De Gea's Distribution

It's ok.

It was never as as good as was hyped up by the fanboys

Definitely no way near as good as Van Der Sar's.

My main issue is coming off his line. Would help if he did this more often. He gives the opposition so much field to run into when he is just planted on the goaline
 
Kapardin said:
He is still the best shot-stopper and world class in that aspect of the game, but still lags behind top GKs in many other departments. Often not acknowledged by our fans due to his shot-stopoing heroics saving us a lot of points in the past.
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I agree with this. His excellent shot stopping has saved us so many times but his poor distribution has held us back as an attacking force and has put a lot of pressure on our defence.
I used to worry about him leaving but the team role of a goalkeeper has changed down the years. Other top sides have keepers who offer a lot more to their overall team performances and I'm not convinced that another top side would want him now because his distribution is so bad.
 
sherrinford said:
His distribution has regressed massively but let’s not rewrite history - it was immaculate when he first joined. Under Van Gaal, still, he could consistently find Fellaini’s feet or chest at a distance. Now he ranges from bang average to outright poor.

If he can maintain his standards in the other facets of his play he won’t be looked at as a ‘dinosaur’ unless his control and passing regress to a rather comical degree.
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Immaculate? Under Moyes?

It improved under Van Gaal and he was on his way to becoming accomplished but he’s regressed under Mourinho and understandably so.

He’s not a naturally composed player with ball at his feet like VDS so he needs coaching and the right tactical set up to develop those skills and maintain them. At the moment he has neither and is in danger of regressing further in that respect.
 
Rossa said:
Romero is much better for United when he plays. Is that also tactics? Ddg was also a clear step down from vds.His distribution has never been his best quality
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You think Romero’s distribution is better? He is forever hitting balls straight out, or mis hitting clearances.
 
Dan_F said:
You think Romero’s distribution is better? He is forever hitting balls straight out, or mis hitting clearances.
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He's much better. His precision is better than DDG's. It's not only about precision either, it's also about how quick they are to see openings and pockets of space to pass into. When Romero plays, we play faster at the back. I completely disagree with those saying DDG was great at distribution when he arrived - he was a clear step down from VDS in that respect. He's good with his volley long passing, but his short passing and medium range passing are both average at best.
 
Raees said:
Immaculate? Under Moyes?

It improved under Van Gaal and he was on his way to becoming accomplished but he’s regressed under Mourinho and understandably so.

He’s not a naturally composed player with ball at his feet like VDS so he needs coaching and the right tactical set up to develop those skills and maintain them. At the moment he has neither and is in danger of regressing further in that respect.
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He was never close to being immaculate - certainly not when he arrived as he was clearly inferior to VDS in terms of distribution. As you said, he improved under LVG, and a little under Moyes, but it has always been a weak spot of his. His reluctance to come off his line is his biggest weakness though. That seems to have little to do with coaching as it has been the same under all managers, and again, Romero is more proactive in that regard.
 
DDG has some weaknesses. He isn't as good as Ederson and Alisson on the ball. So what? He's the big reason why we had a relatively good league campaign last season. Good or bad distribution, he's been the best player at this club for 5 years. Hope he signs a new contract soon.
 
It’s become worse, definitely. He used to be hailed as a very accurate passer when he arrived.

@Pogue Mahone could be a confidence/encouragement thing? These days he looks more Smalling than Neuer for us.
 
His distribution is usually very good with Spain.
 
Handré1990 said:
It’s become worse, definitely. He used to be hailed as a very accurate passer when he arrived.

@Pogue Mahone could be a confidence/encouragement thing? These days he looks more Smalling than Neuer for us.
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I just think he’s never been very good with his feet. His stats probably looked better with Van Gaal because we were constantly doing short passes around the back (which rarely fecking went anywhere useful!) but whenever he’s had to be a bit more adventurous/creative with his passing he was always hit and miss. He’s very accurate kicking the ball out of his hand but never been great when the ball is on the ground. This is just as evident for Spain as it is at United.
 
One of the reasons we dont play from the back,primarily from De Gea,is because fundamentally our CB are poor on the ball.

Whats the point of DDG playing it short only for Smalling,Lindelof,Baily,Jones or Rojo to hoof it up-field anyway ?

So many things wrong at United from management,coaching,signings and playing style its almost laughable.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
I just think he’s never been very good with his feet. His stats probably looked better with Van Gaal because we were constantly doing short passes around the back (which rarely fecking went anywhere useful!) but whenever he’s had to be a bit more adventurous/creative with his passing he was always hit and miss. He’s very accurate kicking the ball out of his hand but never been great when the ball is on the ground. This is just as evident for Spain as it is at United.
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Tbf, we signed him at 20 years old and whilst his kicking was erratic at times it was clear that he was confident with his feet and that his distribution could be excellent. There's no real reason why he shouldn't have improved upon that and become an excellent player with the ball at his feet. His outright stagnation, if not decline, in terms of his distribution is a fairly damning indictment on him and the club given the fact it's happened in an era when a keepers kicking has become increasingly important.
 
Yes we really need Mourinho to stop with the dinosaur tactics. Let De Gea expire and sign a world class ball playing keeper ASAP. Keep up with the times!
 
NinjaFletch said:
Tbf, we signed him at 20 years old and whilst his kicking was erratic at times it was clear that he was confident with his feet and that his distribution could be excellent. There's no real reason why he shouldn't have improved upon that and become an excellent player with the ball at his feet. His outright stagnation, if not decline, in terms of his distribution is a fairly damning indictment on him and the club given the fact it's happened in an era when a keepers kicking has become increasingly important.
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I think you’re being a bit melodramatic. Some people just aren’t very good at accurately kicking a football long distances. And no amount of training will change that. I know my own football career would have gone a bit better if I was! (see also Chris Smalling)

He’s obviously miles better than old school keepers whose careers were ended when the back passes were banned but a level below the best around. This is no big deal, though, he makes up for it with his shot-stopping. And he’s not awful with his feet. Just not very good.
 
Bob H from Manchester said:
I agree with this. His excellent shot stopping has saved us so many times but his poor distribution has held us back as an attacking force and has put a lot of pressure on our defence.
I used to worry about him leaving but the team role of a goalkeeper has changed down the years. Other top sides have keepers who offer a lot more to their overall team performances and I'm not convinced that another top side would want him now because his distribution is so bad.
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Would say that hypothetically, if we had a better defense and CDM, a keeper like Alisson or Ederson would be worth more to us than De Gea. Because we wouldn't require his super-human saves, while other aspects of the game would become important. De Gea is best for teams that focus on all out attack with a weak defense (like Klopp's early Liverpool) or teams like ours which are weak in attack and average in defense, and rely on his saves for points.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
I just think he’s never been very good with his feet. His stats probably looked better with Van Gaal because we were constantly doing short passes around the back (which rarely fecking went anywhere useful!) but whenever he’s had to be a bit more adventurous/creative with his passing he was always hit and miss. He’s very accurate kicking the ball out of his hand but never been great when the ball is on the ground. This is just as evident for Spain as it is at United.
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You might be right, my memory of his first seasons is a bit hazy, but I do seem to recall it was held up as a strength when he was signed.

Edit: he does seem to go for the long route directly to Lukaku as a default move, which annoys me sometimes (often) because our CBs albeit not great ballplayers, do seem to take up positions to receive it. As we all know the longer the pass, the harder to be accurate. Think it has a lot to do with the way we set up to play as well.
 
DDG is really the least of the clubs problems.Get in a new playing style,with defenders capable of being comfortable on the ball and we'll see likely see a DDG that above posters are so desperate to see.
 
Handré1990 said:
No doubt about any of this, but was he always this bad?
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No, he has got worse from when he was working with Hoek, but its likely looks a lot worse because of how we play under Jose too.
When he was working with Hoek you could see clear improvements in his kicking game
 
I'd ask the questions on the 2 center back instead. To properly play from the back the center back must provide passing opportunity and be able to distribute the ball.

Won't blame de gea if smailing pass it to him and feel jobs done.

And you dont expect your keeper to make a splitting pass to midfield, that's asking a lot and potentially can be intercepted.

Bottom line is we need proper defender and system to allow de gea to make a short meaningfull pass, unless we're talking about useless pass to smailing only for him to pass it back to de gea.
 
His distribution is terrible. He almost always gives away possession with his long clearances. Having said that the outfield players are crap in the air (except Fellaini) which is surprising for a team full of tall players. Its a serious downside to his game, Its the reason why he will always be behind Schmeichel and Van Der Saar for me. Peter Schmeichels distribution was perfection. I think people are blinded by De Gea's shot stopping abilities.
 
grahamo said:
His distribution is terrible. He almost always gives away possession with his long clearances. Having said that the outfield players are crap in the air (except Fellaini) which is surprising for a team full of tall players. Its a serious downside to his game, Its the reason why he will always be behind Schmeichel and Van Der Saar for me. Peter Schmeichels distribution was perfection. I think people are blinded by De Gea's shot stopping abilities.
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You mean his throws? Definitely. Wasn't he a bit of a sledgehammer at times with his feet, though?
 
Tomuś said:
You mean his throws? Definitely. Wasn't he a bit of a sledgehammer at times with his feet, though?
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Yes. He could throw the ball further than most goalies could kick it. He was always quick to release the ball which meant a lot of goals were scored on the break.
His throws more than made up for his average footwork.
 
BrianMcClair'sBarnet said:
DDG is really the least of the clubs problems.Get in a new playing style,with defenders capable of being comfortable on the ball and we'll see likely see a DDG that above posters are so desperate to see.
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City fans said the same with Hart until Pep binned him off - Hart's distribution isn't 'that bad' like a lot of people are saying about DDG. If United get a progressive coach in that demands playing out from the back like a lot of the top, modern coaches, DDG could be in some trouble. He's showed with Spain he isn't very comfortable and I would not be surprised to see him replaced with Kepa soon, regardless of how good of a shot stopper her is.
 
He doesn't practice it anymore because it's not important in our game. We bypass to Lukaku and he can't hold it so it's even worse.
Technically this team starting from the GK right to the striker is quite poor. Just look at how bad we are at rondos.
 
charlie9882 said:
City fans said the same with Hart until Pep binned him off - Hart's distribution isn't 'that bad' like a lot of people are saying about DDG. If United get a progressive coach in that demands playing out from the back like a lot of the top, modern coaches, DDG could be in some trouble. He's showed with Spain he isn't very comfortable and I would not be surprised to see him replaced with Kepa soon, regardless of how good of a shot stopper her is.
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There is no way any coach will sell De Gea. Examples of Joe Hart doesn't make any sense as Hart was error prone and no where good enough.
 
abdo99 said:
He doesn't practice it anymore because it's not important in our game. We bypass to Lukaku and he can't hold it so it's even worse.
Technically this team starting from the GK right to the striker is quite poor. Just look at how bad we are at rondos.
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You're right but Lukaku being terrible should have been the main reason for him to work on it. The number of times we are put under pressure, the CBs pass it back to him who hoofs only for the opponent to easily retrieve the ball is crazy
 
Pogue Mahone said:
I think you’re being a bit melodramatic. Some people just aren’t very good at accurately kicking a football long distances. And no amount of training will change that. I know my own football career would have gone a bit better if I was! (see also Chris Smalling)

He’s obviously miles better than old school keepers whose careers were ended when the back passes were banned but a level below the best around. This is no big deal, though, he makes up for it with his shot-stopping. And he’s not awful with his feet. Just not very good.
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But that's the point; he was better than he was now when he signed at twenty years old. Perhaps he was not consistently or reliably good, and perhaps he was not quite as good as he thought he was (I remember him getting in to trouble being a bit overconfident a couple of times very early on), but nevertheless he definitely possessed a fair amount of aptitude with his feet which really should have been built on. I don't really see any reason why that part of his game didn't improve as he did, unless there was a complete failure to work on it.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
I just think he’s never been very good with his feet. His stats probably looked better with Van Gaal because we were constantly doing short passes around the back (which rarely fecking went anywhere useful!) but whenever he’s had to be a bit more adventurous/creative with his passing he was always hit and miss. He’s very accurate kicking the ball out of his hand but never been great when the ball is on the ground. This is just as evident for Spain as it is at United.
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I agree with this completely. Having been a goalie in the past myself, I tend to notice them more in detail. Not only is his kicking, or his technique, not very good - he often floats them too much or they are overhit. Simple clearances too often also reach an opponent deep into our own half. An equally important problem is his lack of vision from the back. The best at distribution seem to have an idea of whom to pass to almost before they receive the ball, like any decent midfielder, but DDG doesn't have that. He very rarely make quick passes out from the back. To take this further, I think that is an issue related to how deep his position in his own box is. There is too much space between him and the defense, just like there is too much space between our defense and our midfield. I was always taught that stay off the line - the ones that can hit them cleanly under pressure over the top and into the net are few and far between, and one can afford one or two a season to improve play at the back and the ability to sweep the ball.
 
charlie9882 said:
City fans said the same with Hart until Pep binned him off - Hart's distribution isn't 'that bad' like a lot of people are saying about DDG. If United get a progressive coach in that demands playing out from the back like a lot of the top, modern coaches, DDG could be in some trouble. He's showed with Spain he isn't very comfortable and I would not be surprised to see him replaced with Kepa soon, regardless of how good of a shot stopper her is.
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This isn’t true Spain repeatedly circulate the ball and are patient in their approach constantly going back to De Gea to build again. He is actively part of it and comfortable using his feet. At United we go back when we can’t get out or are in trouble.

If there is an issue for De Gea with Spain it’s that he is uncomfortable leaving his penalty area and acting as a sweeper keeper, which gets noticed more because Spain usually play with a very high line.
 
roonster09 said:
There is no way any coach will sell De Gea. Examples of Joe Hart doesn't make any sense as Hart was error prone and no where good enough.
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Hart was one of City's best players in Pellegrini's final year and was coming off the back of some huge champions league performances. If Hart was as good as Bravo with distribution, Pep wouldn't have got rid of him. Hart is a City legend, multiple golden glove winner and one of the leagues best keepers in this decade - yes, he's regressed, but it took a significant reason to get rid of him.

I never said any coach would sell DDG. I'm just saying I think people may see him struggle more if United bring in a coach that plays out of the back.
 
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I also think he’s very slow at creating counter attacks by throwing.

There is a significant difference when Romero plays as he tends to distribute the ball quicker.

Hard to fault De Gea though, every player will have some form of weakness.
 
Brwned said:
Has it gotten worse over the years, or does it just seem that way because the new generation are so much better? He seems so sloppy in comparison to almost all of his peers.
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De Gea has no peers.

He probably pulled off the save of the season last night.
 
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