He's becoming even better than I thought he would. Please get that contract signed.
1
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 43
- Clean sheets
- 13
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 0
He's moved ahead of Courtois this season. Courtois can't even keep clean sheets in that Chelsea back 5. He's been relatively ho-hum this season. De Gea wins points for the team on a weekly basis.
The look on Mame "50 Cent" Birame Diouf said it all, after the save and even after the final whistle. Those two saves were amazing.
Truly amazing. Grown leaps and bounds since last season. We need Woodward to work his magic on De Gea's contract
But we all know who would win any goalkeeper of the season vote.
He has to sign the new contract
Every reply to each of his tweet on his twitter account is either <3 or "sign the life long contract please" or "never leave us" 
No words.
Dunno whether I'm being ridiculously harsh or expecting too high a standard from Dave, but I saw both saves as quite elementary for a 'keeper of his standard.
I think perceptions of both stops were heightened because they occurred in stoppage time. I'd have been disappointed if he hadn't saved them. I'm not saying they weren't good saves, but for a 'keeper who's good at making reaction saves, I think they we're pretty bog standard.
For me, his best saves this season were the one against Wilshere and the stupendous stop against Everton (Oviedo, if I remember correctly).
I think perceptions of both stops were heightened because they occurred in stoppage time. I'd have been disappointed if he hadn't saved them. I'm not saying they weren't good saves, but for a 'keeper who's good at making reaction saves, I think they we're pretty bog standard.
For me, his best saves this season were the one against Wilshere and the stupendous stop against Everton (Oviedo, if I remember correctly).
I can somehow understand if some call Courtois and Neuer better, (not my opinion atm, but can understand) but how some can say Cech, Lloris, Navas, Casillas, Buffon are better is just ridiculous.
Last edited:
You forgot Ter Stegen!
I think the media had decided before the season started who'd be best keeper come the end of the year.
I think that's a testament to his talent more than anything else. The first one (the cleared header) is especially impressive but doesn't look all that in replays. It was coming in really quick and it was an incredible reflex save, and what makes it better is that he managed to punch quite far away to a good zone, when given the direction of the ball, he could've spilled it into his six yard box (which would've made scoring from the rebound quite easy for Stoke).
I can't really remember the second one though, I'd need to see it again.
Last edited:
Has he feck. The two of them have been excellent this season. Dave has been the busier of the two, which has given him more chance to shine (and more errors) but I don't know how anyone can conclusively say one is better than the other.
Courtois has been more consistent overall, great from the get go, whereas Dave had a really poor start to the season that was heavily criticized on here, as I recall, but since the Everton game he's definitely been a level above anything we've seen from Courtois, but obviously he's had more to do too so it's maybe not a fair comparison.
De Gea and Courtuis debate is getting boring, and doesn't look to ever end.
So, my 2 cents there. I would put them at around the same level, and if one of them is better, then surely it is marginal.
De Gea is clearly better at shot stopping and producing world class saves. Saying that, Courtuis is excellent at it too. Both seems to be at around the same level when it comes to game on the air. Courtuis is bigger, while De Gea has the advantage of playing on a very physical league for a few years.
At communicating with other players, I think that Courtuis is better. He's generally more vocal, although De Gea isn't anymore as shy as he was when he came here.
On one on one chances, again I think that Courtuis is better than De Gea. De Gea has the tendency of staying on the line, which minimizes his chances to save them. However, recently he has improved on that aspect.
Distribution, I would go with De Gea, but needs to be said that he was better at it 18 months ago than he is now.
And finally, on concentration, I would put them on the same level. Both have terrific concentration.
If you add all the things, you see that they are around the same level. I think that De Gea has been better this season, mainly because he had so much saves to make, something that Courtuis hadn't because he has a great defense.
And finally, on pure goalkeeping abilities, I would put both of them ahead of Neuer. However, Neuer is still better than them considering that he is also a world class central defender at the same time.
So, my 2 cents there. I would put them at around the same level, and if one of them is better, then surely it is marginal.
De Gea is clearly better at shot stopping and producing world class saves. Saying that, Courtuis is excellent at it too. Both seems to be at around the same level when it comes to game on the air. Courtuis is bigger, while De Gea has the advantage of playing on a very physical league for a few years.
At communicating with other players, I think that Courtuis is better. He's generally more vocal, although De Gea isn't anymore as shy as he was when he came here.
On one on one chances, again I think that Courtuis is better than De Gea. De Gea has the tendency of staying on the line, which minimizes his chances to save them. However, recently he has improved on that aspect.
Distribution, I would go with De Gea, but needs to be said that he was better at it 18 months ago than he is now.
And finally, on concentration, I would put them on the same level. Both have terrific concentration.
If you add all the things, you see that they are around the same level. I think that De Gea has been better this season, mainly because he had so much saves to make, something that Courtuis hadn't because he has a great defense.
And finally, on pure goalkeeping abilities, I would put both of them ahead of Neuer. However, Neuer is still better than them considering that he is also a world class central defender at the same time.
Give him the fecking contract finally.
I agree.
De Gea is saving us almost every week playing in a haphazard back 5. Courtois looks very solid in a very established back 5.
I do think that if Courtois and De Gea switched teams, De Gea's praise would be through the roof and far beyond what Courtois is getting, and little would be said of Courtois if he was playing for United. I do think Courtois is excellent, but I don't think he's as good at reacting to close range shots as De Gea is. I don't believe Courtois would be saving our blushes like De Gea has been.
De Gea really is a match winner, quite literally. Courtois is incredibly commanding and has a great presence about him. The difference between the two is minimal, but De Gea shades it.
What does that mean? It almost seems like many people forgot what a freakishly brilliant shotstopper Neuer has been all his career and obviously still is. Just because he developed into a goalkeeper that does so much more than basic goalkeeping he isn't absolutely fantastic at the 'pure goalkeeping abilities' as well. He's catching more difficult shots at him instead of punching them away than any other keeper I've seen, he's dominant in the air and picks up the ball most of the time instead of punching it back into play. He's way better at organising a defense than De Gea (I'm not sure how much of the organisation in Courtois' teams was down to Simeone/Mourinho and I haven't seen enough of him for Belgium to judge him). Of course none of that is surprising, because he's significantly older and more experienced than those two. But in his final 3 seasons at Schalke, his defense already was twice the best in the league and that's with some truely average players infront of him. Even the year Schalke finished 14th, only 3 teams conceded less goals than he did and he regularly came up with beyond incredible saves like De Gea does now at United, let alone if you look at some of his performances in the CL. Obviously he gets less chances to show that skill in a team that very rarely comes under pressure at the back, but that doesn't mean he isn't still incredible at it.
He's excellent as a goalkeeper, but I think that both De Gea and Courtuis might be just slightly better. Obviously, Neuer makes excellent saves all the time and has done this for a long time (his performance against us in 2011 might be the best performance from a keeper I have ever seen), but as I said, I think that De Gea and probably Courtuis are sightly better.
Neuer however is a better organizer (no doubt there) and more importantly has this ability of saving the team while he acts as a defender.
One thing Courtois has had since his time at Atletico/Chelsea is a solid reliable defence infront of him week in week out, and 2 managers who know how to set their sides up to defend. Don't think De Gea has ever had that privilege at United. Very hard to build up a strong understanding with your defence when you don't have a clue who's going to be playing in it. This is his 4th season at United now, and nothing's changed.
Nothing to do for 90 minutes and still making 2 huge saves. That's what I call al world class goalkeeper
Did anyone see Casillas' performance on the weekend? It's insane to think he is still the Spanish #1 over our Dave.
More likely the opposite. They're both very good keepers, so it stands to reason the busier of the two will be more likely to catch the eye.
I think De Gea edges him on pure shotstopping, De Gea is obviously a complete freak when it comes to that, but it's still damn close. But there's more basic stuff like for example positioning or catching instead of giving away second chances and Neuer is (still) ahead of De Gea in all of them. There's nothing Courtois does better than Neuer. I'm not sure if there has ever been a goalkeeper as complete as Neuer, at least I don't remember a sweeper keeper like him who was that brilliant in all the basic goalkeeping stuff as well. All three are already amazing goalkeepers though and easily the top 3 in the world at the moment.
Is he, though? I think De Gea finally took his place a couple of months ago and only his injured helped Casillas returned to the spanish lineup for the recent games a few weeks ago. We'll have to see what happens in a few months.
De Gea is wonderful at catching the ball. Seriously, he is on Buffon-esque level when it comes to it. There are some shoots when I am a bit scared that might end on the net, and De Gea catches them.
I would say that Courtuis might be better than Neuer at shot stopping, but anyway it is close.
Anyway, with pure goalkeeping skills, I meant more shotstopping than anything else. Which isn't correct, considering that organizing, catching crosses etc is definitely the job of a keeper.
Agree with your last point. In fact, we rarely see sweeper keepers, and even in those cases they aren't that great keepers (Valdez for example). Neuer on the other side, shines at everything.
The point I'm making is that I don't believe Courtois would have made some of those saves that De Gea has, so wouldn't be putting in the same match-winning performances. De Gea's reactions from close range are just freakish, really.
But it is still Courtois at Chelsea, who is the much less busier keeper, who seems to be getting all the plaudits currently. David Seaman was on Goals on Sunday the weekend before last, and he was constantly hammering on about Courtois (who didn't really do much in the game against West Brom the day before) as well as Kasper Schmeichel. Barely a mention of De Gea, despite all the saves he made in the first half against Arsenal which kept us in the game, when it could have been 3 or 4 nil at half time.
de Gea is the best shot stopper, Courtois commands his box the best regarding high balls in (crosses/corners etc) and Neuer is the best sweeper and passer.
All are of course very close, but I think there is no clear "best" out of them yet.
As others have mentioned I would like to see Courtois tested in a defense not as strong as Chelsea or Atletico.
All are of course very close, but I think there is no clear "best" out of them yet.
As others have mentioned I would like to see Courtois tested in a defense not as strong as Chelsea or Atletico.
When he signed for us, his first year, I'd never ever think that he'd be so influential on our points tally, what a player and what a guy.
I'd take Seaman's opinion seriously, to be honest. He was a keeper who was absolutely exceptional at controlling his area. The one aspect where I think Courtois is a level above De Gea.
We don't know if Courtois could have replicated De Gea's saves this season. I suspect that one or two of them were saves that no other keeper could have made but criticising Courtois for something that hasn't actually happened seems incredibly unfair. Let's not forget he's pulled off some cracking saves himself.
I'm not really criticising Courtois. I'm just predicting that De Gea would be getting all the praise Courtois is currently getting (and more) if their positions were switched, as I believe he is slightly better, purely because he undoubtedly a match-winner. As I said, I think Courtois is excellent, and the difference between them both is minimal, but he excels in different areas, IMO.
Considering Van Gaal and Hoek were the ones to "manufacture" Van der Sar, in terms of taking an above average keeper and transforming him into one of the best in the world - a great vocal organizer and distributor we knew at United, that's one specific area De Gea should continually improve at over the next 2-3 seasons. Courtois is certainly superior right now when it comes to managing the box and commanding his area but De Gea's goalkeeping instincts and reflexes are off the charts, probably the best since Buffon at Parma. Most of the tactical and organisational aspects of goalkeeping can be learnt with time and experience. But conversely I'm not sure Thibaut can ever match De Gea's natural tools and lightning agility.
That's why I won't be surprised to see Courtois stagnate in the not too distant future, he's already close to the polished article at a very young age. There's nothing seemingly deficient in his game and that's the problem become there's not a room left for acquired means of improvement. But De Gea still has a lot of flaws and despite them he's one of the Top 2 keepers in Europe behind only Neuer or one of the Top 3 depending on who you ask. He really is just scratching the surface of what he might become and will improve a lot over the next few years. It's scary how good De Gea might be once he's ironed out the weaknesses and taken up a more vocal leadership role.
That's why I won't be surprised to see Courtois stagnate in the not too distant future, he's already close to the polished article at a very young age. There's nothing seemingly deficient in his game and that's the problem become there's not a room left for acquired means of improvement. But De Gea still has a lot of flaws and despite them he's one of the Top 2 keepers in Europe behind only Neuer or one of the Top 3 depending on who you ask. He really is just scratching the surface of what he might become and will improve a lot over the next few years. It's scary how good De Gea might be once he's ironed out the weaknesses and taken up a more vocal leadership role.
This is what separates the two at the moment. Courtois has not had much opportunity to show his shot-stopping ability this season (although he is no mug) thanks to a solid STABLE defence, whereas De Gea has had loads of last-ditch one-on-ones and reflex saves to make.
Courtois has however had plenty of opportunity to show his decisiveness on crosses and corners, where he excels. De Gea has made strides in this area but Courtois has the height advantage, which will always give him more presence.
It's hard to judge one against the other in these circumstances as we don't see the full range of their abilities.
feckin' Courtois 
Only Neuer is ahead of our Dave now!
Only Neuer is ahead of our Dave now!Just listening to Rene on SSN right now talk about DgG. He's in Manchester and I really think that LvG could benefit by offering him a major coaching position … think he'd bite his hand off and between him and Giggs there's some future-proofing there too!
Obviously United fans will say De Gea is better than Courtois, and Chelsea fans will say the opposite. If you ask neutral fans though, I suspect the majority of them would say Courtois was the better keeper.
Fan-feckin'-tastic! Better than Phil Nevilles "unbiased" comm for US TV too!
I think most United fans don't mind Courtois being held up as better. Provided it's acknowledged De Gea is only a short length behind him.