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2017-18 Performances


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6.8 Season Average Rating
Appearances
46
Clean sheets
22
Goals
0
Assists
0
Yellow cards
0
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Ederson just conceded 19 times but with fewer clean sheet, meaning they keep letting one or two odd goals happen. I think that trend will continue to the end of season.
We only conceded 18 times, but when we do concede it tends to be 3 or 2 goals in one games. 25 clean sheets this season i think for DDG. Something he deservely get.
 
He's definitely one of the best goalies around. However, one thing that few talk about is his poor distribution and clearances. Against Tottenham, we could easily have conceded a goal from one of his poor clearances. His technique isn't that good as he uses the inside of his foot too much, as if to play it safe, which you can see from the swerve he often gets when clearing the ball. His awareness and quick thinking to find players in positions is not as good either. One might argue that our players are static; however, watch Romero find those players time and time again, much quicker and with much greater accuracy and speed on the ball than DDG.

It should almost be against the law to criticise a player that single handedly keeps us in games and wins us points. On the other hand, we play a defense with Jones and Smalling whom neither are good at bringing the ball out from attack, and neither are great passers. Rojo also seems to love the hoof ball. When DDG seems to be at that level instead of having the calm of Lloris or the passing ability of Ederson, then DDG also has to be said to be a factor in why we struggle to build from the back. I actually think we somehow play better from defense with Romero in goal.

When Liverpool pressed Tottenham's defenders, Tottenham would play the ball all the way back to Lloris, who would find a midfielder or a fullback with a pass, thus find space behind the Liverpool players who rushed forward. When teams press high, there is space to exploit. Smalling doesn't have that ability, nor does Jones; when they pass it back to DDG, he doesn't have that ability either, and our fullbacks need to drop deep and not be an attacking outlet.
 
He's definitely one of the best goalies around. However, one thing that few talk about is his poor distribution and clearances. Against Tottenham, we could easily have conceded a goal from one of his poor clearances. His technique isn't that good as he uses the inside of his foot too much, as if to play it safe, which you can see from the swerve he often gets when clearing the ball. His awareness and quick thinking to find players in positions is not as good either. One might argue that our players are static; however, watch Romero find those players time and time again, much quicker and with much greater accuracy and speed on the ball than DDG.

It should almost be against the law to criticise a player that single handedly keeps us in games and wins us points. On the other hand, we play a defense with Jones and Smalling whom neither are good at bringing the ball out from attack, and neither are great passers. Rojo also seems to love the hoof ball. When DDG seems to be at that level instead of having the calm of Lloris or the passing ability of Ederson, then DDG also has to be said to be a factor in why we struggle to build from the back. I actually think we somehow play better from defense with Romero in goal.

When Liverpool pressed Tottenham's defenders, Tottenham would play the ball all the way back to Lloris, who would find a midfielder or a fullback with a pass, thus find space behind the Liverpool players who rushed forward. When teams press high, there is space to exploit. Smalling doesn't have that ability, nor does Jones; when they pass it back to DDG, he doesn't have that ability either, and our fullbacks need to drop deep and not be an attacking outlet.
I do wonder how much work we do with on the practice ground for the keepers distribution and general comfort on the ball. Both VDS and DDG seemed to decline noticeably during their time with us. They were/are still above average, but it's not the strength that it was when they joined us.
 
I do wonder how much work we do with on the practice ground for the keepers distribution and general comfort on the ball. Both VDS and DDG seemed to decline noticeably during their time with us. They were/are still above average, but it's not the strength that it was when they joined us.

VDS was leages ahead of DDG with the ball. Not only is DDG's technique when kicking the ball worse than the best, but his awareness seems a little poor as well. The best goalies, in terms of distribution, know where their players are before receiving the ball, just like the best midfielders are aware of where their passing alternatives are. DDG has his head down too much for that. As I said, Romero is much better in that regard, and I would imagine they have the same coach.
 
Has saved less penalties than Mignolet or Karius this season. :D
 
He's definitely one of the best goalies around. However, one thing that few talk about is his poor distribution and clearances. Against Tottenham, we could easily have conceded a goal from one of his poor clearances. His technique isn't that good as he uses the inside of his foot too much, as if to play it safe, which you can see from the swerve he often gets when clearing the ball. His awareness and quick thinking to find players in positions is not as good either. One might argue that our players are static; however, watch Romero find those players time and time again, much quicker and with much greater accuracy and speed on the ball than DDG.

It should almost be against the law to criticise a player that single handedly keeps us in games and wins us points. On the other hand, we play a defense with Jones and Smalling whom neither are good at bringing the ball out from attack, and neither are great passers. Rojo also seems to love the hoof ball. When DDG seems to be at that level instead of having the calm of Lloris or the passing ability of Ederson, then DDG also has to be said to be a factor in why we struggle to build from the back. I actually think we somehow play better from defense with Romero in goal.

When Liverpool pressed Tottenham's defenders, Tottenham would play the ball all the way back to Lloris, who would find a midfielder or a fullback with a pass, thus find space behind the Liverpool players who rushed forward. When teams press high, there is space to exploit. Smalling doesn't have that ability, nor does Jones; when they pass it back to DDG, he doesn't have that ability either, and our fullbacks need to drop deep and not be an attacking outlet.

His ability on the ball was always clear ever since he was young IMO, part of growing up in the Spanish system.

I think it's clear Mourinho doesn't put a lot of emphasis on this and instead prefers for de Gea to just go long to Lukaku instead of mucking around with it.

I honestly think he is better on the ball than Lloris and this would be clear if he played under a manager who put more emphasis on this.
 
His ability on the ball was always clear ever since he was young IMO, part of growing up in the Spanish system.

I think it's clear Mourinho doesn't put a lot of emphasis on this and instead prefers for de Gea to just go long to Lukaku instead of mucking around with it.

I honestly think he is better on the ball than Lloris and this would be clear if he played under a manager who put more emphasis on this.

Then why is Romero's passing so much better than DDG's when playing for the same team, under the same manager with the same players in front of him? VDS was much better with the ball as well. Even Johnstone tried to make more incisive passes than DDG does.

If he was better than Lloris with the ball, he would be showing that - he doesn't. Far too often he hits the stand, clears the ball half way into our own half, often to an opposition player. He needs to work on his distribution with the ball at his feet and his handling in the box - shot stopping, he's the best in the world.
 
For some reason, Schmeichel was never good at saving penalties either... VDS was pretty good though, right?

I was looking forward to jumping on this quote with the flamethrower, but after a little research - it appears you're correct.

According to this source, Schmeichel saved 1 of the 26 penalties he faced during his career. The famous penalty save vs Arsenal in the 1999 FA Cup semi final.

...and going by the same wesbite, Van der Sar stopped 8 out of 54. Memorably three in a row vs Chelsea in the charity shield, not to mention that UCL final.
 
Penalty save stats aren’t everything. A lot depends on the quality of the penalty, a good one is nigh on impossible to save even if the keeper dives the right way.
 
For some reason, Schmeichel was never good at saving penalties either... VDS was pretty good though, right?
Nah VDS was pretty bad. Couldn't save a penalty to his left. Nearly every player in the Champions League final against Chelsea went to VDS' left, they all scored pretty easily, bar Terry who missed the target. VDS even pointed to his left before Anelka's penalty, who ended up shooting to VDS' right and he saved it.
 
I was looking forward to jumping on this quote with the flamethrower, but after a little research - it appears you're correct.

According to this source, Schmeichel saved 1 of the 26 penalties he faced during his career. The famous penalty save vs Arsenal in the 1999 FA Cup semi final.

...and going by the same wesbite, Van der Sar stopped 8 out of 54. Memorably three in a row vs Chelsea in the charity shield, not to mention that UCL final.

Christmas already? Or did I use up my one correct fact so early in the year?

It's about stopping the right ones. But considering Schmeichel's size and reflexes, he was surprisingly poor at penalties. VDS was better, but 8/54 isn't great either. Have you checked Neuer's stats? They ought to be pretty good.
 
Nah VDS was pretty bad. Couldn't save a penalty to his left. Nearly every player in the Champions League final against Chelsea went to VDS' left, they all scored pretty easily, bar Terry who missed the target. VDS even pointed to his left before Anelka's penalty, who ended up shooting to VDS' right and he saved it.

Nah, but he was visibly slower towards the end of his career, which showed in that penalty shootout where he did look a little slow. Funnily enough, as a goalie, I was always much better making saves to my right than to my left.
 
Nah, but he was visibly slower towards the end of his career, which showed in that penalty shootout where he did look a little slow. Funnily enough, as a goalie, I was always much better making saves to my right than to my left.
Hah yeah when I play with mates and end up in goal I'm good to my right but atrocious to my left as well.
 
I was looking forward to jumping on this quote with the flamethrower, but after a little research - it appears you're correct.

According to this source, Schmeichel saved 1 of the 26 penalties he faced during his career. The famous penalty save vs Arsenal in the 1999 FA Cup semi final.

...and going by the same wesbite, Van der Sar stopped 8 out of 54. Memorably three in a row vs Chelsea in the charity shield, not to mention that UCL final.
Saved one in the Euros as well from Van Basen that I can remember. Though those stats are obviously only for club games with English clubs.
 
For some reason, Schmeichel was never good at saving penalties either... VDS was pretty good though, right?
Schmeichel was awful at it, and Van Der Sar was okayish, at best. De Gea is better than both (11/41 or 27%), which essentially means that he saves every fourth penalty. Not the most convincing stats if we ever need him in a shootout, but still around the mean. For example, 'penalty specialists' like Sevilla's Sergio Rico have career stats of 29.1%, while Leverkusen's Bernd Leno has career stats of 23.7% which is actually worse than De Gea. Interestingly, Buffon who has reputation of not that good at pens, has actually career stats of 31.31% which is better than any keeper I can think of. Our own Romero is at 29.4% which is actually better than De Gea.

Essentially, unless the keeper is awful at pens like Cillersen (11%), statistically wise, the keeper won't make much difference in penalty shootouts. Of course, reality is a bit different, and we have cases like Van Der Sar saving three pens in a row against Chelsea, or Jan Oblak (a good keeper at penalties) not even trying to save them in the final of UCL. Pen shootouts are mostly decided by players.
 
Remember Alan Hansen's comments about him?

Is this the Hansen comments you're speaking about?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...-as-he-does-not-have-trust-of-team-mates.html

Looks quite funny in hindsight. Especially the bit how we won't steamroll Arsenal...


Still, that was De Gea's Premier League debut, a week after the Community Shield, and he was already battering him. Which is fine, because Hansen has a knack of causing the exact opposite to happen whenever he makes damning comments on United. We could do with some Hansen voodoo right now. If only he could write an article about how shite Lukaku is.
 
Schmeichel was awful at it, and Van Der Sar was okayish, at best. De Gea is better than both (11/41 or 27%), which essentially means that he saves every fourth penalty. Not the most convincing stats if we ever need him in a shootout, but still around the mean. For example, 'penalty specialists' like Sevilla's Sergio Rico have career stats of 29.1%, while Leverkusen's Bernd Leno has career stats of 23.7% which is actually worse than De Gea. Interestingly, Buffon who has reputation of not that good at pens, has actually career stats of 31.31% which is better than any keeper I can think of. Our own Romero is at 29.4% which is actually better than De Gea.
Neuer has to be mentioned here, who is a beast at penalties. According to transfermarkt, he saved 35,7% in his career, (15/42, excluding youth and U21 games). Not documented in those stats are penalty shootouts, where he saved 2 each against Porto, Real and Italy, and several more in other shootouts.

But all in all Diego Alves probably takes the cake.
 
Neuer has to be mentioned here, who is a beast at penalties. According to transfermarkt, he saved 35,7% in his career, (15/42, excluding youth and U21 games). Not documented in those stats are penalty shootouts, where he saved 2 each against Porto, Real and Italy, and several more in other shootouts.

But all in all Diego Alves probably takes the cake.

If I'm calcuting correctly then Handanovic is at 36,7% and Diego Alves is at 45,5% :wenger:
 
Schmeichel was awful at it, and Van Der Sar was okayish, at best. De Gea is better than both (11/41 or 27%), which essentially means that he saves every fourth penalty. Not the most convincing stats if we ever need him in a shootout, but still around the mean. For example, 'penalty specialists' like Sevilla's Sergio Rico have career stats of 29.1%, while Leverkusen's Bernd Leno has career stats of 23.7% which is actually worse than De Gea. Interestingly, Buffon who has reputation of not that good at pens, has actually career stats of 31.31% which is better than any keeper I can think of. Our own Romero is at 29.4% which is actually better than De Gea.

Essentially, unless the keeper is awful at pens like Cillersen (11%), statistically wise, the keeper won't make much difference in penalty shootouts. Of course, reality is a bit different, and we have cases like Van Der Sar saving three pens in a row against Chelsea, or Jan Oblak (a good keeper at penalties) not even trying to save them in the final of UCL. Pen shootouts are mostly decided by players.

Good post! A well placed penalty with decent placement should go in. There are different techniques and decisions used. I remember Rekdal, a former Norwegian national player said that a good penalty taker would miss 1/10 penalties. He also claimed that you should make up your mind as to where you wanted to place your shot, and even if the goalie goes early, you should always stick to what you originally planned. He was, in fairness, pretty good at taking penalties.

Do you know Taffarel's stats? He always seemed to save a few for Brazil, as do Neuer for Germany and Bayern.
 
De Gea is instructed to play long. I mean there can't be any other explanation for it. He ALWAYS kicks it long and that tactic is maybe why we don't see his distribution a lot. Against Spurs and many other times this season he must've gone long at least 10 times during the game. Another reason he's under instruction to do this is because none of our CB's are comfortable playing the ball out from the back so it could put us under unnecessary pressure if they try to pass it. If that's going to be the tactic we want to use then he should focus on his long kicks and perfect them. They aren't always accurate and a good long ball which always finds its target is just as important as short passes and playing it out from the back. Ederson's long kicks are a very good weapon for City and even Pep mentioned this. They're like bullets at times but it goes unnoticed because people associate Pep's teams with short passes only.
 
If I'm calcuting correctly then Handanovic is at 36,7% and Diego Alves is at 45,5% :wenger:
Of course. I knew that there was a ninja keeper in Spain who saved a lot of pens, but forgot it was Alves, who frankly speaking, is a very average keeper otherwise.
 
Schmeichel was awful at it, and Van Der Sar was okayish, at best. De Gea is better than both (11/41 or 27%), which essentially means that he saves every fourth penalty. Not the most convincing stats if we ever need him in a shootout, but still around the mean. For example, 'penalty specialists' like Sevilla's Sergio Rico have career stats of 29.1%, while Leverkusen's Bernd Leno has career stats of 23.7% which is actually worse than De Gea. Interestingly, Buffon who has reputation of not that good at pens, has actually career stats of 31.31% which is better than any keeper I can think of. Our own Romero is at 29.4% which is actually better than De Gea.
Buffon’s reputation of not being good at pens comes from the 2006 World Cup final, where he faced 5 penalties and dived the wrong way every time (Trezeguet hit the bar). His record otherwise is very good.

De Gea’s record of 27% surprises me. I didn’t think he was that good at penalties.
 
Buffon’s reputation of not being good at pens comes from the 2006 World Cup final, where he faced 5 penalties and dived the wrong way every time (Trezeguet hit the bar). His record otherwise is very good.

De Gea’s record of 27% surprises me. I didn’t think he was that good at penalties.

I have the feeling he used to save more penalties in his first 3-4 years with us and then declined a bit. Same for his distribution which was very good under LvG.
 
De Gea’s record of 27% surprises me. I didn’t think he was that good at penalties.
I have the feeling he used to save more penalties in his first 3-4 years with us and then declined a bit. Same for his distribution which was very good under LvG.
According to tm again, only five of his penalty saves were actually for United, the rest for Atletico and Spain U21. So his Utd record is 5/26 (19,2%). If I'm not mistaken, he's also never been in a penalty shootout either, so he had no chance to build a reputation there so far. He was very good in that pre-season one against Real, though.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/david-de-gea/elfmeterstatistik/spieler/59377
(No guarantee these stats are 100% accurate, of course).
 
Newcastle 1:0 Man Utd
Another 'routine' De Gea save there from Shelvey. His standards are so phenomenally high now that we're not surprised anymore.
 
Different class, it’s not even worth contemplating life without him. Pay him what he wants, we can’t afford to ever let him leave.
 
Most goalkeepers would've got huge praise for the save he made from Shelvey but most just see it as routine from him because those are the standards he has set.
 
Made a very good save, one thing I didn't like was when we had a free kick at the end of the match I thought he should have kicked it a bit further into the box as we still had to try and get the ball in when we got it.
 
Total number of saves made per club in the Premier League, 2017/2018:

1. Swansea City (100)
2. Stoke City (95)
3. Crystal Palace (90)
4. Manchester United (87)
5. Burnley (86)
6. Everton (86)
7. Leicester City (83)
8. Brighton and Hove Albion (82)
9. Newcastle United (82)
10. Southampton (80)
11. West Ham United (77)
12. AFC Bournemouth (76)
13. Huddersfield Town (73)
14. Watford (72)
15. Arsenal (66)
16. West Bromwich Albion (66)
17. Tottenham Hotspur (57)
18. Chelsea (54)
19. Liverpool (48)
20. Manchester City (44)

Source: https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/clubs/saves

The harsh truth about our season so far. We can't defend. Also another reminder that De Gea by far is our best player. Give him a new contract and fatten up his pay check substantially, now.

Without Dave's saves we'd be as burnt as Rojo's toasts.
 
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Total number of saves made per club in the Premier League, 2017/2018:

1. Swansea City (100)
2. Stoke City (95)
3. Crystal Palace (90)
4. Manchester United (87)
5. Burnley (86)
6. Everton (86)
7. Leicester City (83)
8. Brighton and Hove Albion (82)
9. Newcastle United (82)
10. Southampton (80)
11. West Ham United (77)
12. AFC Bournemouth (76)
13. Huddersfield Town (73)
14. Watford (72)
15. Arsenal (66)
16. West Bromwich Albion (66)
17. Tottenham Hotspur (57)
18. Chelsea (54)
19. Liverpool (48)
20. Manchester City (44)

Source: https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/clubs/saves

The harsh truth about our season so far. We can't defend. Also another reminder that De Gea by far is our best player. Give him a new contract and fatten up his pay check substantially, now.

Without Dave's saves we'd be as burnt as Rojo's toasts.
Promote this lad, mods. Types sense.
 
and there's people on this board that say they wouldn't mind him leaving. have to throw the treasure chest at him for him to stay
 
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