Thibaut Courtois

[robsblubot 3,224]

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 410]

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 8,614]

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 1,194]

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

[manpe 10,855]

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 16,393]

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 410]

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.

 

 

[Blue Colored Sky 1,807]

8 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.

Hello again.

Thibaut is my favorite Chelsea player, but there's no question he declined. Even I have doubts now. The third goal should be saved ! How the hell he managed to concede from that angle ?

But I think we really should stop looking at individuals. Every player declined. Even clear world class players like Hazard and Courtois can be doubted now. How's that possible ? Courtois is clearly top 2 goalkeeper alongside Neuer and there's a gap between them and the rest. At least in normal circumstances. Not now. Thibaut was nominated for Ballon D'or as a goalkeeper while not doing fancy moves like Neuer. I don't know where Thibaut stands now.

 

Mourinho broke this team, broke every player. If that happened to one, two, three, four players it could be deeply analysed but every player is shadow of himself. Our cornerstone players, the most reliable ones, who gives consistent performances that weigh between good or world-class ones can't be relied upon anymore. Courtois, Hazard, Azpilicueta, even the last one is not the rock he used to be.

I will defend Thibaut always and will always try to find excuse for him. He has to quickly back to his normal self when he's unquestionable one of the two best goalkeepers. Remember his performances from August to January last season ? He didn't concede one goal from corner as he was collecting every long ball. How you can compare then and now ? Every corner looks dangerous. I know who I can blame for this but there's no doubt that Thibaut has to come back to his level in the next season.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

48 minutes ago, BlueLion said:

 

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.

Thought he was a bit slow to react to the Funes Mori goal (certainly not as slow as Zouma and Iva, though. Legend has it that both are still rooted to the spot watching the ball). It seemed he lost the flight of the ball for a second. Obviously not the main culprit for the goal, though. 

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Just now, CHOULO19 said:

Thought he was a bit slow to react to the Funes Mori goal (certainly not as slow as Zouma and Iva, though. Legend has it that both are still rooted to the spot watching the ball). It seemed he lost the flight of the ball for a second. Obviously not the main culprit for the goal, though. 

Agreed. It's mainly me being a hypercritical bastard when it comes to goalkeeping, more than anything else.

[Fulham Broadway 16,393]

3 minutes ago, BlueLion said:

Agreed. It's mainly me being a hypercritical bastard when it comes to goalkeeping, more than anything else.

Well being a keeper, you know the ins and outs. I just dont see Courtois beings as commanding as Cech, verbally, though that may change with time  -how important is that ? Also there needs to be a chemistry between the back four and or at least the central two for the defence to work as a unit I understand, this was superb with Cudicini, Terry and Ricardo, and maybe this takes time to develop.

Bottom line Jose saw something that made Courtois No1 over Cech so he is still an exceptional keeper

[MCM4PR3Z 410]

The third goal is not a mistake for me. Even though the angle was sharp, the goal was completely open. So Thibaut had to gamble where he would place the ball, he gambled the short corner and the ball went long. And his 10 metres arms were just too short to grap the ball. Still the reflex was excellent and not slow at all imo.

Sometimes a wondersave will avoid the goal, but that's just the goalkeeper getting lucky. Skill alone is never enough to save that ball.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

7 hours ago, Fulham Broadway said:

Well being a keeper, you know the ins and outs. I just dont see Courtois beings as commanding as Cech, verbally, though that may change with time  -how important is that ? Also there needs to be a chemistry between the back four and or at least the central two for the defence to work as a unit I understand, this was superb with Cudicini, Terry and Ricardo, and maybe this takes time to develop.

Bottom line Jose saw something that made Courtois No1 over Cech so he is still an exceptional keeper

 

A fair point, but Cech had Terry and Carvalho, who, IMO, is the only defender in our recent history who you could say was better than Terry ever was, in front of him. Courtois has an ageing Terry and either a youngster in Zouma or a bang average defender in Cahill in front of him. A keeper really is only as good as his defence. Courtois isn't as good as Cech yet, but we shouldn't expect him to be. He's 23. He's better at 23 than Cech was, IMO. 

 

5 hours ago, MCM4PR3Z said:

The third goal is not a mistake for me. Even though the angle was sharp, the goal was completely open. So Thibaut had to gamble where he would place the ball, he gambled the short corner and the ball went long. And his 10 metres arms were just too short to grap the ball. Still the reflex was excellent and not slow at all imo.

Sometimes a wondersave will avoid the goal, but that's just the goalkeeper getting lucky. Skill alone is never enough to save that ball.

I didn't say it was a mistake. I'm saying he should arguably be saving it. It was an acute angle from which Funes Mori scored. Yes he had to gamble on his positioning but the instinctive position would have been to have held the final quarter of the six yard box. He made it harder for himself by gambling on the near post. It was an error of judgement, more so than a mistake.

[Blue Armour 4,165]

Like FB said, I'm hoping that this is just a bad period for him...Cech had a torrid time in the second half of 2008-2009, especially in the league, but came back to finish the season strong...with the highlight being the semi-final leg at Camp Nuo