We can do better than Varane

Awful argument to post a single video blunder of one of the best GKs of this era. Not surprising coming from you. You flip flop more then an American Politician.

Courtois' reaction time is far too slow and that's why our defenders end up making stupid mistakes infront of him. The commentator said something which I agree with. Had it been Keylord on the Varane own goal he wouldn't have been cute he would have taken the ball and Varane with him. Courtois was too trusting in that play. It's ok if a GK from Bilbao does that but we need our keeper to be more ruthless.

He has done the bare minimum right the past few games and it has helped us. But the PSG game was him back to being a disaster. How many of those crosses/shots did he palm right into the middle? Keylord on the other end palmed everything away which is bog standard for a supposed WC keeper. He plays as if he is a midget, when he should use his height to his advantage

I am tired of beating the same drum. Tibo is a terrible goalie, if he does the bare minimum right then I'll be ecstatic because he'll never do a Keylord or MaTS ever. Far too average for that. It'll not change Perez' mind though. We'll just have to be perfect again I guess

The bottom line is that Courtois is not responsible for that Varane blunder.

No need to discuss the merits of Courtois as a GK for us here, we all agree that he is less than ideal, but don't try to scapegoat him for things he is not a fault for, it's dishonest.

Tibo is good imo his faults are obvious but not horrible, as long as the defence do their jobs he performs well, against psg he made the defence nervous by spilling chances in dangerous areas for literally every shot , not trying to give varane a pass or anything he is clearly at fault.

These cheap goals are preventable just need to fbs to stop pushing up so high and stretching the cb all the time, even though ramos was fault at la real, Marcelo(carvajal) positioning is what causes these situations to arise, for as much as the fb get up the pitch there not that much end product, so playing a more balanced game like Mendy cuts down on the cheap goals cause the team isn't being stretched from to cover Marcelo chilling on the wings waiting for a pass, fb gotta get back more often than ball watching all the time.

You guys have to understand how central defenders work...  they figure out the range of the goalkeeper and act accordingly.  The problem with a GK that has literally no range off his line is that CBs feel like they need to deal with everything.  In Varane's case, he was actually tipping the ball out of bounds... but didn't see Courtois behind him, because he has no expectation of Coutois covering the ball.

As a result, the top actually hits Courtois that and fall to Mbappe.

It is Varane's fault because he's the one has the first touch... however, i'm pointing out a bigger problem:  The CBs don't trust Courtois with anything.  It's a problem.  

And no Chad, Courtois is absolutely a fraud.  He only thrived in the ultra defensive styles of Simeone, Mou and Conte.  On a team that attacks and actually requires range from a keeper, he's horrible.  He's been an error machine both with Belgium NT and Madrid.  His only good showing with NT was the WC.  Other than that, he has a blooper reel that rival's De Gea with NT.

His other big flaw btw are low shots. He was never the quickest... but now he's super slow getting down. Every attacker should just shoot low and force him to go down. There's a high likelihood of him spilling the ball even if he gets to it. He won't control his saves.

thanks for the trip down Varane's mind. He is still at fault for that goal, I dont care about Courtois' "Range" is.

you can continue shitting on Courtois if you want, i will agree with you, but that goal is Varane's fault

I never said it's not Varane's fault. I'm saying defender errors are far more common with poor goalkeepers.

Exactly

Varane is at fault but these mistakes will continue to happen as long as Courtois is our GK because the defenders dont trust him

I'm liking the Conetois is a fraud stance, keep it up. That being said, that mistake was all on Varane. Him not trusting Conetois is a problem but Varane is way too experience to be doing that. Clear your lines and then sort out the rest later. Because a corner and Conetois getting a lil kick would have been fine.

Most talented and in-form central defender in Europe

Unbeatable when on form, hope he kicks on from this last few months and dominate for the next years

When Ramos retires, God knows what will happen to our defence. He makes his partners look better than they are. When he is not there, it is glaring. When his partner changes, we don't even notice a difference

Ramos or no Ramos hasn't been the difference... it's the fact that Mendy is healthy and no Marcelo. Our defense has looked solid just by that fact.

Reason we struggle with Ramos out and Marcelo in... Ramos is used to Marcelo's numptiness and knows (somewhat) what to do. Everyone else is like "what the f is this guy doing!!!".

Varane is great and Militao is coming along well

We should perhaps focus on backups. Nacho is getting old. Vallejo might not cut it.

Hows Javi Sanchez doing? He was decent when he played last season

Javi Sanchez? Isnt that disaster CB we had in preseason?

He will follow Diego Llorente's path to a midtable club

Llorente’s been good at Sociedad. Would take him as a replacement for Nacho if he accepts being 4th CB

Llorente ain't leaving a starting position and the beaches of the Basque region to be 4th choice in Madrid. That's career suicide at this point.

Valkyrja wrote:Llorente’s been good at Sociedad. Would take him as a replacement for Nacho if he accepts being 4th CB

I disagree. He’s not been very good for Sociedad, and I don’t think he’s good enough to be our 4th choice CB. Sociedad’s defense is their greatest weakness. There’s absolutely nothing there that’s worth talking about.

halamadrid2 wrote:Javi Sanchez? Isnt that disaster CB we had in preseason?

He will follow Diego Llorente's path to a midtable club

That was Nacho although I do not remember Javi Sanchez playing in the preseason since it was a letdown in general

So Marcus are speculating that Varane might be thinking of going somewhere else. We already had this issue last time Zidane left because Varane wasn’t sure about staying, having won everything at such an early age. I see him going to England (Chelsea or Arsenal).

He has been poor lately, he has not grown into the leader we wanted but he is still an excellent CB, I would rather he stays but if he is leaving it’s an opportunity to sign a young stud.

Without knowing what will happen with Alaba, if we sell Varane for 50 millions or in that range, I suspect that’s the budget to replace him. De Ligt has a 80 millions clause, and same for Kounde. Upamecano is another hyped name but not sure he is ready. Would be nice if our scouting can identify those leaderships qualities in a prospect and make the plunge for some sure thing.