David De Gea - is he good enough?

Robbo

Robbo

Robbo

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There has been a lot of talk about De Gea the last few days, mostly about whether Fergie wants to ship him off and get a more experienced goalkeeper in, or the goal that many feel was his fault at Spurs.

There are articles such as this claiming a replacement is being sought (though Casillas is obviously very wishful thinking):

Manchester United on the hunt to replace flailing goalkeeper David de Gea with Iker Casillas on their radar
Manchester United are actively searching for an experienced and imposing goalkeeper to replace David de Gea at the end of the season because of a growing acceptance at Old Trafford that the Spaniard is unsuitable for the demands of English football. Link
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Since his 'flappy' punch against Spurs, pundits have been discussing it with Gary Neville being arguably more critical than anyone. He admits he has great potential but feels that any good saves he makes are undone by the errors he makes.

I personally think he's obviously an exceptional talent, and his shot stopping is second to none, as are his reflexes. However, that's just one side of the game. Confidence, strength and dealing with crosses/corners are massively important, especially in the premier league. I can't picture De Gea being a 'buff' goalkeeper who can consistently win high balls into the box, as much as I want to, I just can't picture it on a weekly basis. I think there are probably goalkeepers who are better suited to the Premier League style of football than De Gea, he'll get there in time, but he's going to cost us some points along the way.

Is he really 'unsuitable for the demands of English football'?
 
He is young, he is inexperienced (relatively), he is a fantastic shot stopper but Utd cant afford to give him endless amount of time either.

If he was showing consistant progression, then there wouldnt be an issue - but imo in one game he can be commanding and really go for those balls in the air and deal with them effectively, and then the next match he is like a headless chicken/ vacant goldfish as the ball flies past him into the goal.

By all means get rid of Lindegaard and get in a more experienced keeper ahead of De Gea so we can give the potential a chance to grow within the club for another few years (although this could mean restricting the changes in the outfield team which is desperately needed also).

Is his commanding of his area and aeriel ability markedly better than the player who joined 18 months ago? Individual matches it could be argued that it is, but consistantly no - and Im just not sure how much longer Utd as a team can afford the inconsistancy.

He has without question saved Utd's blushes on some occasions, but whether these outweigh the "mistakes" he has made is questionable.

Utd have had plenty of injuries at the back this season (and some individual defensive errors), and that is partially the reason for the frankly terrible "goals against" tally - but it is also partially De Gea's fault for not being commanding enough and dodgy punching.

At the end of the day, whether this is fair or not, the GK is the heart of the defence - he gets all the glory with fantastic saves, but he also gets put under the microscope with every "bad" goal. Can De Gea continue to grow under this amount of pressure (as if being Man Utd's No1 isnt pressure enough)?
 
Good goalie, but not in the mould of previous greats.

He's not as vocal as previous Utd goalies, I get the feeling it's not his "defence" to marshall and have a pop at when mistakes are made. He's not imposing and commanding enough, and I think that plays on his mind, utd's defence, and any forwards having a pop at him. Having watched a lot of La Liga over the years, De Gea's main issue still lies with dealing with crosses, constant punch-outs in la liga, constant punch-outs in the Prem. Very little has changed in that respect since his Atlei days.

Good as he is, I'd take the hit and sell him on tbh, or demote him to 2nd keeper, bring in someone with more experience.
 
He is a young player.

He's better than other clearly **** players we have persisted with for eons so he will get at least that, plus more, as hes actually quite good.
 
He is good enough.

Being/was completely mismanaged by Ferguson constantly switching keepers.

Any keeper who goes to United, every single goal conceded is so closely analysed to see what can be blamed on them, it is pretty ridiculous.

The guy is a fantastic shot stopper/good with his feet/good distribution. Many people remember Reina's hilarious mistakes in his first year and a bit? He didn't turn out too bad did he.(Albeit crept back in every since Woy decided he needed to be more english and xavi valero is gone, he has improved drastically but getting the De Gea treatment by some fans looking for scapegoats.)

Aren't there larger issues with United's defence?
 
Fergies main concern has to be that De Gea has not settled in the UK, his long term girlfriend refused to move from Spain and he has difficulty with English even after 2.5 years in English Football with many United Defenders including Vidic reported as prefering Lindergaard.

It is widely known that De Gea is unhappy and homesick and that ultimately affects his future with United, which is a shame as De Gea is a fantastic Goalkeeper with heaps of potential and if he could settle both professionally and personally he would be a major asset for United for years to come. I doubt that will happen however and I expect to see him transfered to Spain sooner rather than later. The only saving grace is that United can expect to recoup their £17m investment at the very least.
 
Gary Neville says David De Gea's team-mates will be "unforgiving" over the mistake that cost Manchester United victory at Tottenham.

The Spanish goalkeeper's weak punch to the feet of Aaron Lennon in the dying moments at White Hart Lane allowed the Spurs winger to set the Clint Dempsey's equaliser, a result which saw United's lead over title rivals Manchester City cut to five points.

Sky Sports expert Neville said the body language of Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra and Danny Welbeck in the immediate aftermath of the goal showed that they were "furious" with the goalkeeper and is certain that words will have been exchanged in the dressing room afterwards.

"The idea that they're saying 'unlucky mate, let's go and have a drink.' That is not that place. Anybody is misguided if they believe that is what happens," he said.

"There is an incredible amount of accountability in that dressing room, this is not a place that is forgiving. This is not a place where you won't get people who will confront each other when mistakes are made.

"If you play at that club, in that dressing room under that manager it's not a case of destroying his confidence, it's about learning fast.

"You've got to learn the hard way and he's learning in a very unforgiving environment where he's judged continuously at the highest level."
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http://www1.skysports.com/football/...nd-more-of-David-De-Gea-after-Tottenham-error

Here's an article on Neville's comments.
 
Of course he should stay, the only reason he should be leaving is if he's unhappy and hasn't settled in England. He's a fantastic talent, if you look at how well he's done with an injury prone, ever changing defence in front of him (who in turn have a pants midfield in front of them) the start he has made has been incredible.

Anyone blaming him for the draw against Spurs is quite frankly an idiot. Several other players played a far more vital role in that goal and he'd already made several excellent saves to deny goal scoring opportunities (stand out ones were Dempsey from a few feet away and the wonderful save from Bale's deflected shot).
 
Shamikebab said:
Anyone blaming him for the draw against Spurs is quite frankly an idiot. Several other players played a far more vital role in that goal and he'd already made several excellent saves to deny goal scoring opportunities (stand out ones were Dempsey from a few feet away and the wonderful save from Bale's deflected shot).
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Yep.

I think Neville is a good pundit and he may be right, but if Evra/Vidic/Welbeck think De Gea should be held accountable didn't Evra/Vidic make mistakes in the build up? Why did the midfield sit on top of De Gea and not press out? De Gea can only save so much, what was it 15 shot from Spurs? 4 from United? Bit more to blame than De Gea.


Needs rid of that horrendous beard, verging on neck beard.
 
Purdy said:
As much as I rate him expecting to recoup £17m at the very least is a little bit of an exagerration.
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Not according to the Spanish media and pundits, with reports that both Real and Barca (who reportedly tried to sign him once already) willing to pay in the region of £22m either upfront or as part of a wider deal with players moving in either direction. So, no I don't think recouping the transfer fee is an exaggeration or unrealistic.
 
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If what Neville says is right and the defence gave him an earful in the dressing room then I'd be giving it both barrels back if I was De Gea. He baled us out of the **** numerous times against Spurs and the one time he needed help the defence ballsed up royally.

Considering what he's come into, he's done fantastically well. He's had an ever-changing and, at times, shaky defence in front of him. You can't forget that he is still a young guy with two of the most experienced CBs around in front of him and it's taking him time to grow into that role. He's also taken over from van der Sar who is arguably our greatest ever keeper (if not, then our second greatest), but he too made plenty of mistakes in his first few seasons, just as Schmeichel did before him. Even later in his career, I think back to 2010/11 where his mistakes against WBA cost us our clean sweep of home league matches. These things happen for all keepers.

Yes, his punching is dodgy from time to time but he also makes saves very few keepers could. He is excellent with his feet and his distribution is usually spot on.

We need to persist with him, and help him develop physically and mentally. It's no surprise that he is struggling to settle with the pressure the media heap on him though. The best thing we can do is give him a solid run in the team till the end of the year, and it would help if Fergie was more prepared to defend him publicly because it makes him an easy target at the moment.

I can't help but think Hansen's article on Monday was just an attempt to unsettle us, while on Sky even Redknapp took issue with Neville's comments. I wonder sometimes if Nev goes too far trying to prove his impartiality, I think if he'd taken a step back there he might have come to a more reasoned conclusion.
 
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Castiel said:
Not according to the Spanish media and pundits, with reports that both Real and Barca (who reportedly tried to sign him once already) willing to pay in the region of £22m either upfront or as part of a wider deal with players moving in either direction. So, no I don't think recouping the transfer fee is an exaggeration or unrealistic.
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Not sure why Real would replace Iker once Mourinho is gone.

Could maybe understand Barca, they did pay stupid money for Song didn't they?
 
I think he's good enough tbh. Even with the odd mistake he's still better than half the other goalkeepers in the league. There's only a handful of goalkeepers in the world that could be purchased that would be any sort of an upgrade realistically. United aren't going to just grab someone like Neuer/Casillas easily and for a reasonable fee.
 
Cassillas would surely be ideal to helpand develop De Gea in the short term rather than replace him
 
De Gea's problems seem more confidence related though, I'm not sure how signing a stopgap keeper would benefit him, if anything it would hinder his development. He needs to be playing games and he needs to be more assured of his position.

Casillas could easily play for 8 more years and he's as likely as De Gea is to look flappy under crosses. We'd end up with an extra wage and an extra space in our squad taken up for no real benefit.
 
No goal keeper is 'mistake free' as no outfield player is either.

I'm absolutely baffled as to why Manchester United would want to let him go, he's going to be a fantastic goal keeper, just let him develop. Also; there isn't many goalkeepers that will be a marked improvement on De'Gea without costing a small fortune.
 
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