I was preparing to have to go have a bath on Sunday evening when i got this twitter notification. See what i saw: I immediately realized tha...
I was preparing to have to go have a bath on Sunday evening when i got this twitter notification. See what i saw:
I immediately realized that yet another Manchester united fan was being caught in the euphoria of another “good” David De Gea performance and was beginning to say things.
I was annoyed!
No doubt, the Spaniard is one of the best shot-stoppers in the game and yes!!! He is world class. But then some goalkeepers are more world class than others. Manuel Neuer for example.
De Gea has been one of the reasons the red devils has being able to climb into the Epl’s top 4 and time and again, he is being exposed, thanks to the inconsistent defence in front of him. But of a truth, he has held his own.
This season, he has been superb.
That however is not enough reason for people to forget that there is a Courtois who is 2 years younger, who is a clearly better goalkeeper than him.
People are often being clouded by sentiment and of course the gentleman who tweeted the above is a United fan. But then, we are fans not fanatics and thank god we can read. At the end of this, I believe and hope you will see where I am coming from
Name: David De Gea
Nationality: Spaniard
Age: 24
Height: 1.92m
Clubs Played For: Atletico Madrid B (08- 09), Atletico Madrid (09-11), Manchester United (11 - Till Date)
Name: Thibaut Courtois
Nationality: Belgian
Age: 22
Height: 1.99m
Clubs Played For: Genk (09-11), Atletico Madrid (11- 14, Loan From Chelsea), Chelsea (14* - Till Date)
Profile
Now let’s start our comparison of these two great goalkeepers, the first area we will be looking at will be the ‘technical abilities’. Those attributes that make you a great shot stopper
1) Reflexes
To be honest, I can’t really separate these two when it comes to who has better reflexes. These two young goalies are equally matched here.
Courtois is just as excellent at keeping out shots and making seemingly impossible saves as De Gea.
Reflexes? Let’s say they are equally matched.
2) Reach
We all know how important a goalkeeper’s height is as this directly influences how much of the goal the goalkeeper covers. Thibaut stands at 1.99m while David stands at 1.92m.
Thibaut courtois ! 1-0
3) Passing/Distribution
The spainard has a far better footwork than his Belgian counterpart. Courtois’ distribution is often questionable while distribution is one of De Gea’s strong points.
So De Gea! 1-1
4) One-On-Ones
Again in this category, we can’t separate these two. Courtois with his giant frame knows how to get his body in the way and use his long arms and legs to make crucial saves. He is a striker’s nightmare.
De Gea as well as found himself saving Louis Van Gaal’s side every now and then. David is also very, very good in 1-on-1 situations.
Full marks to both of them in this category
5) Aerial Ability
Collecting crosses, set-piece situations, punches? It is hard to separate them but by a very slight margin, Courtois edges out again in this category.
The Chelsea stopper very rarely fluffs his lines; De Gea on the other hand isn’t totally invulnerable. Often, we have seen the United keeper making mistakes when rushing out to punch a ball or collect a cross.
Courtois is better at collecting and punching away high balls.
Thibaut Courtois ! 2-1
Now that we are done with that, can we take a look at Atletico Madrid please?
Atletico Madrid And La-Liga
It is a very joyous thing to know that both Thibaut and David have played in the La Liga at one point in their career and coincidentally, they played for the same club.
From ‘09-‘11 , De Gea handed the reins, sorry the gloves, to Thibaut Courtois who was on loan from Chelsea. Courtois played from ‘11 to ’14.
How did they fare?
De Gea had a wonderful time at Atletico. Having joined them as early as 10, he made his way up through the youth ranks at the club.
When the club’s first choice goalie Sergio Asento was off on international duty (U-19s) he was brought in as a cover.
He then went on to make his debut at the age of 18. He however put up several impressive performances during his stay beating Asenjo to the no 1 spot.
Courtois joined Atletico on loan in ‘11 and became first choice over Asenjo, keeping 4 clean sheets in his 1st 6 games.
He also put off a very impressive performance against parent club Chelsea as atletico thrashed the blues 4-1 in the 2012 Uefa super cup. Atletico at the end of some vey stellar Courtois performances reached the finals of the Champions League.
Honors At Atletico Madrid (Team & Individual):
David De Gea
Europa league (09/10), Uefa super cup in 2010.
Courtois: la liga (13/14), Copa Del Rey (12/13), europa league (11/12 season), uefa super cup (2012) La Liga goalkeeper of the year 2013, Champions league team of season (13/14)
Oh yes! It is this serious. Minus one or two eyebrow raisers here and there, we all know how credible EA sports FIFA rankings can be. Let’s see how the two gentlemen fare on FIFA 15.
I'll leave you to make the final verdict! Comment and let me know who you think is better
Written by: @lordd_skillz
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