Thibaut Courtois

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Are we watching the same de Gea? Awful positioning? Average technique? Lack of consistency? Sorry but a lot of what you said is borderline false.

A lot of that stuff applies with Cech as well.

Yeah, his positioning is pretty bad for a supposed top goal keeper. Always seems to be a step off where he should be. Even in FKs you can see it. And when I say technique, I mean his shot saving technique which is unorthodox to say the least. Particularly for low shots where he for some reason always tries to save with his feet first instead of hands. And yes, inconsistency, hence why he's been dropped many times over his performances since he joined utd. People forget this, but when he was chosen the best keeper of the year two season ago, he had been dropped for almost two months by SAF in that very season for his poor form.

De Gea, is however, probably the best in the world at making reflex saves which are the most "glamorous" and make him look very good.

No, none of what I mentioned, apart from inconsistency in deal with crosses and high balls, applied to Petr. Petr, for me, remains as the best in the world at positioning and anticipation, maybe on par only with Neuer in that area. Hence why A LOT of the really difficult saves he makes look fairly easy (example in the last match against Newcastle, the low save to his right he made at 0-0. De Gea would have most probably let that one in.

[Myself 793]

Yeah, his positioning is pretty bad for a supposed top goal keeper. Always seems to be a step off where he should be. Even in FKs you can see it. And when I say technique, I mean his shot saving technique which is unorthodox to say the least. Particularly for low shots where he for some reason always tries to save with his feet first instead of hands. And yes, inconsistency, hence why he's been dropped many times over his performances since he joined utd. People forget this, but when he was chosen the best keeper of the year two season ago, he had been dropped for almost two months by SAF in that very season for his poor form.

De Gea, is however, probably the best in the world at making reflex saves which are the most "glamorous" and make him look very good.

No, none of what I mentioned, apart from inconsistency in deal with crosses and high balls, applied to Petr. Petr, for me, remains as the best in the world at positioning and anticipation, maybe on par only with Neuer in that area. Hence why A LOT of the really difficult saves he makes look fairly easy (example in the last match against Newcastle, the low save to his right he made at 0-0. De Gea would have most probably let that one in.

Ah, I know what you're talking about there. I find it odd as well but he does it very rarely and when he does he probably feels he can't save it with his hands. I've even seen Courtois save it with his feet this season (against Man Utd I think). As a goalkeeper you have to keep the ball out no matter what so you do it anyway you can.

Yes but that was the past. He hasn't been dropped for a good 2 seasons now, and he's been excellent for the past 1.5 seasons. He's been anything but inconsistent. If he was inconsistent then you can bet that Man Utd wouldn't be in the top 5 right now! If he hadn't been performing admirably this entire season they'd have been much lower down the table.

On the subject of Cech its all subjective so there's no point of really arguing over this

[Kevins79 17]

For me both Thibaut and Petr are top class, but imo Cech is a bit better.
Thibaut is just fantastic when defending FKs, catching crosses - coming out from goal. He catches the ball very confidently (what Cech doesn't do every time he has to). He is great when talking about reflex saves, BUT - imo he can't control the denfence the way Cech does. I mean - maybe because he's much younger than our defenders (apart from Zouma), and the ones like JT or Gary don't trust him. Cech has a lot of respect among the team, and what I see - the defence plays much more confidently when Cech's on goal. But anyway, both deserve to play. Have to say, that Jose should have a headache before every game when picking up the team.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Is he fully, 100% healed? If so, stick him in the team. Otherwise, stick with the guy who is also one of the world's top 7/8 goalkeepers. No point in risking further injury. Take it from me, there's nothing worse than playing on with damaged fingers. I have two fingers on my right hand I can't straighten to a point because I broke them and came back to play too soon.

[Christacinto 137]

Is he fully, 100% healed? If so, stick him in the team. Otherwise, stick with the guy who is also one of the world's top 7/8 goalkeepers. No point in risking further injury. Take it from me, there's nothing worse than playing on with damaged fingers. I have two fingers on my right hand I can't straighten to a point because I broke them and came back to play too soon.

May I inquire as to what team you play(ed) for? You once mentioned you train goalkeepers?

[LDN Blue 7,903]

May I inquire as to what team you play(ed) for? You once mentioned you train goalkeepers?

He currently plays for the u8's team. He pretends to "coach". A very "hands on" approach

[BlueLion. 21,491]

May I inquire as to what team you play(ed) for? You once mentioned you train goalkeepers?

I played for my university and had a number of trials with teams but never played higher than semi-pro level.

He currently plays for the u8's team. He pretends to "coach". A very "hands on" approach

[MrBlueGuy 1,552]

Dropped or injured?

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Injured.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

No need to rush him back while we have someone like Petr as "backup". As Jose said, 100% Petr > 85% Thibaut.

[Gilvorak 3,734]

Bailed us out big time. Only one that played well.

[Madmax 9,219]

Someone here wanted more "unbelievable" saves ... You got one. Had no right to palm the Lallana shot.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

I can't believe every time he's playing, our defenders seems destined to make a mistake. If I have something to say about Courtois is this 'curse'.

[xPetrCechx 13,563]

Good Game.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Outstanding performance tonight. He should be making the save from Gerrard, the double-save from Henderson/Sterling, the shot from Coutinho. But he had no right to stop that Lallana shot. That was unreal.

[Tomo 21,733]

If things get thick, I can see Cech step up like many times, Tibo will more or less flow with how his team is playing.

You were saying?

[MCM4PR3Z 411]

Proved again why I see him as the best goalkeeper in the world and people in general see him as the number two worldwide. Best goalkeeping duo ever in the world of football. Our defense has years of experience with Cech and half a season with Courtois, it's normal that things go more smooth with Cech. But the Courtois-defense combination can only grow if Courtois plays games. Btw, Courtois does more than his job, it's time that our defense do their job too.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Proved again why I see him as the best goalkeeper in the world and people in general see him as the number two. Best goalkeeping duo ever in the world of football. Our defense has years of experience with Cech and half a season with Courtois, it's normal that things go more smooth with Cech. But the Courtois-defense combination can only grow if Courtois plays games. Btw, Courtois does more than his job, it's time that our defense do their job too.

Agreed, the defence always seems to play like a bunch of fairies when TBO plays.