Well his 'catching' when the ball is put into the box is already better than Cech's. He dominates that area as well as any keeper I've ever seen and always looks to catch the ball and take pressure of the defenders.

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This part of him game hugely impresses myself. The defence seem very confident in his abilty to deal with crosses and allow him to do so. With Petr(after his accident) I always felt an inswinging free kick from about 30 yds caused us problems, this season we have looked very assured. The right decision was made by Jose with the club in mind , hope he now signs an extension soon.

He's already signed an extension.

Did he? I cant remember that happening. Im not saying you are wrong, I just cant remember him signing a new deal.

Did he? I cant remember that happening. Im not saying you are wrong, I just cant remember him signing a new deal.

http://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/2014/9/11/6136059/chelsea-fc-news-thibaut-courtois-signs-new-five-year-contract

Cech of all people understands the score. After all I remember him arriving at the bridge 10 years ago saying that he hadn't gone to Chelsea to sit on the bench, and all the people I knew felt sorry for Cudicini when this eventuated.It's a difficult situation but how long has Cech had it his own way as in not having any credible competition?.  

There are very minimal goalkeepers who have credible competition.

Noticed really that it's become a thing on United forums to compare De Gea to Courtois and even suggest he's better.

 

Has any Chelsea supporter ever really bothered to entertain this debate, or are we all of the mind that he's obviously better? The only comparisons we make with Courtois are to Cech and Neuer.

A mate of mine is a red and he was going on yesterday about how De Gea is the best keeper in the league. I said Chelsea have two keeper better than him.

Noticed really that it's become a thing on United forums to compare De Gea to Courtois and even suggest he's better.

Has any Chelsea supporter ever really bothered to entertain this debate, or are we all of the mind that he's obviously better? The only comparisons we make with Courtois are to Cech and Neuer.

It's like the whole Kagawa/Hazard debate. United fans trying tell us theirs is better whereas we don't argue Hazard is because it's there for all to see.

Thing with De Gea is uniteds defence is sh*t so he has to make more saves so there are more hilights. People think, look how many times he saved uniteds neck he must be the best. Cortouis hardly has to make any saves and we rarely need to be bailed out by our keeper.

De Gea has improved massively to where he was a season or two ago, kept Utd in many games. There's probably not a whole lot between the two but Courtois has a bigger reach and is younger and seems better with crosses etc.

No chance would I want to swap the two.

Thing with De Gea is uniteds defence is sh*t so he has to make more saves so there are more hilights. People think, look how many times he saved uniteds neck he must be the best. Cortouis hardly has to make any saves and we rarely need to be bailed out by our keeper.

 

Exactly what I think. Courtois has still made some absolute worldies this year but he doesn't have the opportunity so much. In terms of commanding the area, I don't think it's even close. Same goes for distribution.

I think you'd find a lot more Man utd fans who would swap De Gea for Courtois, then Chelsea fans. Which says all that is needed.

Thing with De Gea is uniteds defence is sh*t so he has to make more saves so there are more hilights. People think, look how many times he saved uniteds neck he must be the best. Cortouis hardly has to make any saves and we rarely need to be bailed out by our keeper.

 

The mark of a top class keeper is being able to produce the save when called upon despite being inactive for 88min.

To be fair, De Gea has been amazing this year. Was probably their best player last season as well. Hes improving every year. I think Courtois is probably a year away from being the best keeper in the world, so no I wouldnt swap them. theres not much seperating the two, but Courtois ability to collect crosses and his overall presence in the box are second to none.

Who cares anyway, Utd fans are the worst when judging a players ability. They thought Tom Cleverly was a f**king good player, they thought Anderson was once better than Fabregas. They thought Kagawa was better than Hazard and Macheda was going to be a top player.

Who cares anyway, Utd fans are the worst when judging a players ability. They thought Tom Cleverly was a f**king good player, they thought Anderson was once better than Fabregas. They thought Kagawa was better than Hazard and Macheda was going to be a top player.

...and yet they thought Pogba was sh*t! Well that's what Fergie thought anyway

De Gea has made a lot of excellent goals this season, it's very hard to compare 2 goalkeepers when one of them is having to make multiple big saves a game while Courtois barely touches the ball.

 

That being said De Gea couldn't even get ahead of a past-his-best Casillas at the world cup in a team that got knocked out by Chile in the group stages.

I think it's a lot closer than most Chelsea fans would admit, but I would still rather Courtois.

The way i see it is Courtois reflexes are just as good as De Gea, he's a lot stronger than De Gea, he is FAR surperior when trying to collect the ball from the air. De Gea more often than not needs his defenders to do the job for him from corners, Courtois will take command of corners himself.

 

De Gea maybe a world class shot stopper, but Courtois is a better all round goalkeeper. I would much rather have a goalkeeper like Courtois than a flashy goalkeeper like De Gea.

Edited December 5, 201411 yr by Scott Harris

I think De Gea has made the better saves so far this season, but Courtois has been far more commanding from set pieces and crosses, and also his distribution (mainly to Ivanovic) has been excellent. Whether Courtois is a better shot stopper than De Gea we'll probably find out in the Champions League, until then i'd say De Gea just pips him so far.

I was angry when Cudicini was replaced by ?ech, I thought it was completely unnecessary, but ?ech proved to be vital for us. We would have won many competitions with Cudicini in goal, but not the Champions League in 2012, he was a top keeper though, and it's a shame in a way that he was happy to sit on the bench, because he could of walked in to any other teams starting 11. However, ?ech is arguably our greatest ever keeper now, though Bonetti would be close behind him, Courtouis was a very good signing at the time, a good signing for the future, but I personally wouldn't have replaced Céch. I'm all for healthy competition, but Mou has barely given Céch a chance this season, and I'm sure that big Pete isn’t far behind Courtouis at all at the moment, and that's my issue, Céch is still potentially the better all round keeper. So we have a world class legend sitting on the bench, and in my eyes he belongs on the pitch, I’d be sad to see him go, but he should be playing first team football.

I was angry when Cudicini was replaced by ?ech, I thought it was completely unnecessary, but ?ech proved to be vital for us. We would have won many competitions with Cudicini in goal, but not the Champions League in 2012, he was a top keeper though, and it's a shame in a way that he was happy to sit on the bench, because he could of walked in to any other teams starting 11. However, ?ech is arguably our greatest ever keeper now, though Bonetti would be close behind him, Courtouis was a very good signing at the time, a good signing for the future, but I personally wouldn't have replaced Céch. I'm all for healthy competition, but Mou has barely given Céch a chance this season, and I'm sure that big Pete isn’t far behind Courtouis at all at the moment, and that's my issue, Céch is still potentially the better all round keeper. So we have a world class legend sitting on the bench, and in my eyes he belongs on the pitch, I’d be sad to see him go, but he should be playing first team football.

 

Cech had all last season to make himself undroppable but he simply didn't do that. In pre-season he was replicating the same errors at crosses, whereas Courtois has come in and looked faultless. 

 

To my mind he's the better keeper at the moment, until FIFA outlaws crosses.

De Gea's reflexes are amazing. But his long shot stopping looks worrying at times. 

I have to admit he improved himself a lot, but he is nowhere near as dominant in the box as Courtois. 

 

As Charierre already mentioned, top class goalkeepers stand out when they are called upon. Since our defence is much better than United's Courtois doesn't have to make a lot of saves in a game. But when he does he is there. Concentration is a key factor.

 

That's why buying goalkeepers is extremely difficult for a topclub. Goalkeepers like Begovic for example often look great even when they let in 2 because they had to keep out 12 other shots. It's hard to say if those keepers could do the same when only called upon once or twice in a game.

 

Courtois is a top goalkeeper who (in my opinion) is better than any goalkeeper in the world (except maybe Neuer).

 

On a sidenote, I wouldn't want Neuer, if our goalkeeper would always be that far away from his goal I'd die of a hart attack.

I don't think you'd be able to get away with playing sweeper-keeper like Neuer does most the time in the Premier League.

 

That said, I've never seen a keeper do it so well and so consistently. Fabian Barthez used to try it quite often but no where to the standard Neuer does.