Real Madrid: The stats aren’t good, but it may be too soon to call for Thibaut Courtois’ departure

Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has been in a slump for some time now and many Madridistas are now taking to social media to show their displeasure. Poor stats aside, it may be too soon to be calling for Los Blancos to look for a new shot-stopper.

Twitter is littered with frustrated fans blaming who they believed let Real Madrid down in Paris on Wednesday in the opening match of the Champions League group stage. As PSG cruised to a 3-0 win in the marquee matchup of the night, it was Thibaut Courtois who received the majority of the hate.

Courtois faced five shots on the night and managed to stop just two as Paris ran rampant for the entire 90 minutes.

While the second and third goals should not be blamed on Real Madrid’s number 13, the first goal is cause for concern. A run down the left flank from Paris Saint-Germain led to Angel Di Maria’s opener as he redirected the pass from Juan Bernat past Courtois at the near post.

Courtois should know that it is nearly impossible for a player running full speed to the end line to hit a ball back post in any circumstance. While Di Maria is fantastic with his left foot, Thibaut should have known he was bound to shoot near post.

This poor performance from the Belgian international looked even worse after he allowed two goals in the second half against Levante in a 3-2 win. And that is not only the reason Courtois was so heavily criticized.

Going head-to-head against his former teammate Keylor Navas for the first time, many fans looked at this match as a direct comparison between the two. The key takeaway here is that Navas faced zero shots on target while Courtois faced five.

The two shots Real Madrid did put on target were, unfortunately, disallowed for a handball and offside leading up to the goal.

Wait until the return leg at the Santiago Bernabeu to compare the two. Los Blancos need to actually test Navas for the argument to even be made.

The most frightening statistic regarding the goalkeeper is that he hasn’t kept a clean sheet with the club since February. It seems that Zinedine Zidane’s players are always putting their net-minder at a disadvantage by failing to track back or mark the right player.

The stats are worrisome, yes, but let’s look at the bigger picture here instead of heaping blame on one person. Madrid has now lost four consecutive Champions League matches without Sergio Ramos and despite PSG missing Neymar, Edinson Cavani, and Kylian Mbappe, Ramos’ absence was noticeable from kickoff.

We have to look at this situation the club is in now with goalkeeper depth realistically. Keylor Navas is gone and there is no bringing him back. Alphonse Areola is the back-up for this season and this season only. Andriy Lunin is again out on loan but is struggling to get meaningful minutes.

There might be an option with the youth team with Diego Altube, so, Thibaut Courtois is the club’s best option at winning trophies at the moment. Give the man until at least December before deciding to ship him off.

An overreaction is not needed at the moment.

Stay tuned to The Real Champs for more Real Madrid coverage!