Courtois is yet to be tested in the Premier League but has looked extremely solid when called upon and his commanding of the area is 2nd to none. De Gea has been United's best player and a major reason in why they are 3rd and still able to challenge Chelsea/City for the title. I'll happily admit defeat re what I said about De Gea a couple years back, he is easily one of the best in the world.
That's unlike you to be over exaggerating something.... How's Herrera 'best midfielder in Spain' doing...
There are certain goalies (Buffon, Schmeichel, Courtois (if not now he will be soon), Kahn) that I think plenty of strikers when facing them, genuinely question themselves before they take that second touch of the ball or pull the trigger. I believe De Gea is building that same presence. I think Courtois needs to show more examples of it as you said, bcos he's not been tested and players haven't seen him at his best. But they have with De Gea and he is building a reputation. Right now, who would your average prem striker want to come up against one on one, given the choice? Not saying one is better than the other btw, I'll leave that pissing contest well alone. Both are quality.
Tbh I think it's a bit early to put either Courtois or De Gea in the same bracket as Schmeichel, Kahn, Buffon, VDS or a pre injury Cech. I'd say both of them have reached a level of keepers like Seaman, Reina, and Given at his peak. Strikers facing those keepers would know that you couldn't count on the keeper making a mistake, you had to hit a quality strike if you were going to score, but also that if you hit a quality strike you probably would score. Where the top class keepers stood out is that even if it was a quality strike, right in the corner with the keeper apparently beaten, there was still a chance the keeper would somehow claw it out. Saves like Schmeichel against Rapid Vienna, VDS from Torres, Kahn from Deco etc would always stick in players minds. They knew that even if they hit it perfectly the keeper could get to it, and that's the sort of psychological edge that helped them stay at the top for so long. Neither De Gea or Courtois have quite mastered that yet imo, but with the number of saves De Gea is making this season he's probably getting pretty close to having some strikers beaten in their mind before they even hit the ball. Sterling and Balotelli were definitely in that situation by the end of the game, although they are admittedly not the best examples of good strikers!
Matth you say that about every United player, you're bound to get some right. A bit like 'the sun' when they claim they got an exclusive right!!
