13 hours ago, Argo said:

I also don't see Courtois conceding from a corner like De Gea did, do you?

Yes, I do.

13 hours ago, Barry Bridges said:

Oh to be sure!!! I'm not trying to lay the issues with the squad at CT's feet, lord knows there's plenty enough currently to share around and still have enough for seconds...... I just feel that he hasn't been up to par for expectations this season .... admittedly, the expectations are very high considering we seem to place him in the top 3-5 GKs in the world..... but to me he has been far from that.

 

I believe someone tried to justify my perception of him as "well his positioning is so excellent he doesn't have to really make exceptional saves" and while that might be close to the truth, I think the statistics suggest that great positioning or not, he is letting in far too many goals to be rated so highly. I mean if he made absolutely zero fantastic saves I would be happy as long as we weren't conceding as many as we are.  It's the amount of goals going in versus what he stops that has me worried, and not the manner in which he makes those stops.  Here, some statistics courtesy of Whoscored.com

 

  In the past 10 BPL games TC has averaged 2.5 saves a game while averaging 1 goals conceded a game.  In the past 4 CL games he has averaged 3 saves a game and conceded 1.75 goals per game on average.  I admit I am no expert here, but that's nearly a goal for every 2 saves, spectacular or boring  saves aside, I feel that's not a ratio you'd find with other GK's rated as highly as CT.

Just for fun, because DDG is probably the best GK in the league, his stats for the identical amount of matches are, in the BPL, an average of 2.5 saves a game while averaging 0.4 goals conceded per game and, in the CL, an average of 3 saves per game while averaging  0.25 goals conceded per game.....

 

Is Chelsea where they are right now just becase of CT?  Of course not, but a GK of his caliber should, in my opinion, be keeping us in some of these games and not merely saving us blushes by preventing a 3-0 from being a 5-0..... rather making what should have been a 5-0 or 3-0, a 0-0.

 

I worry I might be too harsh in this criticism, but then I remember we are talking about a lad who is rated as one of the best in the world and has, in the past, lived up to that easily. It's the one position I think should most be rising to the occasion when the team is poor, not simply just reflecting that mediocre form.  Mind, if this was Begovic or some other "good" but not "world class" keeper, I wouldn't be leveling this criticism.  I feel Im simply holding him to the standards of where he thinks he belongs and where many of us claim he is.... or atleast was.

I must make my apologies, my friend.

You have done a great job. You have written a lot. Your studies and your statistics are interesting for me. I have respect for your reaction.

And/but!

I can't give you a same reaction like you did. My english is not so well and I prefer playing football much more than writing about it.

 

For me, the magic is gone. At this moment, I don't see any team magic at all. We have a line attackers, a line midfielders, a line defenders and Thibaut. For having succes, we need a lot more. We have seen that last year. There's no super drive in this team. I don't see any growing progress. No evolution. No one is getting better.

No motivation. Something like Madrid, yesterday. No power.

At his moment, You find that in Paris.

 

Edited November 2, 20178 yr by Krc-fan

We all laughed at arsenal wondering how they could let Sanchez's and Ozil's contract run down, but we are approaching the same situation with Courtois. He is saying he wants to wait until the summer to resume contract talks, at which point he will have 12 months left. We should've dealt with this in the summer. Our position is going to be weak, and no doubt Courtois will be demanding top dollar. Even for those that don't think he is world class, we could end up missing out on a big fee, whilst also spending a fortune replacing him. Hopefully we don't find ourselves in the same situation with Hazard. 

He never sounded reluctant to sign, I think the club is haggling with him which is why we've gotten to this point.

We've never had trouble giving star players contracts, I don't think Hazard has ever gotten to less than 2 years left.

Maybe the club is trying to cut costs to rebuild the stadium and his demand of £200k a week is a bit much?

If he does not sign he has to be sold. Cannot lose him for free with our business model.

Yeah definitely need to tie him down but part of me thinks he wants to leave for Spain. Rumours that Madrid are in for a new keeper. I guess if they did buy him, they wouldn’t have to the money for Hazard!

100mil?!!!

In all seriousness, Tibo is world class, and would not be easy to replace. But if he WANTS to leave, specially since this is a world cup year and a good performance can increase his value multifolds, I hope we milk RM to the last cent. 

Teebo is a goner. His has split with him and taken the kids back to Madrid. No way is he going to stay in London playing twice a week when he can move to Madrid and be close with his kids again. Very unfortunate.

Where did you hear this?

Its been published thah he and his girlfriend have split. Thats a fact. She is also from Madrid and many sources have said she has moved back to Madrid. She only moved to London because of him. Him wanting to be with his kids in Madrid is my own opinion because I think it makes perfect sense

He split with his Mrs about a year ago and she's been in Spain ever since. Nothing new here. 

If we have to let him go, I'd rather we swap with Oblak. 

WC GKs are a rare breed. We've been lucky to replace Cech with someone capable enough to take up the mantle.

Keep in mind that Courtois was the one hindering Oblak in the first place when he was at Atleti. It's going to be hard to replace someone who's won titles in both Spain and England.

 

Just pay him what he wants and get it over with. We aren't going to get a much better keeper if we sell him, to muck around with the GK spot just to save a few quids is completely unnecessary. He will get the package he wants at his next club should we allow him to leave by mistake, and whoever comes in won't come cheap either. Look at the Sanchez case, initially it was about money, by the time they realize they are going to spend more just to replace him, the boat has already sailed.

I don’t really think the issue is about money, it’s about location. We can’t do anything about that so it’s likely that we will forced to sell him. 

4 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

He split with his Mrs about a year ago and she's been in Spain ever since. Nothing new here. 

And thats the point. Eventually, when the dust settles, he's going to want to be in an environment closer to his kids..I think the time is near.

I'd rather lose Courtois than Hazard...but still...would rather have both.

23 minutes ago, Cam said:

I'd rather lose Courtois than Hazard...but still...would rather have both.

Courtois is much easier to replace. There are quite a lot of decent keepers out there, who may not be quite as good right away, but have the potential to reach that level. Hazard is a 1 in a generation type player.

The issue with decent GK is he will let a few in and cost us a trophy or two, and at this stone age we don't have a couple of years for a GK to reach that level, if he's going to get there at all. We need to do everything possible to keep him, unlike outfield player, we can't even have 2 good GKs competing for the spot.

If Courtois ever does leave then we could do a lot worse than Jan Oblak, he was sensational last night

6 hours ago, goodeggs said:

If Courtois ever does leave then we could do a lot worse than Jan Oblak, he was sensational last night

What his release clause? Wouldn't mind Butland from Stoke either.

interesting comparison between DeGea & Courtois

Edited December 7, 20178 yr by robdog

If he does go, and i think he will, lets milk RM and as others have said i like the look of Jan Oblak, especially after the other night.

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/642992/Atletico-Madrid-Jan-Oblak-77-5m-Buy-Out-Clause-End-Manchester-United-Transfer-Interest

I think Courtois will stay anyway tbh. 

Thibaut Courtois confirms he will consider quitting Chelsea for family reasons

https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/thibaut-courtois-confirms-he-will-consider-quitting-chelsea-for-family-reasons-a3713746.html

contract talks won't begin between chelsea and courtois until the end of the season, which is what was mentioned weeks ago in the paper. the constant talk of contracts and transfers is becoming tedious. people need to stop lapping up every little transfer murmur regarding our players. 

Edited December 8, 20178 yr by enigma