David De Gea Appreciation Thread

sullydnl said:
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But, apparently this "expert" knows best :rolleyes:

Newbies and their sh**posting!

ifightdragons said:
I appreciate he is finally gone. Had a few great shot stopping years from 2014-2017.

Massively overrated outside of those years. And arguably, overrated within those years as well. Although his shot stopping was world class, every other area of his play was and always has been genuinely bad. Even when he was considered "the best in the world".

Been stopping us from evolving our playing style for the last 5 years. We should have sold him and banked the cash when we had the chance.

Been a good servant and deserves respect for longevity and attitude. But also been earning 3-4 times more than what he's worth.

I don't consider him a legend, or even a top 3 goalkeeper for our club. He's one of the most overrated players in modern football imo, and people who adore him solely judge keepers by shot stopping.
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Oranges038 said:
Was talking about this the other day. DDG always had the capacity to make some incredible relfex saves. But, overall aside from a couple of seasons where he went near or above 80% for shots saves. On the whole his shot stopping is/was average when compared across the board and a number of seasons. Regularly being in the low 70s.

Even when people harp on about chances and shots against and defenders they had in front of them etc, both faced on average about 130 shots against in the league. But VDS arguably played in a side that was much more open and attacking and played higher, rather than one who sat in and looked to play on the counter like DDG for the most part.

VDS even at Fulham was high 70s, at Utd he was over 80% for 5 seasons straight. In 05/06 VDS faced the most of all his seasons, 182 shots in the league and had an 82% save record.

At his "peak" DDG never faced that many shots in the league. 140 when he got 80% in 17/18. The one time he faced 180 shots he let in 57 goals and had a save % of 70%.

VDS was just a much much better keeper in every department.
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VDS played in a time when players took a lot more low probability shots. There's a reason several goalkeepers regularly got quite a bit over 80% back then (and basically never these days), and it's not because keepers are much worse at saving shots these days. Alisson is a great shot-stopper (probably the best goalkeeper in the world over the past 5 years), with fantastic post shot stats for the last season and yet he's sitting at a 71% save rate.

Just as football has moved on from De Gea in terms of what is expected of him, football has changed much since then and it's meaningless just to compare save percentages from different eras to determine who is a better shot stopper or what not.
 
Single handedly covered for shite defences over the years. Goalkeepers aren't appreciated for their primary function anymore in the modern game. Now it's all about their ability to recycle possession.

If not for Mourinho, then he could have worked on that during his prime years. Was too late in the day for it to happen under ETH which is a shame. He's still the best shot stopper around. He be a godsend to any team that has concedes a lot.
 
Imagine playing for the same club as #1 for over a decade, while being named their best individual player for most of those years and there are still some miserable haters who cannot find a good word about you in an appreciation thread...

Great goalkeeper, saved us countless times, to the point where it began to be expected. Not his fault the club management was a disaster during his tenure.

Thank you for everything Big Dave!
 
SirScholes said:
Save % says otherwise
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Does it?

Nah, it doesn't because since his United debut only 3 keepers with over 100 appearances have higher save percentages. So as far as keepers in his era go, he is right up there.
 
CoopersDream said:
VDS played in a time when players took a lot more low probability shots. There's a reason several goalkeepers regularly got quite a bit over 80% back then (and basically never these days), and it's not because keepers are much worse at saving shots these days. Alisson is a great shot-stopper (probably the best goalkeeper in the world over the past 5 years), with fantastic post shot stats for the last season and yet he's sitting at a 71% save rate.

Just as football has moved on from De Gea in terms of what is expected of him, football has changed much since then and it's meaningless just to compare save percentages from different eras to determine who is a better shot stopper or what not.
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Daves PL rate is 72% behind Cech, Allison and Pope.
 
I saw a tweet the other day by someone in their 30s who said that for a third of their life, Dave was our keeper. As a 28 year old, he's been our GK for about 40 percent of my life?

Anyone who has spent that many years at our club commands my respect. Him being a spaniard, and coming to our club at 21 years old must have been a massive culture shock, which makes his tenure at the club more impressive. Over the past few years, his interviews have shown me how much he loves the club. It's not even surprising given how long he was with us. He genuinely looked baffled and embarrassed at times. Neville, Scholes, Rooney, Charlton, Beckham, Edwards, Keane, Rio, Giggs, Best, and im sorry if ive missed out a few legends, all love the club but De Gea is abit unique in that he is spanish and grew up supporting Atletico and had no prior connection to England or the league and was ridiculed at first by many.

I'm not going to say he is the best keeper ever. He pulled us out the shit plenty of times and also had a fair share of absolute blunders but he's a club legend. Big Pete is regarded as Uniteds greatest GK but he actually joined City. He was living in Bramhall and his son Kasper was playing for City but he seems to get a free pass for this which has always baffled me.

Anyway, if you can't share a farewell message to our 10th highest appearance maker of all time, I genuinely don't understand how you can consider yourself a United fan. I'd let you off if his personal life was as questionable as Giggs is.
 
swissgenius said:
Imagine playing for the same club as #1 for over a decade, while being named their best individual player for most of those years and there are still some miserable haters who cannot find a good word about you in an appreciation thread...

Great goalkeeper, saved us countless times, to the point where it began to be expected. Not his fault the club management was a disaster during his tenure.

Thank you for everything Big Dave!
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Couldn't have said it better mate. That first paragraph is top drawer.
 
CoopersDream said:
VDS played in a time when players took a lot more low probability shots. There's a reason several goalkeepers regularly got quite a bit over 80% back then (and basically never these days), and it's not because keepers are much worse at saving shots these days. Alisson is a great shot-stopper (probably the best goalkeeper in the world over the past 5 years), with fantastic post shot stats for the last season and yet he's sitting at a 71% save rate.

Just as football has moved on from De Gea in terms of what is expected of him, football has changed much since then and it's meaningless just to compare save percentages from different eras to determine who is a better shot stopper or what not.
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That may very well be the case.
 
swissgenius said:
Imagine playing for the same club as #1 for over a decade, while being named their best individual player for most of those years and there are still some miserable haters who cannot find a good word about you in an appreciation thread...

Great goalkeeper, saved us countless times, to the point where it began to be expected. Not his fault the club management was a disaster during his tenure.

Thank you for everything Big Dave!
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Perfectly said.
 
swissgenius said:
Imagine playing for the same club as #1 for over a decade, while being named their best individual player for most of those years and there are still some miserable haters who cannot find a good word about you in an appreciation thread...

Great goalkeeper, saved us countless times, to the point where it began to be expected. Not his fault the club management was a disaster during his tenure.

Thank you for everything Big Dave!
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Especially when you consider how the vast majority of those "haters" haven't achieved an iota of success or level of aptitude in their career that De Gea has in his.
 
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swissgenius said:
Imagine playing for the same club as #1 for over a decade, while being named their best individual player for most of those years and there are still some miserable haters who cannot find a good word about you in an appreciation thread...

Great goalkeeper, saved us countless times, to the point where it began to be expected. Not his fault the club management was a disaster during his tenure.

Thank you for everything Big Dave!
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This, 100 times this.

Some just take joy out of misery and want to spread it wherever whenever.
 
David has been a great servant to the club for over a decade. Many of those seasons he was our outstanding player.
Now that he has left the club he deserves our gratitude and respect.
I hope he gets a testimonial so the fans can show him how much his service meant.
So long David I hope you enjoy the rest of your career, where ever you end up.
 
JagUTD said:
Does it?

Nah, it doesn't because since his United debut only 3 keepers with over 100 appearances have higher save percentages. So as far as keepers in his era go, he is right up there. (EDIT you found this! haha )
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Without having to delve at all really, someone has just posted saying he is behind nick pope, so are we saying Nick Pope is "right up there".

Just want to say I think Dave has been a great player for us, deserved to of won more than he has and got shafted with a poorly ran club after SAF left, but in terms of goal keeping, its easy to get blinded by his highlight reel, you want a keeper that always saves the decent shots and sometimes makes spectacular than the other way round. This is what the truly great keepers do, Schmikes and VDS didn't go through large spells of their career with us splitting opinion.
 
We have not been a top team in 10 years, De Gea was the most perfect GK we could have had given the amount of chances we allowed the opposition to create. He is for me, the best shot stopper in the world. Unfortunately he does not quite fit into the new regime but I massively am grateful for everything he has given. I think he also made it to top 10 appearances for United, it says a lot. Legend for us, not the best GK we had but as a club, we were in a completely different stage of life. I hope he gets what he wants in the future. Will never forget that performance against arsenal a few years back, he was unbeatable.
 
GK makes an error in one pointless pre-season friendly = bad signing.

I hate our online fanbase.
 
Zora said:
GK makes an error in one pointless pre-season friendly = bad signing.

I hate our online fanbase.
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People can have an opinion. And friendlys are to try and make sure we make no mistakes going into the season. Also can affect confidence going into the season…
 
DJ_21 said:
Wouldn’t have even come out for that. Although it was offside wasn’t it.
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Even if it was how many goals did we concede simply due to his unwillingness to sweep from time to time.

A long while ago his reflexes and shot stopping ability made up for it but that time has long passed.
 
DJ_21 said:
People can have an opinion. And friendlys are to try and make sure we make no mistakes going into the season. Also can affect confidence going into the season…
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Friendlies are for fitness, that’s literally all they’re for.
 
DJ_21 said:
People can have an opinion. And friendlys are to try and make sure we make no mistakes going into the season. Also can affect confidence going into the season…
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What :lol: “go out there lads and get all those mistakes out your system, stink the place out!”

They’re fitness matches, and money makers.
 
Zora said:
GK makes an error in one pointless pre-season friendly = bad signing.

I hate our online fanbase.
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Unfortunately some fans who felt DDG was unfairly maligned and vociferously defended him for a long time him have now flipped to criticising his replacement in order for to try and prove themselves right about De Gea in the first place.
 
Look as a GK myself that has had some training in that department the first thing I can say is that some of DDGs saves during the years have been comparable to the Matrix and I can never stress enough how much I would have enjoyed watching him as a neutral. But Im not. I support United and his footwork and areal presence was never that good and made me nervous. Ona na is clearly better in both of this categories and as far as the goal goes its 50/50 between him and Dalot it wasnt completley his fault
 
Thank you DeGea for all the service! You were the bright aspect for the last 10 years, the single most important player that kept us from free falling.
 
cyberman said:
Friendlies are for fitness, that’s literally all they’re for.
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Judas said:
What :lol: “go out there lads and get all those mistakes out your system, stink the place out!”

They’re fitness matches, and money makers.
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They’re for gelling as a team, working on a structure and developing a team bond. Not just purely for fitness!
 
M Bison said:
They’re for gelling as a team, working on a structure and developing a team bond. Not just purely for fitness!
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No, training manages that. Games are to get minutes in their legs. Ten Hag would have placed zero concern on how the second best team in France plays, their strengths or their weaknesses.
It’s to build their fitness levels up. As Ten Hag said all season, training allows him to transmit his ideas to the players. He couldnt do that as the season went on because the games built up.
 
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