One thing all Chelsea fans know is that this season has been a disastrous season for the West London club with several high profile players not being good enough.
The likes of Eden Hazard who was the star of last season and was even voted the League's Best Player by his peers , have been unable to match the feats of last season. Hazard on his own, has not scored a league goal since the new campaign after making 26 appearances. This has led to the sacking of Portuguese tactician Jose Mourinho in December , even with his record of being the most successful manager in the clubs history.
Also not to be exempted is Belgian Goalkeeper Thaibaut Courtois , who has not been at his previous best. What makes matters worse is that club veteran Petr Cech was sold to rivals Arsenal, so as to allow Courtois blossom . While Cech has gone on to revive his fading career at Arsenal, re-establishing himself at Arsenal as one of the best goalkeepers in the world, and is currently in line for nomination as one of the best players of the season, Courtois has made a mockery of himself and has been a calamity at best as games against the likes of Bournemouth and Swansea have shown .
It is against this that the recent statements of Courtois, while on international duty with the Red Devils of Belgium is not only laughable but smacks of over bloated image of one's self. Courtois had this to say , "The level of training is higher with Devils(Belgium) ; there are only world-class players here, while at Chelsea, there are some players a little less rated and we often train with youngsters as well". On his rumoured exit to Real Madrid he said : " I do not say yes , I do not say no. I don't know. I still have three years on my contract. We must see what Chelsea want . It is true that this season has changed me. Until now I had always won a trophy every season. We hope that next season will be better", he concluded . The problem is that while Courtois has failed to realise that he should shoulder most of the blame for blues inconsistency . Courtois also did not perform better than his below average team mates as he failed on several occasions to inspire the team or make game changing saves in crucial games.
Statistics show that Courtois can only boast of four clean sheets in 19 games while the less rated Bosnian Asmir Begovic , has four clean sheets in 12 games (seven games less than Courtois'). Also Courtois has conceded an average of 1.21 goals, while Begovic is worse with at 1.50. Begovic meanwhile has performed better as he has made a season average save of 2.17 per game while Courtois who refuses to shoulder any blame has 2.16 to his game, having played more seven games compared to Begovic. This is not also stating that Courtois benefitted immensely from the change of guard in coach, as he has played under the new coach who has an unbeaten record while Begovic played with the former.
Having said that, one cannot credit Courtois with the new found form as he did not do any better throughout November after his return from three months injury under the former coach.
This season, Courtois has been abysmal to say the least and must accept and concentrate on upping his game to return back to his best, instead of slaying his team mates in an effort to make himself look better.
Finally, Courtois must focus on his game and resist every temptation to talk to the press as he has not repaid the faith the club showed in him by parting company with club legend and former goalkeeper Petr Cech.
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