He's gone. I can't think of any other reason why he is stalling so much on signing his new contract. I assume negotiations are done by now. 

17 hours ago, Nibs said:

Think it is almost certain that he will go to Madrid in the Summer, unless they could prize De Gea away from Utd, as De Gea is clearly the better keeper.

Have to admit at being disappointed overall with Courtois. Think we did the correct thing in replacing Cech when we did as Courtois is a decent keeper and was the right age but he hasn't lived up to expectations and doesn't compare to Big Pete at his peak. I wonder if there is any truth in the rumour that we got rid of KDB because of Courtois relationship with KDB's girlfriend? I know they play for Belgium together but perhaps Mourinho did think he couldn't keep both and Courtois was more important?

Anyway, I expect him to go and if it is Madrid we should get big £££ so wonder who we'll go for to replace him?

 

In our title winning season under Jose he was just as good as Cech in his prime. 

In regards to the girlfriend thing, we as fans made a much better deal out of this than the two players involved themselves. Both had already moved on a long time ago and the Belguim manager even confirmed this, so no I don't accept that as a valid reason. 

Oblak the obvious choice if he were to go, although I couldn't see the club paying the fee that Athletico would asked.. wouldn't mind Butland to be honest, if it meant spending the rest of the money on a world class outfield player 

Everyone we sign from Atletico seems to want to go back to Spain within a year though 

Could always bring JT back...

Courtois has never been on par with the prime Cech, not like that's a bad thing because I personally think prime Cech was the best GK I have seen in the prem. That's the problem with Cech's career, the majority of people will remember the Cech after the injury, the prime Cech was really something else.

Courtois bread and butter should be commanding his area, Cech still beat him in that department. Moving Cech on happened just at the right time though to let Courtois flourish. There's very few keepers i would swap Courtois for.

22 hours ago, Spiller86 said:

I think he's great. I'm not sure about the rose coloured glasses when it comes to Cech. His prime lasted perhaps 2 and a bit seasons? Tibo is in my view a better keeper than Cech was post injury. His dominance in the air is a massive factor for us. 

These Madrid rumours are a bit of a stitchup. His kids live there. Naturally the city has a pull for him. But any time he says something like that all of a sudden it's Tibo issues come get me plea to Real Madrid. If he did want to go back to Madrid we'd be smart to offer a swap deal with Oblak for Atletico. Keeps him away from Real and means we get a quality replacement.

People like to make out that Cech wasn't the same goalkeeper when he returned from his head injury, but i think the complete opposite. In his early days, he was making De Gea like reflex saves, but as time went on, he didn't need to rely on that so much. He was still making great saves now and again to keep us in games, but his command of the area was the best i have ever seen from a goalkeeper in the Premier League. I also thought his positioning and where to push saved shots was better than any goalkeeper at the time. You would rarely see Cech beaten from long range thunderbolts because he positioned himself so well, and his one on one saves were excellent. He had a natural ability to push the ball away from the danger area too (something i still think Courtois isn't so great at)

Usually players are more fondly remembered as time goes on, but for some strange reason, Cech is going the opposite way. I don't know if it's to do with him joining Arsenal, but the Cech i remember was the most consistent goalkeeper around when he was with us. 

I don't think Courtois is anywhere near Cech's level when he was with us. I think he is very good at coming for crosses, but i can't think of anything else he is exceptional at. I also think for the level he is playing at, he should be keeping us in games with some reflex saves. He supposed to be one of the best in the business, but i very rarely see him saving us. A lot of people say that a lot of the goals he let's in he could do nothing about, but that's the thing, the best find a way to keep some of these shots from going in. I have seen only one game this season where Courtois was making these types of saves, and that was against Arsenal in the League Cup. If we were defending for our lives like we were against Barcelona and Bayern Munich in 2012, i don't think we could count on Courtois to make those big game saves that Cech was making.

If i was to compare Cech and Courtois, Cech comes out on top on most things.

Reflex saves = Cech

Positioning = Cech

Dealing with the ball into the box from set pieces = Equal

Communication with defenders = Cech

Positioning of defenders = Cech

Dealing with long range shots = Cech

One on ones = Cech

Charging off line = Cech (Courtois is really poor at this, he's given away a few pens and conceded a lot of goals when he has come off his line)

Goal Kicks = Equal (they are both pretty bad at it) 

Passing = Courtois

Penalty saves = Cech (no contest)

Saves at important times = Cech (again, it's no contest)

Performances in the big games = Cech

2 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

Goal Kicks = Equal (they are both pretty bad at it) 

I’m sorry but Cech to Drogba was one of our most reliable passes of all time 

I think both are/were very bad re: penalty saves.

2 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

People like to make out that Cech wasn't the same goalkeeper when he returned from his head injury, but i think the complete opposite. In his early days, he was making De Gea like reflex saves, but as time went on, he didn't need to rely on that so much. He was still making great saves now and again to keep us in games, but his command of the area was the best i have ever seen from a goalkeeper in the Premier League. I also thought his positioning and where to push saved shots was better than any goalkeeper at the time. You would rarely see Cech beaten from long range thunderbolts because he positioned himself so well, and his one on one saves were excellent. He had a natural ability to push the ball away from the danger area too (something i still think Courtois isn't so great at)

Usually players are more fondly remembered as time goes on, but for some strange reason, Cech is going the opposite way. I don't know if it's to do with him joining Arsenal, but the Cech i remember was the most consistent goalkeeper around when he was with us. 

I don't think Courtois is anywhere near Cech's level when he was with us. I think he is very good at coming for crosses, but i can't think of anything else he is exceptional at. I also think for the level he is playing at, he should be keeping us in games with some reflex saves. He supposed to be one of the best in the business, but i very rarely see him saving us. A lot of people say that a lot of the goals he let's in he could do nothing about, but that's the thing, the best find a way to keep some of these shots from going in. I have seen only one game this season where Courtois was making these types of saves, and that was against Arsenal in the League Cup. If we were defending for our lives like we were against Barcelona and Bayern Munich in 2012, i don't think we could count on Courtois to make those big game saves that Cech was making.

If i was to compare Cech and Courtois, Cech comes out on top on most things.

Reflex saves = Cech

Positioning = Cech

Dealing with the ball into the box from set pieces = Equal

Communication with defenders = Cech

Positioning of defenders = Cech

Dealing with long range shots = Cech

One on ones = Cech

Charging off line = Cech (Courtois is really poor at this, he's given away a few pens and conceded a lot of goals when he has come off his line)

Goal Kicks = Equal (they are both pretty bad at it) 

Passing = Courtois

Penalty saves = Cech (no contest)

Saves at important times = Cech (again, it's no contest)

Performances in the big games = Cech

Mostly fair points. We'll have to agree to disagree there. Personally I think it's very hard to observe some of those things without sitting behind the keeper each week.

That said my point wasn't to denigrate Cech, who I liked a great deal and defended when he was criticised extensively towards the end of his time here. But merely to say that Tibo is not expendable and is better than most are giving him credit for.

 

4 minutes ago, Phillip said:

I think both are/were very bad re: penalty saves.

I don’t think you can judge keepers on penalties, players are very clever nowadays with how they approach them. Don’t forget Petr saved a very big one for us!

i just watched the CL final shoot out and that was cech's crowning moment for me, out did neuer and i can not see tibo doing that at the moment 

Edited February 23, 20188 yr by luckywerthers

I stand corrected, Munkworth.

6 hours ago, Munkworth said:

I’m sorry but Cech to Drogba was one of our most reliable passes of all time 

True, but that is a simple boot up field, Drogba was the one doing the real work. 

On February 23, 2018 at 00:40, Famous CFC said:

Best in the world. He's making Hollywood saves every game it seems. Oh how he has saved Manchester United's bacon. 

If keepers get judged solely on holylwood saves then Shay Given would be the best keeper in history. De Gea is a quality keeper, but his command of his area isn't good enough to be the best in the world, even United fans started picking up on that about Christmas time.

21 hours ago, luckywerthers said:

i just watched the CL final shoot out and that was cech's crowning moment for me, out did neuer and i can not see tibo doing that at the moment 

Cech has been awful at pens his whole career bar that night and Barca, just adds even more fuel to the theory that victory was orchestrated from above. I don't usually subscribe to that type of theory but 6 years on i still can't think of another reason it happened.

De Gea is the best in the world. Simple. 

If you like keepers that stay on their line and cause panic at set pieces then you are correct.

If Courtois goes what do people make of Jack Butland?

Edited February 27, 20188 yr by Bobbywoodhogan

18 minutes ago, Bobbywoodhogan said:

If Courtois goes what do people make of Jack Butland?

A massive, massive downgrade. 

37 minutes ago, Bobbywoodhogan said:

If Courtois goes what do people make of Jack Butland?

Seems to struggle to stay at a consistently high level for me, for every top performance there's a howler waiting to happen. On current form I think he should be England's #1 so I think I'd prefer if we signed Nick Pope.

Alisson Becker could be a decent replacement for Courtois - I guess we'll have to wait and see whether the club has the ambition to spend the Courtois money on him or Oblak.

Edited February 27, 20188 yr by the special one

He’s young though and been English is a bonus

12 hours ago, Bobbywoodhogan said:

He’s young though and been English is a bonus

He's average, Mingolet looked good at the level Butlands currently at and look at him now. Playing keeper at a midtable downwards club compared to top 6 is worlds apart in terms of whats required both mentally and tactically.

2 hours ago, Argo said:

He's average, Mingolet looked good at the level Butlands currently at and look at him now. Playing keeper at a midtable downwards club compared to top 6 is worlds apart in terms of whats required both mentally and tactically.

Mignolet always had a problem with crosses, something which the "big" teams did not/dont do much these days. His reflex saves are quite good, which is what he was known for in his sunderland days too.

Butland does not seem to have such glaring deficiencies. He looks like a good keeper (not great/WC), but comparing someone to mignolet just because they might end up having a similar career trajectory is unfair on Butland. If we can sell Tibo for big money, get butland for a good buy and finally get a world class player to complement eden in attack and/or kante in mid, I would definitely do that.

23 hours ago, Bobbywoodhogan said:

If Courtois goes what do people make of Jack Butland?

was great before his injury a few seasons as far as I can remember, hasn't quite got back there since but we could do a lot worse in my opinion, but should definitely be Englands no1 at the world cup I reckon