SchinnerC wrote:I think he is as good as anyone when it comes to shot stopping. One of the best young goalkeeping talent in the world, although I think Cortouis and Ter Stegen are better goalie all round.

As we know his main weakness is dealing with high ball because he isn't the tallest or biggest. Also, he has only been in England for 1 year or so, his comunication skills will improve. He has been having some problem with his parrying of shots, as we can see from the Liverpool match. Maybe he's trying to avoid giving away a corner so much (due to his weakness with crosses) that he's risking pushing the ball to an opponent.

De Gea is around 6'4-6'5.... He's one of the tallest keepers.

He's a good shot stopper....going to United was never the right thing. He's too young and too much pressure for him to handle at his age. His place isn't guaranteed at this time seeing that ferguson changes keepers every other game. Rumor has it Merengues want him in the summer.

He should go back to Spain.... He'll do much better.

Despite his height, De Gea is inhibited at the moment.He must get rid of all of his anxieties, because there are a lot of them.How can he do that?He must see something concrete.Something to reward his efforts and to make him able to recognize his own merits.It's a psychological problem at De Gea.The communication with the defenders improved a bit.Last season it was awful, but now it is reasonable.

I am confident that he is on the right path at Manchester United.I'll always keep him under my protection.

His good footwork would be pretty useful at Barca, btw. I wonder if ManUtd actually realize the opportunity they have with a GK who can pass so well.

rwo power wrote:His good footwork would be pretty useful at Barca, btw. I wonder if ManUtd actually realize the opportunity they have with a GK who can pass so well.

Can you remember this? What a moment .



Also, I have to tell you rwo that Sir Alex knows perfectly that he has in his squad one of the most promising GKs in the world.Everytime when De Gea was criticised in the newspapers and by fans, he was the one to protect and encourage him with well chosen words.

/delete

Well, to make real use of a GK who can build up play from behind, the other players need to work off the ball perfectly, too. IMO that is a deficit one can often see in English teams - they work well enough with the ball, but the players like to forget to occupy spaces without it. To make the best use of de Gea, the other players need to go where they can best get the ball from him and then launch into an attacking run. If that happens once or twice, this is fine, but IMO they could do this far more consistently.

rwo power wrote:Well, to make real use of a GK who can build up play from behind, the other players need to work off the ball perfectly, too. IMO that is a deficit one can often see in English teams - they work well enough with the ball, but the players like to forget to occupy spaces without it. To make the best use of de Gea, the other players need to go where they can best get the ball from him and then launch into an attacking run. If that happens once or twice, this is fine, but IMO they could do this far more consistently.

This is happening in EPL because teams don't have that 'free form' tactic of moving on the pitch without the ball like in La Liga for example.They have an organised linear style and it is obviously that it became a bit predictable.It works in EPL but not against more creative and dynamic teams...see the games vs Atl. Bilbao.Don't get me wrong.EPL teams are also creative and full of imagination but they prefer a more static style compared with La Liga and that's a bad thing in the direct duels.

That's why Manchester United failed to get out of the UCL group stages last year.De Gea and the team made a big mistake in the game against Benfica at OT.Spaniard had to kick the ball and he didn't see a good option for it because his teammates were static so he was forced to give the ball away somewhere in the first 40 yards.

vladdy wrote:This is happening in EPL because teams don't have that 'free form' tactic of moving on the pitch without ball like in La Liga for example.They have an organised linear style and it is obviously that it became a bit predictable.It works in EPL but not against more creative and dynamic teams...see the games vs At Bilbao.

*nod* In a way this is a real pity as this robs de Gea of one of his greatest strengths. That's why I think he'd feel far more comfortable in a La Liga (or even a BL) team.

vladdy wrote:That's why Manchester United failed to get out of the UCL group stages last year.De Gea and the team made a big mistake in the game against Benfica at OT.Spaniard had to kick the ball and he didn't see a good option for it because his teammates were static so he was forced to give the ball away somewhere in the first 40 yards.

IMO most English teams have this problem, starting from the NT. I really wonder why the PL coaches don't try to implement such a style - I mean, these coaches are no scrubs after all!

rwo power wrote:*nod* In a way this is a real pity as this robs de Gea of one of his greatest strengths. That's why I think he'd feel far more comfortable in a La Liga (or even a BL) team.

Well...transfering him to a La Liga or BL team can be a solution with instant effects for De Gea but for me as a Man United fan, it doesn't sound good; we payed for him a lot of money and he is still young.I am sure that Eric Steele (our GK coach) is working hard to help De Gea to adapt to EPL's style.He has all the support needed from his teammates and from staff.I would say it is better to not rush with him.

rwo power wrote:IMO most English teams have this problem, starting from the NT. I really wonder why the PL coaches don't try to implement such a style - I mean, these coaches are no scrubs after all!

The EPL coaches are conservative and they prefer to continue with the same british style.Maybe they believe that the old EPL spirit will be gone with the implementation of a new style.We are talking about the image of British football...

the only idiots who think De Gea is going anywhere are the english media who need to find a scape goat for this United team.

he is 22, SAF doesn't give up on youngsters, look at Evans he was horrible 2 seasons ago, like absolutely dreadful, he has stuck with him and his now probably better choice the Rio at CB.


plus the amount of money we payed for De Gea, is going to keep him around cuz we are not gonna sell him for a loss only 2 years later. Not like he has so many mistakes we are in a relegation fight lol

Question to MU fans: would you swap De Gea for Valdes?

Of course not. Why would we?

Valdes?

Begovic though is very tempting......

nah....de gea is younger and our contract is lengthy....

Just quality wise though. Not considering their age/contract, you seem they are equal? one is better than the other...?

We have patience with De Gea, we like him, we need him.We don't want to sell him --> we don't want to swap him with Valdes.

I don't even want to compare him to Valdes, it is useless.I don't know who is better, because I don't really care .

Great, great performance. The real deal.

That fingertip save......

*round of applause*

brilliant save.

Great performance today for sure, but a couple of games from now will he be the reason we drop points to someone? his problem is consistency, not talent. I want to see him continue like this for the rest of the season at least before I'm convinced.

He played well against Real Madrid, but his performance against Liverpool last season was far superior. He gets a lot of stick when he messes up, but in the same match he probably performed a save as equally valuable. He frequently makes outstanding saves, maybe not week in week out but it definitely is a regular occurrence.

I think with Van der Sar hardly ever making a mistake, hardly as in like once every two seasons, it would naturally make the goalkeeper coming afters mistakes be so talked about, because it was so rare under Van der Sar. For example, Hart is having a terrible season, and most people know it, but it's getting shoved under the carpet, because although he is compared against top goalkeepers around the world, none of them are as mistake free as VDS. There is no reason to compare him to Van der Sar, and therefore no real reason to scrutinize him.

I don't feel like my last point made any real sense, but in essence Dea Gea has higher standards to live up to than most goalkeepers.

P.S. remember last season when Arsenal fans would boast how much better Szecseny is than De Gea. Is it even a comparison now?

A perfect example of critics being ott harsh on De Gea was the after the game v Spurs recently. He made 3 top drawer saves that kept us in it, yet a soft 'mistake' (which I don't think was a mistake) and he got battered by the press for it.

It all snow balled after neville's extremely harsh criticism of him on MNF. I don't care what neville's done for us in the past, but in that instance, I thought he was a pr*ick for that. Tryna make out that our players wanted to ko de gea. Unreal.

From de gea's perspective, he's only 22 atm, came to a physically tough league, new environment, new country, away from family and friends, couldnt speak a word of English. All this while being a replacement for a veteran gk at one of the biggest clubs in the world and the most media exposed n scrutinised club in england. Could you imagine that? He's done incredible amidst all that.

He has shown a great level of maturity to bounce back from mistakes. All credit to david steele, who is doing a great job of looking after him and saf for ignoring the media bs and showing faith by constantly playing him this season.

We have a phenomenal young keeper in our hands. Once he irons out his weaknesses which are crosses and commanding the aeria, he'll be the best in the world by the time he is 26.

Fck the media for their hypocritical turnaround and they can stick their lavish praises about ddg up their backsides.

makes the valdes/De Gea swap the media hyped up laughable

Congratulations to him. He made the PFA team of the year.

He's been the best keeper in the league this season. I'm pleased he's getting the plaudits he deserves after a difficult start. Now those, other than Utd fans and clued up football fans, know what a class GK he is.

Most improved keeper? Yes, best keeper this entire season no way.

The best GK in the league has been LLoris followed easily by De Gea. Easily.