious about how other Chelseafans see this.

I certainly accept people who think Neuer is better than Courtois, but most people worldwide think Neuer is better because of wrong reasons. They think Neuer is the better one, because he is more spectacular, because Courtois is too young for them, and because Neuer has won the World Cup. While all 3 of those reasons have nothing to do about how good a goalkeeper is. I think that is a pity for Courtois.

And statistics are bs, certainly for goalkeepers. If you bring up statistics, DDG will always look better than Courtois.

For Example:

Man Utd with DDG:

- Gets 117 chances on goal against them

- DDG saves 89 of them.

- Man Utd received 28 goals against.

- DDG has a save percentage of 76%

The same Man Utd, the same games, with Courtois:

- Gets 77 chances on goal against them

- Courtois saves 55 of them.

- Man Utd received 22 goals against.

- Courtois has a save percentage of 72%

Statistics show that DDG is the better one, and people will also believe that DDG is the better one. While this a very realistic example of the possible reality now imo.

[Barbara 15,149]

Found those around on tumblr

Rarely we see gifs about saves and keepers. Happy to have found it

[LukakutoStamford 779]

I certainly accept people who think Neuer is better than Courtois, but most people worldwide think Neuer is better because of wrong reasons. They think Neuer is the better one, because he is more spectacular, because Courtois is too young for them, and because Neuer has won the World Cup. While all 3 of those reasons have nothing to do about how good a goalkeeper is. I think that is a pity for Courtois.

And statistics are bs, certainly for goalkeepers. If you bring up statistics, DDG will always look better than Courtois.

For Example:

Man Utd with DDG:

- Gets 117 chances on goal against them

- DDG saves 89 of them.

- Man Utd received 28 goals against.

- DDG has a save percentage of 76%

The same Man Utd, the same games, with Courtois:

- Gets 77 chances on goal against them

- Courtois saves 55 of them.

- Man Utd received 22 goals against.

- Courtois has a save percentage of 72%

Statistics show that DDG is the better one, and people will also believe that DDG is the better one. While this a very realistic example of the possible reality now imo.

Stats for goalkeepers need to be viewed relative to their correlation. What those stats don't tell us is the quality of those chances. Without looking at each chance individually and subjectively assessing the level of difficulty of stopping a goal it's nearly impossible to tell the quality. Each chance can be wildly different in its difficulty to stop.

IIRC most of the goals allowed by Courtois have been either deflections or impossible to stop. I think on maybe three goals Courtois could have done a bit better but even then I don't think he would have had too high a percentage chance of stopping the goals.

The problem with rating the GK position is that the quality of defense plays a massive role in determining how many goals a GK gives up.

However with that being said, De Gea has never had a GAA (goals against average) below 1.00 in any of his 6 full seasons nor has he had a clean sheet ratio above 39%. In contrast, Courtois in each of the last 4 1/2 seasons has had a GAA below 1 and a clean sheet ratio at .47 or above.

If you compare the last 5 years (4 1/2 for Courtois) of De Gea, Neuer, and Courtois you'll see that Neuer has a GAA of 0.80 De Gea a GAA of 1.19 and Courtois has a GAA of 0.83. Neuer has a CS (clean sheet) ratio of 48%, Courtois has a CS ratio of 47% and De Gea has a CS ratio of 33%.

Neuer over the last 4 seasons has had 22,30,32,30 clean sheets. Courtois over the last 4 has had 14,25,30,33. De Gea has had 14,15,12, 20.

Granted like I said GAA and CS ratio also has a lot to do with the defense in front of you.

For reference

2013-2014

Cech GAA 0.78 CS 48%

Courtois GAA of 0.70 CS 51%

Neuer GAA 0.69 GAA CS 50%

De Gea GAA 1.06 CS 39%

[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

United's defence is shit, hence De Gea is forced to a lot more saves than Courtois.

De Gea has to deal with at least five or six difficult situations in every game, while Courtois will barely be forced to two or three saves.

I think it's fair to say that they are both great keepers. Maybe De Gea has better reflexes and is more spectacular, while Courtois is more imposing, he is commanding the area like no one else.

[Oscar 441]

Crazy thing is Chelsea allowed the same amount of goals this season city has leaked in with their primary cb this season being demichellis, an injured kompany and rash mangala.

In addition, city plays open football moreso than chelsea with 2 attacking fullbacks..

Also, united has allowed one more goal in with a defense that is one of the worse in the league....

I like thibo, however, I think he might be a tad overrated as the consensus number 2 in the world.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

Could do nothing about the 5 goals today. I know I haven't yet declared my man crush for Thibaut yet but what an amazing keeper! He literally has no faults or weakness in his game. Complete domination of his area and can catch a bullet. The calm he brings to the defense is incredible. What has impressed me most is his seamless transition into English football, like he's been here all his life. De Gea struggled massively to adapt to the physicality but Courtois has had zero problems.

[borriske 330]

Could do nothing about the 5 goals today. I know I haven't yet declared my man crush for Thibaut yet but what an amazing keeper! He literally has no faults or weakness in his game. Complete domination of his area and can catch a bullet. The calm he brings to the defense is incredible. What has impressed me most is his seamless transition into English football, like he's been here all his life. De Gea struggled massively to adapt to the physicality but Courtois has had zero problems.

I think maybe he shouldn't have rushed out like that for their second goal since Terry (?) came running back in support, but that is easy to say in retrospect. Other than that they were all out of his reach.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Yeah, no fault can be passed to him. He even made one or two saves despite having no help whatsoever from his defence.

[iseah100 5,612]

Kind of hard to not allow 5 goals when you have a joke of a fb and cb on the right side.

[Oscar 441]

Thibos team is

Ivan-cahill-jt-dave

matic-cesc

Lloris' team is

Davis/Rose-vertoghen-fazio/chilres-walker

bentalb-mason

[Weckerz 3,781]

Thibos team is

Ivan-cahill-jt-dave

matic-cesc

Lloris' team is

Davis/Rose-vertoghen-fazio/chilres-walker

bentalb-mason

What are you trying to say? As good as our defence looks on paper they were Championship level yesterday. Even Matic had an offday.

He conceded 5 goals, I understand it's hard not to blame the keeper in some way but he didn't do much wrong really; was mostly Brana and Cahill being Mongs.

[Oscar 441]

What are you trying to say? As good as our defence looks on paper they were Championship level yesterday. Even Matic had an offday.

He conceded 5 goals, I understand it's hard not to blame the keeper in some way but he didn't do much wrong really; was mostly Brana and Cahill being Mongs.

its true. However, lloris has had mongs since the beginning of his time at spurs and ddg has had garbage as well for the past 2 seasons.

[Milan 17,854]

It seems it has not been posted yet - his throw over the half-way line to Hazard was marvellous. It was right after Spurs corner and hence Tibo set up a perfect counter attack which ended up in a goal. A great piece of goalkeeping and football.

[robsblubot 3,505]

Yeah, no fault can be passed to him. He even made one or two saves despite having no help whatsoever from his defence.

he was definitely not at fault in any of the 5 goals. However, he did not make any fantastic save (perhaps one good one), which he is capable of. So, I'd rate him a 6/10, which is low for a keeper of his quality.

On Courtois vs Neuer, it's like apples vs oranges... Courtois is better in a low block/deep line as his height helps dominate the packed area and Neuer is better for high and very high defense lines.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

José reckons he has a broken finger (I did see him call on the physios after the Spurs equaliser) so he might be out for up to 14 days. Or he could play with a splint, but there's always a risk.

[King11Didier 916]

I think that happened just before we scored the first goal. I don't remeber who but some w*nker form spurs tried to block his throw to Hazard and hit him...

[CurlyHairLikeLuiz 1,625]

So Cech is back?

[CHOULO19 24,332]

José reckons he has a broken finger (I did see him call on the physios after the Spurs equaliser) so he might be out for up to 14 days. Or he could play with a splint, but there's always a risk.

One of the advantages of having someone like Petr Cech as back up is that you don't at all need to take any risks in situations like this.