Another stunning performance,
Another stunning reflex save,
Another show of superiority,
Another display of growing confidence,
Then followed ….
Another slip,
Another miscommunication,
Another two points lost,
Another day of scepticism,
Another turn from being hero to zero,
Another evening of pundits ripping him apart,
Another day that United are selling him,
Another day in the life of David de Gea
David de Gea’s introduction to the English game couldn’t have been any worse. With the reputation as a glorified shot-stopper which coolness resembled a young aspiring Edwin van Der Sar, he was simply set up for failure. Letting in a long distance flyer for Edin Dzeko in the Community Shield was followed up by rather comical goal from Shane Long at the Hawthorns. Saying that David de Gea was comfortable in England was about as right as the size of the humongous goalkeepers’ shirt he was wearing. And that huge shirt is in many ways David de Gea’s career at Manchester United in a nutshell; he’s trying to fill out a shirt worn by goalkeeping legends like Peter Schmeichel and Edwin van der Sar. It’s simply impossible for a man who was about to turn 21 at the time of signing for the club to have the impact his predecessors have had.
The fact of the matter is that he’s being watched through a magnifying glass by anyone and everyone in the footballing world. He’s that “dodgy keeper” from Spain who steals doughnuts and can’t catch crosses. He’s weak and puny and can’t control his area. Had you said this a year ago you would be right.
David de Gea did really struggle in his introduction to English football and hadn’t it been for the repetitive injuries Anders Lindegaard had suffered, then he might not have been United’s first choice.
Overcoming the odds is something which is not new to David de Gea. He started off the 2009/2010-season as the third choice at Atlético Madrid, by the end of the season he was the undisputed number one at the club. Sergio Asenjo and Roberto had both been injured and De Gea’s simply took advantage of it, the same way he took advantage of being United’s undisputed number one with Anders being sidelined. He seemingly has an unbelievable belief in himself and his abilities.
To be frank, with all the flack and criticism that De Gea has had to take since coming to England, it’s quite remarkable how consistent and trustworthy he’s become as United’s number one goalkeeper.
Starting the 2012/2013 season and De Gea just looked the part, he had shown glimpses of being a potential world class goalkeeper in the past, but he now started to look up for the task at such a big club as Manchester United.
He wasn’t going to let himself become bullied by anyone. His pectoral area perhaps isn’t fit to be called concave yet, but he looked much more like a goalkeeper. The annoying part for Manchester United fans was that they were the only ones to notice it. Perhaps it’s because it’s routine that Manchester United have a solid goalkeeper? Whereas Manchester City, who now have Joe Hart, seemed much more reliable at the back than they had ever done.
Looking at Dave’s mistakes, the ones that stick out in many fans mind is the two goals against Swansea City and the Liverpool goal at Old Trafford last weekend, what people fail to realize is that the initial save he made in all instances is something most keepers in the world wouldn’t be able to do, yet, he is the one at fault, as the norm now has become.
Looking back to to the past weekend, the big discussion roars about De Gea’s involvement in Clint Dempsey’s stoppage time equalizer at White Hart Lane. You can definitely stake your claim and say that the Spaniard was at fault, but perhaps you should wonder why no one is marking and closes down Dempsey, why Lennon is allowed to cross, why does Vidic not move for De Gea to come out and collect the ball.
Sure, De Gea should of caught the ball rather than punched it in an earlier sequence, but putting the blame on him alone becomes a bit asinine when we take into account that he had been excellent up until that point, it becomes very misleading and very unfair.
Peter Schmeichel was still learning the ropes at Hvidovre in Denmark and Edwin van der Sar was on the bench during both legs of the UEFA Cup final at Ajax. They were both aged 22.
David de Gea is a European Under-21 Champion with Spain and has won the UEFA Europa League with Atlético Madrid as their starting goalkeeper in the final. Saying he’s not good enough for Manchester United is bogus when he is only 22 himself, able to surpass some of the greatest goalkeepers ever to lace up a pair of boots.
The fact of the matter is that he’s still learning. Hell, Cristiano Ronaldo used three years at United flopping around annoying fans with countless step-overs followed by him being brushed off the ball. The thing that binds Ronaldo and De Gea together, except for their Iberian background, is the obvious talent they both have. You could see that Ronaldo was to become one of the best in the world and you can see that De Gea will, eventually, become one of the best in the world. David de Gea just plays a much more crucial position where things get blown up tenfold for every mistake he does and every world class save is seen as something to be expected.
How can you ever win in that scenario?
Again, roll back to the beginning of the 2010/2011-season, have a look at those videotapes Rio Ferdinand made during the pre-season tour and look at the first few games De Gea had for Manchester United – No talking, no communication, no visual happiness at being at one of the biggest clubs in the world. It generally looked as he thought of himself as being misplaced and he looked misplaced in that huge kit he has wearing literally and figuratively.
Since then David De Gea has grown and he knows it, he now screams at defenders, constantly talking during the game, comes out for crosses and catches them, distributes the ball better than any keeper in the world and looks like he belongs at Manchester United.
Goalkeepers are like fine wine, they do get better with age. That thought alone is almost scary when thinking about how good David de Gea can become at Manchester United.
Yes, there are a few cracks to this wonderful mirage that has been painted, yes, there shouldn’t be any flaws in a Manchester United goalkeeper but Rome wasn’t built in a day either.
The progress seen in David de Gea is quite unique having gone from an uncertain, frail, silent goalkeeper, he now oozes self-belief, confidence and integrity. The lack in belief from people is widespread but the belief in himself seems to trump them all.
David de Gea has a long road ahead of him in terms of winning over the doubters, but for him it’ll be just another obstacle, just another hurdle and just another day in the life of David de Gea.
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25 replies on “Another day in the life of David de Gea”
Spot on Jonas!
Gary neville was a disgrace to united tonight on skysports.He can stick his hotel up his………..
Anyone slagging off De Gea can fickoff, I think he’s not just going to be the best goalkeeper in the world, this lad is goin to be one of the best that’s ever been. He’s going to be the Messi of goalkeepers You can’t spend shitloads of cash with someone like that then after a couple of seasons say that’s it. I love this lad and the mistakes that go with him. He’s exciting and who says goalkeepers are exciting. Just take a look at UTD in 4 yrs time. Lets love him, get him to sign another deal and we will dominate for the next 10.
Great first piece for RedMancunian Jonas
The brits dont like him b’cos he is better than their hyped flops.where was hart at de age of 22??fools!!!
Fuck off Neville you Busy Fucking Cunt.
Stop trying to keep coming across as, oh look at me and how unbiased I am.
As was said earlier, stick the hotel up your arse.
If De Gea were English the press would be creaming themselves over every save. Hart fucks up more than De Gea does but it’s always glossed over. Commentators can barely get the words out when De Gea makes a great save (which happens repeatedly throughout games) but when he makes a mistake they’ll be waxing lyrical about it 20 minutes later.
Some rubbish comments on here…. De Gea is a massive flop for the price we paid for him, anyone that can’t see that is deluded. We should cut our losses and allow him to leave to Spain, where he is clearly more suited to playing. We can’t afford to have him at our club if we want to win titles. Begovic, Vorm, Valdes, Stekelenberg, whoever just save De Gea from ruining his career at the wrong club, and ruining their cup chances in the process.
De Gea’s greatest fault in my opinion is his evident lack of effort. He watches as shots fly past him into the net, if you slow it down you can see him head follow the ball in. I ask, if he can move his head quickly enough, surely he could at least motion with his arms or legs. He’s our goalkeeper for god’s sake.
Our fans have had far too much patience with a player who plays a rather important role in the team…
Twat, you have obviously never played football as a goalkeeper if u don’t understand how your body can freeze when you become flat-footed, it happens to everyone on the plannet btw, also if you think begovic is better then de gea you have no clue about football whatsoever, begovic is an average goalie who plays with a good defence at Stoke. De gea will be great I just hope SAF’s successor doesnt replace him if he hasn’t hit his potential by then.
have u ever stand in those sticks?guess not..how many saves did De Gea did to save us in that game
Well your obviously not a real fan then oliver.
He has a lack of effort? It it wasn’t for his unbelievable saves , saving the team and the lazy defense time and time again i don’t know where we would be. If De Gea didn’t make those reflex saves against tottenham we would have lost the game 3-1. Why you would say replace him with valdes or steklenberg… They make mistakes too often more than de gea i would say but Valdes has Barcelona winning games to cover it up.
u think zt ur not united fun ddg save united many times to mantion some againt chelsea,arsenal,mancity somore even wit spurs he singlhanded save united first blame evra,then carrick,rooney they r useless againt spurs specially evra y he didnt mark lennon when ddg panche it couse may be he forget his postion rgt ddg is z mostr giftd goal keeper of all time ok
Remember CL Final ’99?
Mario Basler takes a free kick, Schmeichel just stands there, he knows he’s not going to get near it. Was Schmeichel a bad keeper??
As for the potential replacements, have you actually watched them with the same scrutiny you watch DDG with? I have yet to see anything in any of these ‘keepers that would make me think they could play at United.
As for the price…. well I’m pretty sure DDG didn’t dictate the price, it’s simply more pressure on the lad, and let’s remember, he is just a lad, still learning his trade.
I seem to remember people slagging off Fletcher when he first started playing, yet when he was at his best, before his illness, he would have been hard to replace, experience and determination got him there, just like they will for DDG.
Ah, Oliver.
Three paragraphs of loony rambling . I suppose you forgot to take your pills today? If you wanna troll, you could’ve at least have the sense to leave Valdes out. He’s nowhere near as good as De Gea.
Disagree that other keepers would not have got to those shots. That said, De Gea is a great stopper. However, he *has* to stop parrying right to opposition strikers. He was very fortunate to get away with another potential assist to Defoe. The punch which led to the tying goal by Spurs was comical. Vidic was right to glare, and Neville was right to point it out.
I guess people have no idea how hard it is to parry a ball from a shot out of play. He is parring it to the side not straight back infront of goal. He is doing everything right. He gets a big hand too the balls that are shot and they go to the side, not in front of the goal. It happens that strikers are following in on it which is not De Gea’s fault! its the defenders who should be following up. If he stops parrying to the side and parries to the front of goal he gets critisized still. People like to critisize him because he is an easy target.
I would love to see him fairly judged on the basis as other English men.van der Sah was great but did not save every ball that comes his way.even if the england media try to kill his Career, he can stil make it at any bid club
he will make it at United
ok so he was at fault for a few goals.. so what ? he’s 22 and he’s learning. this season it’s the first time that his mistake cost us points, and it might happen again but still at 22 he’s one of the best goalkeepers in the world, we should point out his fault but support him ! he’s going to keep learning and soon be the best.
DDG will be a legend after 2 decades.I’m sure about it.Where I don’t know.If I own MUFC club.I’ll not not do the same mistake by letting DDG go like(POGBA and Troubled(MORRISON)!!!! G…G….MU
hw can u say the mistake fr degea where the hell evra @ zt time ??? Evra ‘d blame fr zt goal z hole game evra is useless DDg is man of the match wit Rio hey gary chiken hw u say zt to ddg pls respect him he even singlehanded take united until last mint if he is not in z goaley we lost 4 or 5 spurs by far better team evra must blame not ddg
De Gea is a world class talent and I sincerely hope he stays with us for years to come. And as much I love Gary I was really disappointed with his critique, only helped add to the fire… this lad is only 22 for crying out loud! And the performances he has put in throughout the year has only boosted my confidence in his abilities and suitability as the United #1
I can say out of 100% shorts on target against man utd,de gea had saved 85%,dis shows a pass mark. David de gea has saved us alot dis season,he distributes d ball maturely,now full of confidence dan b4. A young goalkeeper performin @ dis age wil surely be a greate goalkeeper ever seen. Pls can u tel me a goalkeeper witout mistakes? Capital NO, 4 now david de gea one of d best in d world.
World cup legend hits back at Neville over De Gea criticism http://t.co/3X1I5tay
Nevile disappointed ♏ε with his post-match comment on DDG who was clearly the man of the match against Spurs. Ιƒ we sell this rare gem Ȋ̝̊̅ swear we wiℓℓ regret it for decades.
Nevile must be a fuckn retired player on criticizn ddg,4 wot?didn’t he also comit som evn sily mistaks dat alwas defend atakas by chosn to mov bak 4 dem,bt was compensiatd by saf by givn him regula tim of play til he nw retired as a grat futbola.so leav degea 4 us,we mufc fans lov him,so degea go on learning d more(just 22yrs.) nd becm d world legend.