Former MU players like Rio Ferdinand or Peter Schmeichel should rethink their defense of David de Gea over the past month.
When Ferdinand “attacked” critics of the Spanish star, the former MU midfielder declared “the goalkeeper needs to be good at blocking and I don’t see anyone better than De Gea”. The former MU midfielder even said that he is the type of person “according to tradition and a goalkeeper should still be best at using his hands”. Not many people will disagree with Ferdinand on that, including coaches who prefer good goalkeepers like Pep Guardiola or Mikel Arteta.
The fact that a goalkeeper knows how to block the ball with his right hand is a mandatory requirement, a necessary condition, but not a sufficient condition like the way Ferdinand is making excuses. Pep or Arteta need more comprehensive goalkeepers than before, not because they want to downplay the importance of blocking the ball with their hands.
Mistake repeats
De Gea can excel in the first half decade of playing at MU. But since the last few seasons, the Spaniard has not maintained the same form as before. No goalkeeper in Europe’s top 5 leagues has made more direct errors leading to goals in all competitions this season than De Gea (4 times).
De Gea made an unforgivable mistake in MU’s 0-1 loss to West Ham. Photo: Reuters.
Besides the slow shadow phase after Said Benrahma’s shot, leading to a goal that MU had to receive in the morning of 8/5 (Hanoi time), De Gea had many awkward passes when pressured by West Ham. There are no lessons to be learned from De Gea after disastrous mistakes since the beginning of the season.
Worse, that mistake can make the season’s efforts of coach Erik ten Hag and his students fall into the sea.
De Gea made a mistake in the second leg of the Europa League quarter-final against Sevilla, contributing to MU being eliminated from this playing field despite having a two-goal advantage. To the match against Tottenham Hotspur in the 33rd round of the English Premier League, when the score was 2-1 for MU, “Rooster” made a high pressing situation. De Gea was forced to break the ball up after a pass from his teammates. Marcus Rashford failed to challenge in the air shortly after, allowing Harry Kane to steal the ball and make a pass for the Korean striker to score.
MU lost points in 3 of the last 4 matches in the Premier League (1 draw, 2 losses) and they are in danger of falling out of the top of the Champions League next season. The bad performance of the Spanish goalkeeper contributed greatly to that poor series of matches from the “Red Devils”.
Even Ferdinand changed his voice with De Gea after MU lost to West Ham. “Is he good enough to play in the new MU system”, this expert assessed. “Only Ten Hag can decide and we’ll know that at the end of the season.”
Two weeks ago, Peter Schmeichel said that De Gea is “a Manchester United legend and deserves another chance”. However, every legend has an end and with a team struggling in the return process like MU, drastic change is needed.
Ten Hag must be cruel
De Gea’s contract with MU will expire this season and Ten Hag has a great opportunity to eliminate the Spaniard. The Dutch strategist still defends De Gea after the defeat to West Ham. “MU is not worried about De Gea,” Ten Hag announced. “Yes, it was a bad error, but mistakes are part of football. Football is a team sport. Like you said, all season De Gea has kept the most clean sheets. With For this failure, everyone is responsible.”
De Gea makes MU fans unable to rest assured. Photo: Reuters.
However, everyone knows how good Ten Hag is at socializing, especially in the two cases of Harry Maguire and Cristiano Ronaldo since the beginning of the season. De Gea has never been Ten Hag’s preferred type of goalkeeper since he began his coaching career. Especially when the 1990-born keeper risks ruining his first season at Old Trafford.
MU is now just ahead of Liverpool, the team ranked 5th, one point on the rankings. “Red Devils” have the advantage of playing one game less than the port city team, but MU’s current performance is far from the opponent.
Liverpool won 6 consecutive matches in the Premier League and they are on a different level than Tottenham or Brighton, who are also chasing MU. “Red Devils” will also meet Wolves, Bournemouth, Chelsea and Fulham in the last four matches in the Premier League this season.
Just make any more mistakes, the prospect of falling out of the top 4 with MU becomes obvious. At that time, winning the League Cup or FA Cup could not save the season of the “Red Devils”. If that happens, De Gea will most likely have a sad ending at Old Trafford.
