Thibaut Courtois lacks the attitude, ability necessary to play at Chelsea

Once upon a time, Thibaout Courtois was one of the best young players in Europe. Now he is simply a par-for-the-course goalkeeper with a detrimental attitude. He simply cannot be allowed to infect the rest of Chelsea’s squad anymore.

Thibaut Courtois does not inspire confidence in Chelsea’s goal. He undermines his teammates and does not accept blame. Chelsea needs to move on from the Belgian for someone younger, eager and willing to develop.

Brian Clough brought goalkeeper Peter Shilton to Nottingham Forrest in 1977. They went on to achieve historic successes. Shilton holds the England national team record for caps, and is an iconic figure in the game. When people criticized Clough for the amount of money he spent on Shilton, he responded:

"It gave everyone more confidence. It spread through the side … The defenders felt safer, and the forwards thought if we could nick a goal, there was more than an even chance that the opposition wouldn’t score at the other end."

Shilton himself said “as a goalkeeper, you need to be good at organizing the people in front of you and motivating them. You need to see what’s going on and react to threats.”

Thibaut Courtois is particularly bad at organizing his defense. His relationship with his teammates is poor, undermining any desire he may have (he doesn’t) to motivate them.

Perhaps most troubling about Courtois is his inability to accept blame and use it for motivation. This is a simple barometer for maturity in a healthy adult.

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During a particularly bad stretch last season, Courtois said “I prefer to play with Belgium’s defence than Chelsea’s.” Rather than taking it on the chin and using it to improve he blamed his defense. He also selfishly forced Chelsea to sideline goalkeeping coach Christophe Lollichon, blaming the Frenchman for his poor form.

That’s right. Rather than accept blame, buckle down and work harder under the guidance of a recognized revolutionary, Courtois thought it was better to end Lollichon’s employment.

Remember: Lollichon made Petr Cech into the legendary goalkeeper he is.

Thibaut Courtois is almost pitiable. He should be a great goalkeeper but does not have the mentality for it. Unfortunately, that is the most important part of being a goalkeeper. Few are made with it. Developing a winning-keeper’s mindset takes gross amounts of concentration and the mental ability to sustain isolation and pressure.

Courtois simply does not seem to have the mental side of the game to go with his huge frame. He brushes off his failures far too casually and sets the blame on others.

Lev “The Black Spider” Yashin, perhaps the best goalkeeper of all time, once said:

"What kind of goalkeeper is the one who is not tormented by the goal he has allowed? He must be tormented! And if he is calm, that is the end. No matter what he had in the past he has no future."

That Courtois is OK with his mediocrity is the biggest problem. He fails to be the sort of leader a goalkeeper needs to be and is also not improving at the rate he should be. A goalkeeper simply must be a leader. There is no half-way on this. If your goalkeeper is not one of the leaders of your team then he cannot be a member of the team. Simple.

Chelsea should bench Thibaut Courtois for the foreseeable future. Asmir Begovic is at least as good as Courtois is right now. That’s not a ringing endorsement, but sorry, it’s true. Begovic also does not make detrimental, selfish and spoiled comments in the press.

If not Begovic, Chelsea should play Marcin Bulka. The 16-year old is one of the most highly rated goalkeeping prodigies in Europe. At 6’ 5’’ Bulka has a similar frame to Courtois and equally good reflexes. Sitting silently as a teenager, he would already be doing a better job as a leader than Courtois. At least he wouldn’t be doing any damage.

He is very young, absolutely, but the greats start at that age. Iker Casillas debuted at 19. Gianluigi Buffon and Petr Cech debuted at 17, and Gianluigi Donnaruma of AC Milan did so at 16.

If Marcin Bulka made 40 appearances a year for Chelsea during the next 15 years, Chelsea could have a 600-appearance legend and leader of the team on their hands.

Courtois simply is more negative than positive in how he affects the game. He will be 25 by the time the season is over. He is nowhere near the level he should be as he enters his prime. He was part of the class with Manuel Neuer and David De Gea when they all debuted years ago. Now where would he place? Not even close to them.

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If Real Madrid really has sent Courtois get-well-soon faxes then Chelsea should wait until the offseason and assess Real’s needs and willingness to pay. Chelsea bought Thibaut Courtois for just under £8 million euros. Despite his flaws, with a willing buyer they should be able to fetch at least £30 million for him.