Will you still be singing from ten Hag's hymn sheet if we were to sign a new number one in the summer?
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Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 58
- Clean sheets
- 25
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 2
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) look forward to a new life under Ruben Amorim. What system will we be playing? What players will impress? and how will it all go? We also say goodbye to Ruud Van Nistelrooy and review United's 3-0 win at home against Leicester City.
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So you do want ddg to stay?
Keep the clean sheets coming Dave
That ain't happening so don't worry about it.
People, especially United fans just like something to moan and whine about all the time. De Gea has had a great season and, just like every goalkeeper, has his moments, but he's the least of our worries right now. I wouldn't be crying about it if he was still our #1, which I'm sure he will be. He ain't going nowhere anytime soon, which is great news.
I think you might be a bit upset come the summer.
Weren't we quite keen on Yann Sommer until he moved to Bayern? Wouldn't be at all surprising if ten Hag is still committed to his building from the back style, which De Gea doesn't excel in.
Erm yeah they kinda do actually. Teams look at data alongside reports from their own scouts before taking decisions on any player. It’s hardly a new thing.
What do they do then? Write player's names down and put them in a hat?
They don't sit around and decide we're buying or not buying this player because his xG is this or that, they watch them
Why are we hiring data scientists then?
He did something very similar against Arsenal and I’ll never forget the PSG one, however I was having a convo with someone last night who claimed to be a keeper and said that keepers are coached to knock the ball away rather than catch in situations like that because the risk of dropping the ball in a more dangerous area is higher.
Now if it’s me I think he should be catching these all day and just be stronger. If you’re going to take a knock trying to catch then so be it, be more commanding of the situation and go through people to claim it as yours.
However just thought it was an interesting take and I suppose in the days of sport analysis and stats it probably makes sense.
I agree entirely tbh. People are WAY too quick to write him off. He has his weaknesses but we've much bigger fish to fry.
Keepers like Pope would just catch it, lie down and take the sting out of the game for about 30 seconds. Instead De Gea has us in pure panic mode.
I suspect there's some truth in the knock the ball away coaching, today the ball is lighter and swerves a lot more than it used to, that makes knocking away as opposed to catching a safer option overall
Its worrying when people say ddg has had a great season this season.
The clip above is worrying because it happens too often where , even if he doesn't catch it he could push it out for a corner, he could push it out wide , but instead it doesn't even leave the box.
Even with the risk of trying to catch it and dropping it, it shows he has now awareness of his surroundings and which players are close to him to take that risk.
I also think people forget what a great goalkeeper is. There is nothing imposing about ddg at all. I don't get this 'be careful what you wish for' in terms of replacing ddg, as If there are only five goalkeepers in the world to choose from.
The clip above is worrying because it happens too often where , even if he doesn't catch it he could push it out for a corner, he could push it out wide , but instead it doesn't even leave the box.
Even with the risk of trying to catch it and dropping it, it shows he has now awareness of his surroundings and which players are close to him to take that risk.
I also think people forget what a great goalkeeper is. There is nothing imposing about ddg at all. I don't get this 'be careful what you wish for' in terms of replacing ddg, as If there are only five goalkeepers in the world to choose from.
Pathetic goalkeeping.
Edit. Not concede.
Great shot stopper, back to his best, having a great season, world class etc
That's just lazy. You could dig out video like that on virtually any keeper. I could just as easily post videos of the great saves he has made this season but there's no point.
Every other PL keeper also make great saves now and again. He isn't rare.
Making great saves is the baseline of every goalkeeper.
That's why stats exist to tell a more objective view.
I do think he's returned to some form this season. Whilst I agree it won't be easy to find a new keeper, who will be able to slot in seamlessly, I don't think it's harsh to criticise De Gea's deficiencies at all, especially as they are extremely consistent and that we should be looking for an alternative for the near or long term future.
It’s useless to try to talk sense about De Gea here. The caf is a great forum but because De Gea had a miserable season 2 or 3 years ago a group of ultras here is on a mission to hear him down no matter what. Just a few days ago someone here hilariously claimed that De Gea was “arguably the worst keeper in the PL”, a claim to which I did not see a single dissent from. It has now become an article of faith now for some here that De Gea is shite regardless of his actual performances this season, which you quite rightly observe have been great.
Whether De Gea is paid too much is a different question. We overpay a lot of players, such as Martial, Maguire and Jones and I’ll be the first to admit that 375/week for any keeper is insane, but Dave was one of our best players last season (only Ronaldo was better) and has been great this season. But 375/week is too rich of a wage for a keeper.
Completely agree. He has his issues, sure but the way some people talk, you'd think he was a washed-up has-been. He ain't gonna last for ever...but he ain't done yet either. Like I said, he's the least of our worries right now.
Whoa, be careful! You're talking too much sense here. They even wanted Henderson to replace him as #1.....Henderson!!! Can you believe it?
I think De Gea fans are the only people in the world who think he makes saves that other keepers can't do - almost sounds like they think De Gea is the only keeper who makes saves full stop.
The stats are there, the eye test is there (unless you're turned on by him acrobatically diving around) , the links with other keepers are there - what more needs to be said about this guy
The stats are there, the eye test is there (unless you're turned on by him acrobatically diving around) , the links with other keepers are there - what more needs to be said about this guy
Thing is, the percentage of crosses into your box you stop is a countable thing. So while you're right that every keeper does something like that at some point, it's also true that something like 96% of goalkeepers in Europe's big leagues stop crosses more often than De Gea. That's a lot.
How many GKs have got more clean sheets than De Gea? Shots saved? Just asking for a friend.
Ok - stats that trally matter - only 4 teams in the PL have conceded less goals in the PL than United, 3 of those are in the top 4, 10 of the goals conceded were in 2 games, so all in all I'd say he's doing a fairly good job,
I think you can make arguments for De Gea being good or bad this season as per what your expectations are . I genuinely fail to see how anyone can watch football & United week in week out and genuinely say that he has had a GREAT season. If you genuinely believe that then you really need to watch a lot more football across the premier league
The source of the pizza chart (above) comes from the analysis below. And it's pretty obvious to anyone that understands the positional play principles that De Gea doesn't suit the style of play in question. Luis Enrique who similarly wants to dominate all phases of play and is a Champions league winning coach, had dropped him from the Spain squad. And the reason for that was because he wanted his keeper to initiate the attack in the first phase in possession and be a dominant presence in the box. And De Gea isn't good at either of those disciplines, which are a big part of goalkeeping in today's game.Great shot stopper, back to his best, having a great season, world class etc
When Schmeichel left the club at the age of 37, we lost a proactive keeper with a big box presence. So yes, we did lose a great keeper but the way we went about replacing him, was why we couldn't replace him adequately. Bosnich, Barthez, Taibi, Carroll, Howard etc were not going to replace him. But if we had tried signing Van der Sar from Ajax or Francesco Toldo from Fiorentina, then I believe one of those keepers would've replaced Schmeichel. Van der Sar as it turned out would arrive via Fulham, years later.
If we had attempted to get the best keeper to replace Schmeichel, then we would naturally be looking at the likes of VdS, Toldo, Pagliuca etc for that time period, and not the likes of the ones that actually arrived. So with the benefit of hindsight, it's easy to see why we struggled to replace Schmeichel.
It's also not about playing crazy high lines, but rather it's about being a dominant presence in the box and being good on the ball where the keeper is a net positive when it comes to baiting and resisting the press in possession. The high line and sweeping comes after.
So the question should be, do we want to successfully transition into a team that looks to dominate all phases of play or are we fine with ceding control of possession and allowing high calibre opponents to throw the spanner in the works by pressing and counter pressing us in our own defensive third? For me the answer is pretty straight forward, and it's about backing the idea of the manager, rather than backing a one dimensional goalkeeper.
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The anti DDG brigade are the QANON of football
Do you think De Gea excels at the main facets of being a top goalkeeper?
10 GKs have saved more shots the De Gea in the PL so far this season.
2 have more clean sheets than De Gea in the PL this season.
This is not 1993. In 2023 surely there are better ways of judging keepers than goals conceded & clean sheets
Of course there are but they need to come up with numbers that make him look good given that every proper statistic shows how poor he is.
Glad the club aint. Signing a new contract and all. ETH wouldnt want those wages on the bench
Checked everyone's beloved metric: PSxG - from yesterday's game.
Palace had 0.6 from their 3 shots on target- the stupid long range one, the fast but central close-range header, and the close-range instinctive finish. So another --0.4 for him.
Just going to repeat what I said about PSxG earlier:
Palace had 0.6 from their 3 shots on target- the stupid long range one, the fast but central close-range header, and the close-range instinctive finish. So another --0.4 for him.
Just going to repeat what I said about PSxG earlier:
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