He was brilliant in also how he keep the balls from spilling for rebounds. He impressed me last night.
David de Gea | 2011-14 Performances
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The interesting thing about the save with his foot was that on the replay it almost seems as if he realises that his arms/hand are already over the line and if he uses them then the ball might cross the line. So instead he does the smart thing and uses his foot. Maybe I'm wrong and it was just instinctive, but looking at it a few times it really comes across that way because part of his body is over the line. Bloody class save.
Who is then? I can't think of a more athletic shot stopper at the minute.
I don't understand how the general narrative has changed so fast. Within 90 minutes he's gone from dodgy as feck to the guy who's grown beautifully into the Man United number 1. It's weird. He will make more mistakes, probably some big ones too and I fully expect the same people giving him both barrels once again.
There was still some hedging on De Gea's abilities from the various analysts I heard last night. And you could clearly hear in their voices a certain amount of grudging acceptance of De Gea's brilliant work on the night, as though it were a one-off, or wholly unexpected, something like a Michael Carrick hat trick.
But what's important, of course, is what Fergie thinks. Who among us can possibly know what Fergie thinks, but it's a pretty good bet that he believes De Gea is already a sensational keeper and that there's no reason whatsoever to sell him to a Spanish club this summer, unless silly money is put on the table.
But even pocketing silly money from, say, Barca, does anyone on the planet believe Begovic could have made either of those indisputably sensational saves? Nope. So, what's "price" do you put on a keeper who has that kind of ability? I have no idea, but if Barcelona or even Real want De Gea (yes, I understand Casillas is still there) they're going to have cough up a massive sum to get him. Personally, I hope Fergie resists all offers, no matter how ridiculous, but football is a business and if Fergie can get 50m for De Gea and pick up Begovic for 8m I realize it would be pretty hard to say no to that deal.
But what's important, of course, is what Fergie thinks. Who among us can possibly know what Fergie thinks, but it's a pretty good bet that he believes De Gea is already a sensational keeper and that there's no reason whatsoever to sell him to a Spanish club this summer, unless silly money is put on the table.
But even pocketing silly money from, say, Barca, does anyone on the planet believe Begovic could have made either of those indisputably sensational saves? Nope. So, what's "price" do you put on a keeper who has that kind of ability? I have no idea, but if Barcelona or even Real want De Gea (yes, I understand Casillas is still there) they're going to have cough up a massive sum to get him. Personally, I hope Fergie resists all offers, no matter how ridiculous, but football is a business and if Fergie can get 50m for De Gea and pick up Begovic for 8m I realize it would be pretty hard to say no to that deal.
It always takes a big performance in a huge televised games for pundits to change their minds. Standard stuff.
I'm perfectly ok with a flap or two if he continues making saves like yesterday.
He is already a brilliant keeper.
He is already a brilliant keeper.
The second save with his leg was typical De Gea.
At first he made good ground across the goal mouth. De Gea is known to stand up as long as possible. Thus he was prepared for a shot across the nets. De Gea was in a position to stop a high shot (standing up) and one across his nets. Subsequently the only way he was going to save that strike was with his foot.
Spanish GK more than UK goalkeepers tend to use their feet to make a save. They mentioned it as unconventional but that has more to do with outdated stereotypes of how one should goal keep.
Shmikes mentioned that todays ball moves so much it can be difficult to judge and catch so you need to adapt. The game has changed so why not goalkeeping?
At first he made good ground across the goal mouth. De Gea is known to stand up as long as possible. Thus he was prepared for a shot across the nets. De Gea was in a position to stop a high shot (standing up) and one across his nets. Subsequently the only way he was going to save that strike was with his foot.
Spanish GK more than UK goalkeepers tend to use their feet to make a save. They mentioned it as unconventional but that has more to do with outdated stereotypes of how one should goal keep.
Shmikes mentioned that todays ball moves so much it can be difficult to judge and catch so you need to adapt. The game has changed so why not goalkeeping?
I dont think anyones ever said that to be fair.
He reminds me a bit of Peter Bonetti, especially his cat-like reflexes and the way he saves shots with his feet and his hands.
Diego Alves, on his day, is the only one I know of who can rival him for reflex shot stopping
Was pissed off when the commentator slated him for missing a cross before the ball had even touched the fecking floor. They absolutely love it.
Massive performance last night. To have hands (and feet) that good against Real Madrid away at his age....
Massive performance last night. To have hands (and feet) that good against Real Madrid away at his age....
Keep your hands off him, you lot can't have him.
Yeah, and don't somewhat bafflingly go for him with your legs either.
........
Should be in the Spain squad now. He's in better form than Reina and Valdes.
We should give him a new contract. There's plenty of precedent for players we've signed young getting a big new deal after only a year or so, and it'd shut the papers up and hopefully discourage anyone who might think they have a chance of poaching him.
The biggest disappointment for me is knowing that pundits will go back to their ways in the next match.
Lets make no bones about it, I'm sure there's not a single one of us here who doesn't expect him to make more mistakes in the future but at the same time we're also not worried. I would continue to play De Gea even with his mistakes because with each passing game he can only get stronger and he's capable of the impossible as we saw last night.
But the press will go back to their ways no doubt, maybe now they will acknowledge his talent but then spout the same shit that he's got mistakes in him etc etc. I'll take him with his mistakes for now because they won't last forever and if he can get his aerial ability in tact then he'll become a complete keeper and has everything else in his locker to at least become a top 3-5 keeper in the world if not the best.
It's still a while yet til we see him in the bracket of unquestionably being amongst the best in the world, but for me that's the joy of football. The same way we got to see Ronaldo go from a boy to the best player on the planet, it will be equally as exciting for me to see De Gea go from a 'flappable' keeper to one of the best, if not the best, in the world.
feck the media and their narrow minded overnight changing views.
Lets make no bones about it, I'm sure there's not a single one of us here who doesn't expect him to make more mistakes in the future but at the same time we're also not worried. I would continue to play De Gea even with his mistakes because with each passing game he can only get stronger and he's capable of the impossible as we saw last night.
But the press will go back to their ways no doubt, maybe now they will acknowledge his talent but then spout the same shit that he's got mistakes in him etc etc. I'll take him with his mistakes for now because they won't last forever and if he can get his aerial ability in tact then he'll become a complete keeper and has everything else in his locker to at least become a top 3-5 keeper in the world if not the best.
It's still a while yet til we see him in the bracket of unquestionably being amongst the best in the world, but for me that's the joy of football. The same way we got to see Ronaldo go from a boy to the best player on the planet, it will be equally as exciting for me to see De Gea go from a 'flappable' keeper to one of the best, if not the best, in the world.
feck the media and their narrow minded overnight changing views.
He is in the squad, starting keeper for the U23 side
Ever since he was the coolest man on the pitch at the bearpit known as Anfield, I knew he was the one...
*bursts into RAWKesque song*
*bursts into RAWKesque song*
Love it. Thanks for posting.
I'm not very interested in any media praise for DDG; it's too late for them to rewrite their own history & expediently change the narrative. Even before the Real game kicked-off, the commentator on my stream felt it necessary to say: "Phenomenal shot-stopper, but he makes so many mistakes..."
feck 'em.
feck 'em.
Yes, De Gea
All my troubles seem so far away
We'll knock Barca of their perch come May
Oh I believe we're on the way
Why, you, had to come, it was fated in the end
Yes, you, cost a lot but you have to count net spe-e-e-end...
I'm in two minds about the praise but if they manage to make some articles like that last one with insight/thoughts from our goalkeeping coach then keep them coming.
Don't be fooled by the media's praise of De Gea after his sublime performance last night.
As soon as he makes another mistake, they will be back to their old ways.
As soon as he makes another mistake, they will be back to their old ways.
Lovely read.
No offence, but you lot are totally mental with your DDG/media paranoia
He's a brilliant talent, but he's made a fair few mistakes, as you'd expect for a keeper his age in a new side... and he's currently shite on crosses. No fecking come on, he is.
He plays for Man United, so every error will be noticed and highlighted, that's how life works.
He's a brilliant talent, but he's made a fair few mistakes, as you'd expect for a keeper his age in a new side... and he's currently shite on crosses. No fecking come on, he is.
He plays for Man United, so every error will be noticed and highlighted, that's how life works.
Yes plech that's correct, but it's just annoying when certain other keepers don't get the same attention to detail.
I deny these completely true allegations!
Yeah, he missed two last night, I'll leave the media to their usual shite. He's improving and that's the important thing, he has shown he has the correct mentality to be our Number 1 for a long, long time.
Exactly. Whether clueless media personalities finally acknowledge his outstanding talent and give him the praise he deserves is irrelevant. De Gea has always possessed the ability to be a top-class goal keeper. A single superb performance at the Bernabeu doesn’t magically change his worth to our team and certainly doesn’t justify the sudden extravagant tone the media’s using, as if an impeding curtain blocking their vision for 18 months has been inexplicably removed.
David de Gea looking the part in Manchester United's glove department
Spanish goalkeeper was signed young for £18.9m after the missed transfer of Petr Cech haunted Alex Ferguson for years
Daniel Taylor
The Guardian, Thursday 14 February 2013 18.05 EST
David de Gea of Manchester United makes a save with a foot during the Champions League draw at Real Madrid. Photograph: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
It was in an airless room, in the bowels of the Bernabéu, that we learned a little more about the young guy with the sloping shoulders and Tintin haircut who had picked his moment well to turn down the volume on his critics.
"In Spanish we call it cresta cabeza," Eric Steele, the goalkeeping coach who has taken almost paternal care of David de Gea at Manchester United, explained. It means, literally, quiff-head. "Any criticism goes off that quiff. That is the great thing about him. He's able to say: 'Right, fine.' He might have dark moments but he keeps them away from the training ground. If he is ever hurt, he doesn't show it."
Steele can pass off a little Spanish because he has been learning the language to help the lines of communication. De Gea's English is evidently improving, too, on the back of his twice-weekly lessons. On Tuesday, sitting beside Sir Alex Ferguson in a news conference in Madrid, he had wanted to show it off. "He was disappointed he got only two questions," Steele disclosed. "He was ready to answer some in English."
It is a brave man who is willing to try a new language in front of the world's media but, if there is one thing we are coming to learn about De Gea, it is that the 22-year-old is not short of courage.
There have been lapses, as might be expected of a goalkeeper his age, and it is a brutally two-faced media when the people stampeding to bury him a few weeks ago are now trampling each other out of the way to lavish him with praise.
Steele has said himself that De Gea was "slightly disappointed" with his first season in Manchester but perhaps now it is clearer why Ferguson, a manager who has described a goalkeeper's best attributes as maturity and experience, was prepared to replace Edwin van der Sar with someone half the Dutchman's age.
It was, Steele admitted, a calculated gamble. Van der Sar was 34 when he made his United debut and nearly 40 when he left. Peter Schmeichel was 27 when he signed. Fabien Barthez was 29 and Tim Howard 24. De Gea was 20 when he arrived in Manchester from Atlético Madrid for a fee of £18.9m. "The manager missed out on Petr Cech when he was younger and he didn't want to do that again. Joe Hart was the other one. The manager just said if this guy is as good as we think and we have scouted him strongly, then we don't want to miss out on him like we did with Petr Cech."
It has been a difficult journey at times. "You bring a boy into the Premier League at 20," Steele said. "It's not easy. He's learning in the toughest environment in the world. But the one thing he has is fantastic inner strength. We teach him that the calmest man on the field has to be the goalkeeper. And one of his great strengths is his calmness.
"There have been dark moments but he has his family close to him. He doesn't read the press. All the other mediums are there, which he knows about. But everything that has been going on around him for the last four or five months … trust me, he's very mature for his age. He's had to be because you're not just replacing a goalkeeper in Edwin, you're replacing a legend.
"It's not just about the shot-stopping. There's more to it. Put it this way, if you think about what David has been through, he has to have inner strength. He has dealt with it. And he's such a likable lad. He hasn't come in swearing and squeaking. He's just got on with his job."
What a job he did, too, against José Mourinho's team. As Steele put it: "He was born in Madrid, played for the enemy. There were all these different pressures on him – but you wouldn't have known."
De Gea had left the Bernabéu saying merely that he was "very happy" with his performance. Ferguson had described him as "superb", making "three or four top saves" and sparing United a potential ordeal with that slight yet decisive touch, at full-length, to turn Fábio Coentrão's shot against a post early on.
Steele blew out his cheeks in admiration. "That was the one. If we go one-nil down to Real Madrid after five minutes at the Bernabéu, that makes things a lot harder. He saw it late – one of their boys might have been offside in front of him – but he got a finger to it. Some [goalkeepers] may have had the anticipation. David also had the speed of the first-step movement and that great long reach to get enough on it. That's the fine line for a goalkeeper. That's why a goalkeeper can be a hero one moment and zero the next."
The key, of course, is consistency. De Gea will almost certainly slip back again at some point and the scrutiny will not let up, as it never does at a club of United's size.
"It's the variation of the Premier League," Steele continued. "We knew he had to go to places like Stoke, Birmingham, Wolves. That's what he's having to learn: each week is a different challenge. He's still growing physically. He's working hard on that. He'll get stronger physically and that will help."
It helps, too, that De Gea is in a working environment where they shelter their players. Ferguson and his staff have retained their trust in the Spaniard, accepting there will be mistakes, just as there were when Schmeichel, the greatest of them all, first arrived in England.
"We have a staff that closes ranks, stays together," Steele said. "We know what we have. We bring in a lot of young players here. The manager has always done that and, if you're bringing in young players, you have to have confidence in them and let them build and thrive. We just put the shield up. You're there to be shot at but that's fine, you deal with it. And David will be fine. He has always been a goalkeeper. He believes he was born to be a goalkeeper."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/feb/14/david-de-gea-manchester-united
Spanish goalkeeper was signed young for £18.9m after the missed transfer of Petr Cech haunted Alex Ferguson for years
Daniel Taylor
The Guardian, Thursday 14 February 2013 18.05 EST
David de Gea of Manchester United makes a save with a foot during the Champions League draw at Real Madrid. Photograph: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
It was in an airless room, in the bowels of the Bernabéu, that we learned a little more about the young guy with the sloping shoulders and Tintin haircut who had picked his moment well to turn down the volume on his critics.
"In Spanish we call it cresta cabeza," Eric Steele, the goalkeeping coach who has taken almost paternal care of David de Gea at Manchester United, explained. It means, literally, quiff-head. "Any criticism goes off that quiff. That is the great thing about him. He's able to say: 'Right, fine.' He might have dark moments but he keeps them away from the training ground. If he is ever hurt, he doesn't show it."
Steele can pass off a little Spanish because he has been learning the language to help the lines of communication. De Gea's English is evidently improving, too, on the back of his twice-weekly lessons. On Tuesday, sitting beside Sir Alex Ferguson in a news conference in Madrid, he had wanted to show it off. "He was disappointed he got only two questions," Steele disclosed. "He was ready to answer some in English."
It is a brave man who is willing to try a new language in front of the world's media but, if there is one thing we are coming to learn about De Gea, it is that the 22-year-old is not short of courage.
There have been lapses, as might be expected of a goalkeeper his age, and it is a brutally two-faced media when the people stampeding to bury him a few weeks ago are now trampling each other out of the way to lavish him with praise.
Steele has said himself that De Gea was "slightly disappointed" with his first season in Manchester but perhaps now it is clearer why Ferguson, a manager who has described a goalkeeper's best attributes as maturity and experience, was prepared to replace Edwin van der Sar with someone half the Dutchman's age.
It was, Steele admitted, a calculated gamble. Van der Sar was 34 when he made his United debut and nearly 40 when he left. Peter Schmeichel was 27 when he signed. Fabien Barthez was 29 and Tim Howard 24. De Gea was 20 when he arrived in Manchester from Atlético Madrid for a fee of £18.9m. "The manager missed out on Petr Cech when he was younger and he didn't want to do that again. Joe Hart was the other one. The manager just said if this guy is as good as we think and we have scouted him strongly, then we don't want to miss out on him like we did with Petr Cech."
It has been a difficult journey at times. "You bring a boy into the Premier League at 20," Steele said. "It's not easy. He's learning in the toughest environment in the world. But the one thing he has is fantastic inner strength. We teach him that the calmest man on the field has to be the goalkeeper. And one of his great strengths is his calmness.
"There have been dark moments but he has his family close to him. He doesn't read the press. All the other mediums are there, which he knows about. But everything that has been going on around him for the last four or five months … trust me, he's very mature for his age. He's had to be because you're not just replacing a goalkeeper in Edwin, you're replacing a legend.
"It's not just about the shot-stopping. There's more to it. Put it this way, if you think about what David has been through, he has to have inner strength. He has dealt with it. And he's such a likable lad. He hasn't come in swearing and squeaking. He's just got on with his job."
What a job he did, too, against José Mourinho's team. As Steele put it: "He was born in Madrid, played for the enemy. There were all these different pressures on him – but you wouldn't have known."
De Gea had left the Bernabéu saying merely that he was "very happy" with his performance. Ferguson had described him as "superb", making "three or four top saves" and sparing United a potential ordeal with that slight yet decisive touch, at full-length, to turn Fábio Coentrão's shot against a post early on.
Steele blew out his cheeks in admiration. "That was the one. If we go one-nil down to Real Madrid after five minutes at the Bernabéu, that makes things a lot harder. He saw it late – one of their boys might have been offside in front of him – but he got a finger to it. Some [goalkeepers] may have had the anticipation. David also had the speed of the first-step movement and that great long reach to get enough on it. That's the fine line for a goalkeeper. That's why a goalkeeper can be a hero one moment and zero the next."
The key, of course, is consistency. De Gea will almost certainly slip back again at some point and the scrutiny will not let up, as it never does at a club of United's size.
"It's the variation of the Premier League," Steele continued. "We knew he had to go to places like Stoke, Birmingham, Wolves. That's what he's having to learn: each week is a different challenge. He's still growing physically. He's working hard on that. He'll get stronger physically and that will help."
It helps, too, that De Gea is in a working environment where they shelter their players. Ferguson and his staff have retained their trust in the Spaniard, accepting there will be mistakes, just as there were when Schmeichel, the greatest of them all, first arrived in England.
"We have a staff that closes ranks, stays together," Steele said. "We know what we have. We bring in a lot of young players here. The manager has always done that and, if you're bringing in young players, you have to have confidence in them and let them build and thrive. We just put the shield up. You're there to be shot at but that's fine, you deal with it. And David will be fine. He has always been a goalkeeper. He believes he was born to be a goalkeeper."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/feb/14/david-de-gea-manchester-united
Pretty sure that article has already been posted in this thread.
Yep, thought i read it before. Its on this last page as well.
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