Overrated?
Some here would complain about Messi if he hit a few shots wide.
I don’t know if it was that shot but it wasn’t one that was going wide so I assume not.
I also never said it was the best save in the world. I said it would make Alisson’s highlight reel, which you can find in the Liverpool thread from last week.
Yes, 100% I'm saying he's overrated, massively overrated, he's the highest paid goalkeeper in the world yet his team are constantly leaking goals due to his inability to command the box like any half decent keeper does.
If that's not overrated then I don't know what is.
You, like many other are assuming those who don't rate De Gea that highly are basing it all on 'the odd mistake', I'm sorry but that's just not true, this is constantly happening and pulling off the odd half decent save doesn't make up for it.
If Messi, hit a few shots wide then no, he would hardly be criticised to this level, but if he was constantly doing it, showing no signs of improving this weakness and it was costing his team points then (a) he would rightly be criticised for it and (b) nobody, except us maybe, would be dumb enough to try and justify making him the highest paid attacker in the world.
In my view, we can either just accept that this is the way it is and, in turn, accept that our defence will always be a liability for us OR we can open our eyes to the problem and try to do something about it, like trying a new keeper out.
It's just unfortunate that even if we do now try another keeper out, we're still going to have to pay De Gea almost £400,000 a week because you can be sure that no other club will be stupid enough to pay him those sorts of wages.
I doubt his tackling would be a big talking point because he would likely play as a playmaker that would provide creativity due to his undoubted class.I’m starting to think that if Scholes was about now all some would focus on is his tackling.
He didn’t make a mistake.
He’s made a few in the last year but we’ve also been the weakest as a team that we’ve ever been, at least in many of our lifetimes. Perhaps the way the team plays contributes to leaking more goals.
If you can't see how that's a mistake, and also, not just a one off then, as I said, you're part of the problem.
Yes, I know the squad is weak right now, nobody is saying that the goalkeeper is the only issue, but it is an issue, that's my point and we're going nowhere until more people (most importantly our management team) notices that.
Everyone knows we need a creative midfielder for instance, and maybe a striker but nobody seems to think that the goalkeeper is an issue.
How can u blame the way the team plays for our keeper making individual errors?
It's a team game anyway, so him not being able to deal with crosses is a problem for the TEAM.
Is the 'the way the team plays' going to be this seasons excuse for him then?
For years it was because of the terrible defenders we have, which I tend to agree with to be fair, but there is also the possibility that playing with a keeper that has no command of the area doesn't help matters. The way Chris Smalling is now playing at Roma backs this theory up.
Then it was the contract situation that was the reason for his poor form, the most ridiculous excuse I've ever heard by the way.
How many more excuses are we going to have to through before people realise that the one common denominator in our ten year struggle to have a solid defence is De Gea?
Crazy to blame him for our defensive struggling the previous seasons rather than blaming the crap defenders we had in front of him. He's probably past his peak but he is the least to be blamed for anything that happened to United the previous few years.
As I said, I do generally agree with that but there surely has to be a slight doubt.
Ever since De Gea has been our goalkeeper literally every centre back we have bought has struggled.
Im guessing whoever the Atletico Madrid Centre backs where in his last season there also struggled because they conceded 53 goals in the league alone.
So, these guys are playing really well elsewhere (they must be or surely a 'top' club like Utd wouldn't be buying them) then we buy them and they look awful, then they leave, and often look good again (in Smalling's case, really good at Roma).
It's a pretty big coincidence.
Also, nobody is claiming that this is our only problem, the selection of Ashley Young and Andreas Perriera mystifies me even more this for instance.
As I said though, it's the way our fans and more importantly, our management team, are seemingly blind to this particular flaw that makes it an even greater problem in my opinion.
Maybe these CBs we signed have been struggling because they're poor ? Not like we have been signing top drawer CBs anyway. Who have we signed ?
Rojo : He was playing as a LB for Argentina in World Cup before signing for us iirc.
Bailly : Was a young talent coming from La Liga.
Lindelof : Another young talent coming from Portugal.
Maguire : Maybe the only defender with high profile name we have signed but he was never a 80m defender.
I don't get why should De Gea be blamed for their form.
If you ready my comment fully, I'm saying that I do agree with that, but I'm also pointing out that, if it's true that literally every centre back who has played with De Gea just so happened to be a terrible player, then it's a massive coincidence.
Players like Daley Blind and now Smalling also disprove this theory, thats all I'm saying.
They're playing in a better functioning team.If you ready my comment fully, I'm saying that I do agree with that, but I'm also pointing out that, if it's true that literally every centre back who has played with De Gea just so happened to be a terrible player, then it's a massive coincidence.
Players like Daley Blind and now Smalling also disprove this theory, thats all I'm saying.
They're playing in a better functioning team.
De Gea won the Golden Glove the season before last. He would've won it more having done more than his fair share in previous seasons too.
His clean sheet tally that season was the best in 9 years, when Edwin got 21.
The funny thing is his clean sheets were massively down to him as well, rather than Alisson's last season, which were largely down to the team.
Me or you could have won the golden gloves playing in that 'Mourinhio Park the bus defence'.
Do you want to back to watching that then just because our goalkeeper can't handle coming out off his line?
Ok. There’s not much point discussing it further.Me or you could have won the golden gloves playing in that 'Mourinhio Park the bus defence'.
Do you want to back to watching that then just because our goalkeeper can't handle coming out off his line?
Ok. There’s not much point discussing it further.
De Gea has been incredible for years, single handedly sparing us many an embarrassment in more than one season. One of the only keepers I’ve seen look incredible while having a shoddy defence in front of them. But I guess you’ll say that’s me overrating him.
So have a lot of players, I'm talking about the here and now.
Simple question then...
Do you genuinely consider him to be the best goalkeeper in the world?
The season before last? The one where De Gea massively outperformed every other goalkeeper in the league in terms of stopping expected goals? Seems you don't remember what our defence was actually like that year.
Right, but you said he’s always been overrated.
It doesn’t matter whether he’s ‘the best in the world’.
As I said, that year we were playing with much more defensive tactics, we were pretty much parking the bus, especially against the big teams, so it's pretty obvious we are going to keep more clean sheets playing that way, regardless of who is in goal.
Now, we're trying to play a bit more expansive and push up the pitch a bit more and it doesn't suit De Gea because he's absolutely woeful at coming out off his line.
So, if it's a straight choice between going back to watching us park the bus or trying out a new keeper that better suits this new style then I choose the latter all day long.
Judging by the amount of complaining we did about Mourinhio's style of play, I'm guessing most fans would have a similar view.
Yes, in my opinion he's always been massively overrated.
Fair enough, he's been a great shot stopper but he's so bad at other equally important aspects of goalkeeping that I personally don't think he should ever have been considered the best in the world.
If we compare it to an outfield player, Lukaku for instance, he's a really good finisher but nobody really considers him up there with the best because he lacks in other areas. In fact, that's the reason we got rid of him, how is this any different?
Of course it matters whether or not he's the best in the world if we're paying him the highest wages of any keeper in the world.
If he's not the best in the world then why do that?
The only real exception would be if a player was really young (e.g. Mbappe could arguably me more of an asset than Messi right now) but that's hardly the case, he's 30.
He clearly didn't watch DDG pulling out worldies disguised as saves out of his arse that season. Arsenal away is still a fond memory of mine.
Yeah, lets completely ignore all the stats because you say so
He clearly didn't watch DDG pulling out worldies disguised as saves out of his arse that season. Arsenal away is still a fond memory of mine.
Yeah, lets completely ignore all the stats because you say so
He is overrated. I was analysing his game and how it stacks to the modern keeper. What are the 4 main areas of keeping today?Yes, 100% I'm saying he's overrated, massively overrated, he's the highest paid goalkeeper in the world yet his team are constantly leaking goals due to his inability to command the box like any half decent keeper does.
If that's not overrated then I don't know what is.
You, like many other are assuming those who don't rate De Gea that highly are basing it all on 'the odd mistake', I'm sorry but that's just not true, this is constantly happening and pulling off the odd half decent save doesn't make up for it.
If Messi, hit a few shots wide then no, he would hardly be criticised to this level, but if he was constantly doing it, showing no signs of improving this weakness and it was costing his team points then (a) he would rightly be criticised for it and (b) nobody, except us maybe, would be dumb enough to try and justify making him the highest paid attacker in the world.
In my view, we can either just accept that this is the way it is and, in turn, accept that our defence will always be a liability for us OR we can open our eyes to the problem and try to do something about it, like trying a new keeper out.
It's just unfortunate that even if we do now try another keeper out, we're still going to have to pay De Gea almost £400,000 a week because you can be sure that no other club will be stupid enough to pay him those sorts of wages.
As I said, that year we were playing with much more defensive tactics, we were pretty much parking the bus, especially against the big teams, so it's pretty obvious we are going to keep more clean sheets playing that way, regardless of who is in goal.
Excellent post. This guy is a world class shot stopper and he's average to poor in every other facet of goalkeeping. Those saying that he is still the best keeper in the world or even world class are not being honest with themselves. He's been brilliant for us in many seasons but he has not been great for a couple of seasons (Tottenham and Arsenal aside).He is overrated. I was analysing his game and how it stacks to the modern keeper. What are the 4 main areas of keeping today?
i) command of area
ii) shot stopping
iii) distribution (passing, throwing, kicking)
iv) sweeping)
V) organising defence
VI) saving pens
I would say he excels in just one of these areas which to me suggests he is not a world class keeper. He is more Casillas and Joe Hart generation but keeper have evolved
He is overrated. I was analysing his game and how it stacks to the modern keeper. What are the 4 main areas of keeping today?
i) command of area
ii) shot stopping
iii) distribution (passing, throwing, kicking)
iv) sweeping)
V) organising defence
VI) saving pens
I would say he excels in just one of these areas which to me suggests he is not a world class keeper. He is more Casillas and Joe Hart generation but keeper have evolved
You misunderstand my point. I'm not saying we kept more clean sheets, I'm saying De Gea himself statistically prevented more goals than any other goalkeeper in the league that year and by some distance too. You seem to think Mourinho's park the bus tactics meant De Gea had an easier time than other goalkeepers when that simply wasn't the case. De Gea carried Mourinho's defence that year, not the other way around. If you take a quick look at the stats or even simply remember the actual games from that year it's very clear.
It was more a lack of options. The fear was that if we lost him we would only downgrade and buy Pickford or someone. At least De Gea can win matches at his bestExactly, yet most of our fans thought throwing a 6 year contract and a big pay rise his way was miraculously going to make these flaws vanish overnight.