Courtois not worried about Man City error, bullying tactics in penalty area

I don't have access to the full version of the interview in today's Nieuwsblad, but their preview for it does contain a few words from Thibaut Courtois about his recent troubles (?), especially when it's come to claiming crosses and staying strong under pressure.  So off we go to the Google Translate machine and then we try to make sense out of them.

"I know they're here in England put more pressure on the keeper, but the first time Agbonlahor was even on my feet."

"They should take more account with the goalkeepers. Sometimes you really serious errors that are not called. That may one day also expire less for a goalkeeper because you get elbows against you, so that's certainly not pleasant. (laugh) I think Agbonlahor really wanted out of the game keep me in place, because they know that I like hatching. But that does not matter to me, I will keep trying to get it. "

Now Gabby Agbonlahor is one of those secretly dirty players, so it's hardly surprising that he was constantly harassing, body-checking, swiping at the ball with his hands, and standing on Courtois's feet on set plays and other crossing opportunities.  But the good news is that Courtois is aware of it, and is determined to not let it affect him.  Even if the referees won't protect him (from, say, Škrtel elbows) or the match announcers fail to see obvious fouls and thus influence the narrative negatively.

But what about the one big error, the flap against Manchester City?

"That is part of it and then you have to just regroup. I was just a little surprised that Milner suddenly appeared before me. Every keeper makes his mistakes. Many train and continue to do as I am doing. Against Liverpool I had a good game against City indeed, that goal after anyway."

Sounds like the self-confidence necessary to do the job of goalkeeper is still very much there.  (Good!)  And the young man did indeed have back-to-back Man of the Match performances in both legs of the League Cup semifinal.  While any cross he fails to claim comes as a shock to the system -- mostly because they've been such rare occurrences -- Courtois has been rather excellent for basically the whole season.  And it should only get better from here on out.