@Adnan has a point. I don't think De Gea was considered to be the best in the world by anyone except our fans and some ABU because it was one of those backhanded compliments in a time where the narrative was that without him, we would be in the relegation zone. It's simply impossible to be considered the best in the world if you don't perform in the latter stages of the CL or WC. De Gea, like @Paul_Scholes18 wrote, is more suited to a team that invites pressure because he is undoubtedly at his best, one of the best shot stoppers we have seen in the PL. He thrives in that setup where he is called on stay on his line and make saves right and left. But in every other aspect of being a goalkeeper nowadays, he is simply not good enough and has never been. The only thing happening now is that our setup and performances rarely get us in a position where his strength is needed (we are not Spain but we rarely get pushed back to defend for our lives on a consistent basis anymore) which highlights the weaknesses he always had.
I'm calling it: DDG is the best we've ever had
- Thread starter Rado_N
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Nope, his dip started with Alvarez and there was some suggestion the two were too matey.
People who think he was the best in the world for a few years rarely watch matches outside the Premier League.
He was one of the best for about 3 years, but has steadily declined in the last couple of years.
He was one of the best for about 3 years, but has steadily declined in the last couple of years.
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I would say he’s certainly in the top 10 best GKs in the world hence one of the best. At one point he was top 3.
I would struggle to name 9 others better than him.
He came to United with far too many mistakes in him, looked weak as anything from a set piece but slowly built up his consistency.
He did have a few class years between 2016-2019 but I honestly think he's gone backwards. I would not be upset if he went kn the upcoming window and we rolled into next season with Henderson/Romero.
He did have a few class years between 2016-2019 but I honestly think he's gone backwards. I would not be upset if he went kn the upcoming window and we rolled into next season with Henderson/Romero.
He was, for a few years, the best shot stopper in the world. A cat.
But shot stopping has three components: goal mouth coverage, reaction times and consistency.
His consistency has dropped off significantly since the mistake in the 2018 WC. He’s had issues with shot stopping consistency with several costly errors over the last two seasons.
In The other components of goalkeeping, he’s been average to below average.
Distribution: below average. At least once a match, he hits one over the sideline or hoofs it way too far or too low.
Command of defense / communication: below average. Doesn’t look to direct defensive positioning
Command of box: below average. This is well documented
Aerial command: below average. Despite his height and wingspan, he’s not great at punching the ball. Doesn’t use his body to claim balls outside the 6.
Contemporaries I’d rather have: Neuer, Oblak, Navas, Buffon (obviously, but really old now), Ter Steegen, Allison, Ederson, Donnaruma, Handanovic...
If you could get 50-75m for him, I say roll the dice with Henderson. Huge wages too.
But shot stopping has three components: goal mouth coverage, reaction times and consistency.
His consistency has dropped off significantly since the mistake in the 2018 WC. He’s had issues with shot stopping consistency with several costly errors over the last two seasons.
In The other components of goalkeeping, he’s been average to below average.
Distribution: below average. At least once a match, he hits one over the sideline or hoofs it way too far or too low.
Command of defense / communication: below average. Doesn’t look to direct defensive positioning
Command of box: below average. This is well documented
Aerial command: below average. Despite his height and wingspan, he’s not great at punching the ball. Doesn’t use his body to claim balls outside the 6.
Contemporaries I’d rather have: Neuer, Oblak, Navas, Buffon (obviously, but really old now), Ter Steegen, Allison, Ederson, Donnaruma, Handanovic...
If you could get 50-75m for him, I say roll the dice with Henderson. Huge wages too.
Best shot stopper I’ve ever seen. VDS and Pete ahead in other ways. But its time he was dropped.
I hope I'm wrong but De Gea may just have cost us the champions league for 2 years in a row. Really disappointing that individual errors from the same individual may have costly consequences, deeply frustrating.
Except he probably did one successful long throw every 2 games. I sound like I’m majorly dissing Schmeichel here, he was my favourite player growing up, but he wasn’t the perfect keeper some people want to believe he was.
this thread didn't age well. Well below of the like of VDS now. still a great shop stopper but so many crucial mistakes.
3 years ago I posted that I rated De Gea as our all time no. 1. Sadly, his drop in form over the past 18 months leads me to change my mind. I now go for Schmeichel as no. 1, followed by Van der Sar, then De Gea. It will be interesting to see if DDG recaptures his best form, or is replaced by Henderson.
if he wasn’t....there hasn’t been one.
He doesn't have solid goalkeeping fundamentals across the board to fall back on once the reflexes start to go. Reflexes for a keeper is like pace for an outfield player. Some keepers are top in all aspects of keeping so once the reflexes go, they are still a very good keeper because their command of the box, positioning, handling etc is still top (Van Der Sar and Buffon are two good examples). Others aren't top in all aspects of keeping and so once the reflexes go, their overall level drastically drops as it was such a fundamental part of their game (Casillas, Bravo and Reina).
De Gea is very much in the latter. I had hopes he could develop into the former as we got him very early and could have moulded him and the signs of it happening were there but it stopped after Fergie retired and Eric Steele left.
I've said all along he will decline early due to the above. The 350k a week contract looks more mad by the day.
De Gea is very much in the latter. I had hopes he could develop into the former as we got him very early and could have moulded him and the signs of it happening were there but it stopped after Fergie retired and Eric Steele left.
I've said all along he will decline early due to the above. The 350k a week contract looks more mad by the day.
Last 2 years destroyed his legacy for good. He's still our 3rd best keeper but no way now he can be considered better than the other 2 great GKs we were blessed with.
He's still in his twenties and it's weird to be talking about a decline at that age for a goalkeeper who has had no serious injury but the last two years have been really odd. So many mistakes. That being said I don't think people should forget how good he was for 4-5 seasons (five PFA team of the year picks, United player of the year 4 times) it's just baffling how much his form has dropped.
He has been a great keeper for us, but sorry all round he was never as good as VDS and not in the same league as Schmeichel who is without doubt in my mind the best keeper in my lifetime at least.
VDS was solid all round, super consistent, mentally strong and superb with his feet
Schmeichel was the best keeper I have ever seen at commanding his box on one on ones, crosses and starting an attack with a throw out (this was before the pass back days pretty much remember)
DeGea has always been average with his feet, average at commanding his area but an absolutely amazing shot stopper. He was one of the best three keeper in the world, Neur is still number one for me and reminds me a lot of Schmeichel actually. The last two years DeGea has fallen way down the pecking order and is barely the third best keeper in the premiership let alone the world.
Although I dont think Henderson is ready yet.....Romero is, such a consistent keper when ever he has been called upon for us. For that reason with Henderson to challenge, though it isnt going to happen, I would not be that sad to see DeGea go now, something I would never have said a couple of years ago
VDS was solid all round, super consistent, mentally strong and superb with his feet
Schmeichel was the best keeper I have ever seen at commanding his box on one on ones, crosses and starting an attack with a throw out (this was before the pass back days pretty much remember)
DeGea has always been average with his feet, average at commanding his area but an absolutely amazing shot stopper. He was one of the best three keeper in the world, Neur is still number one for me and reminds me a lot of Schmeichel actually. The last two years DeGea has fallen way down the pecking order and is barely the third best keeper in the premiership let alone the world.
Although I dont think Henderson is ready yet.....Romero is, such a consistent keper when ever he has been called upon for us. For that reason with Henderson to challenge, though it isnt going to happen, I would not be that sad to see DeGea go now, something I would never have said a couple of years ago
As good as De Gea has been and while I realize he played during a Manchester United era where our team as a whole was nowhere near the level of what we had during the Schmeichel and VDS days - he lacks consistensy. Partly why both Schmeichel and VDS were so great is because they managed to bring their best performance pretty much every game. DDG really lacks in commanding his defense, something that the others were well known for too. De Gea's peak performance is insane however and some of the saves and performance that he's made is mind-boggling to watch.
Also this thread was made in 2016 so I doubt the author feels the same now.
Also this thread was made in 2016 so I doubt the author feels the same now.
Couldn’t disagree with this more. I can see the argument that the other two were more rounded, Schmeichel was just better, but DeGeas consistency for four/five years was outstanding. I’d say unmatched.
De Gea bad
Keeper with 1 PL season good
Keeper with 1 PL season good
Unmatched to Schmeichel as well? Not a chance. The PEAK of instances and between their performances with Manchester United if you take De Gea and van der Saar is arguable but if you include consistency VDS have got DDG beat. Don't even involve Schmeichel in that debate though.
I hope you’re wrong but time might prove you right. The right decision should have been taken last year.
Does anyone remember the performance Neuer had against United in the first leg of the CL semi in 2011?
United won 2 0 but it would have easily been 5 or 6 if not for him, he was driving United players nuts with his performance.
I struggle to name any such performances he had for Bayern, mainly due to the fact that he never faced as many shots.
I also remember Keylor Navas being by far Levante's best player in his last season there, think it was 2014. Comfortably the most eye-cayching keeper in La Liga that season.
Just a reminder on how good a WC keeper can look when faced with a lot of shots. De Gea had the opportunity to buils up his reputation during the years when United were crap.
While his competitors for the best keeper in the world did not have that many highlights, having played for vastly superior teams.
United won 2 0 but it would have easily been 5 or 6 if not for him, he was driving United players nuts with his performance.
I struggle to name any such performances he had for Bayern, mainly due to the fact that he never faced as many shots.
I also remember Keylor Navas being by far Levante's best player in his last season there, think it was 2014. Comfortably the most eye-cayching keeper in La Liga that season.
Just a reminder on how good a WC keeper can look when faced with a lot of shots. De Gea had the opportunity to buils up his reputation during the years when United were crap.
While his competitors for the best keeper in the world did not have that many highlights, having played for vastly superior teams.
I agree
You could also add Tom Heaton to the list who Burnley fans said was a extra 9 pts a season and his heroics cost us points on the last two occasions he visited OT.
The Neuer example is a really good one at Schalke where he was playing with a inferior team and used to pull of ridiculous saves consistently. But most importantly his all round game was of a fantastic level which really helped Bayern and the German NT.
Neuer was always on a different level compared to De Gea, at his peak he was able to pull off saves similar to De Gea while adding so much more to the team.
Completely agree.
Ive been going over and over in my head the reasons why he has declined so much. Its not physical. Its mental. Thinking about it when he was really good our defence was sht. He was facing save after save. Now our defence is one of the best in Europe. He has to do basically nothing. Then bam! He's called into action. I think thats the problem. He switches off when there is not much to do. Hes probably bored thinking of titties of something. Then oh sht!!! A ball at my face! Its like how keepers at relegated sides all of a sudden look brilliant. I think they need to add that to training. Let him stand there for 10, 20, 30 minutes and then get Pogba to fire a ball at his head out of nowhere.
I'm thinking 3 piss poor managers in succession really left De Gea and a few players in the squad with a feeling of 'why bother if no one else is?'. Players begin to get cosy. Happy to pick up the salary without willing to sweat blood.
The likes of Pogba, Lingard, De Gea, Martial, Lukaku entered into an unhealthy comfort zone under that is very hard to snap out of.
De Gea got his ridiculous final contract based on being brilliant for a a few seasons even though a season before he signed the new deal he was clearly not focused like he once was. That was put down to being distracted by lack of progress in his contract talks, and it was believed he'd be back to normal once he signed on the dotted line as the world's best played keeper by far.
Anyways he's absolutely mugged the club, his motivation is not what it was now that the ink has dried on his final Man Utd mega contract. We see it time and time again with pampered stars, once the ink dries on that final contract, then they remain in their unhealthy comfort zone, happy to enjoy their life more than before, only give 80% of effort as the millions roll in. Ozil, Alexis Sanchez, De Gea all examples
The likes of Pogba, Lingard, De Gea, Martial, Lukaku entered into an unhealthy comfort zone under that is very hard to snap out of.
De Gea got his ridiculous final contract based on being brilliant for a a few seasons even though a season before he signed the new deal he was clearly not focused like he once was. That was put down to being distracted by lack of progress in his contract talks, and it was believed he'd be back to normal once he signed on the dotted line as the world's best played keeper by far.
Anyways he's absolutely mugged the club, his motivation is not what it was now that the ink has dried on his final Man Utd mega contract. We see it time and time again with pampered stars, once the ink dries on that final contract, then they remain in their unhealthy comfort zone, happy to enjoy their life more than before, only give 80% of effort as the millions roll in. Ozil, Alexis Sanchez, De Gea all examples
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He has also come with a glaring kicking weakness that he's never really improved on. Nowadays, all the best keepers in the world have fantastic passing ability and DDG stands out for the wrong reason in comparison to them.
The most obvious difference is how Neuer is comfortable on the ball. Ridiculous how DDG still struggles with basic clearances
Consistency of brilliant performances over a four year period....I’d say DeGea was unmatched for that. Schmeichel I think is the best gk ever, VDS was a fine GK but overrated now in terms of what he did at United. DeGea has been outstanding but he’s been too bad for two seasons now. Time to replace.
I’m still with @Rado_N on this one. Yes, De Gea’s past eighteen months have been quite average but the heights he scaled the previous six or seven years was a show of consistency never seen in a United ‘keeper, IMO.
Schmeichel was a brilliant shot-stopper and commander of his area, but his kicking was weak and he often made atrocious decisions when leaving his goal-line and/or penalty area.
Van der Sar was a brilliant, understated ‘keeper who maybe didn’t have as many weaknesses as the aforementioned two, but apart from kicking, he wasn’t obviously more adept in any goalkeeping department than De Gea or Schmeichel. Without trying to overly reduce his ability, van der Sar always struck me as being steady. He also had the benefit of playing behind our greatest ever defence (he was worthy of his place in this defence, mind, and played a big part in its effectiveness) but I think he would be shown up in a poorer team, whereas De Gea excelled.
Schmeichel was a brilliant shot-stopper and commander of his area, but his kicking was weak and he often made atrocious decisions when leaving his goal-line and/or penalty area.
Van der Sar was a brilliant, understated ‘keeper who maybe didn’t have as many weaknesses as the aforementioned two, but apart from kicking, he wasn’t obviously more adept in any goalkeeping department than De Gea or Schmeichel. Without trying to overly reduce his ability, van der Sar always struck me as being steady. He also had the benefit of playing behind our greatest ever defence (he was worthy of his place in this defence, mind, and played a big part in its effectiveness) but I think he would be shown up in a poorer team, whereas De Gea excelled.
He was great for a long time and now average to good. Problem is keepers and defenders will make mistakes, we can look at Chelsea at OT last season but the team has to overcome the odd mistake. We have a huge issue in scoring and creating for a few years, one mistake and the game is lost or drawn. We look to De Gea as the reason we drew 1-1 but only got a score draw from a generous penalty yet it could easily have been a 1-0 loss.
We require an almost perfect keeper in shot stopping to help our knife edged CL qualification cross the line again which should raise a warning to our awful goal scoring as a team.
We require an almost perfect keeper in shot stopping to help our knife edged CL qualification cross the line again which should raise a warning to our awful goal scoring as a team.
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I see people here trying to find explanations on whether his drop in performances was due to gk-coaching.
Isn't the simple answer that his head was turned by a move to Real Madrid which didn't happen? His focus was also on getting a big contract, which he finally got after years of dragging on/defocusing him, and now his focus/hunger is just not there as much as it used to be when he was young, hungry and wanted to prove himself. It's a mental thing imo.
Isn't the simple answer that his head was turned by a move to Real Madrid which didn't happen? His focus was also on getting a big contract, which he finally got after years of dragging on/defocusing him, and now his focus/hunger is just not there as much as it used to be when he was young, hungry and wanted to prove himself. It's a mental thing imo.
Same old Redcafe, grass is always greener on other side.
Next you'll be saying to swap him with Ben Foster
Yes he could have done a bit better with the shot but he absolutely pelted it straight at him, by the time he managed to move his arms it already hit him - slow motion always makes it look worse.
Nobody is talking about the great save from Son to keep us in the match though
Next you'll be saying to swap him with Ben Foster
Yes he could have done a bit better with the shot but he absolutely pelted it straight at him, by the time he managed to move his arms it already hit him - slow motion always makes it look worse.
Nobody is talking about the great save from Son to keep us in the match though
Same old Redcafe, grass is always greener on other side.
Next you'll be saying to swap him with Ben Foster
Yes he could have done a bit better with the shot but he absolutely pelted it straight at him, by the time he managed to move his arms it already hit him - slow motion always makes it look worse.
Nobody is talking about the great save from Son to keep us in the match though
Allison; Ederson even Lloris stops that. He’s not up to it. But keep believing, he’ll show you his a%% the longer he stays at number 1.
I dont think anybody is saying it was unsavable, but people are making out like it was a big error - it really wasn't. No shot that close at full power is easy.
the shot was further out and probably had as much power at Rashford’s shot against Lloris
I really hope you don't mean the left footed shot in the 1st half?
A key aspect of a good goalkeeper is reliability, and right now we can't rely on De Gea to stop certain shots at goal. He has been beaten near post, power shots far to often in recent times.
When he was at his best, you knew what you were getting. Teams knew they had to be able to finish to beat him, top corner only and that adds pressure to all strikers - now any striker going up against DDG won't be thinking this guy is one of the best 1v1 goalkeepers, or I have to place this perfectly. It's just shoot on site.
We obviously aren't getting the best out of him. It's time for both player and club to move on. Best of luck to DDG, i am sure he will be making headlines at the next club for the right reason if he can pick up that confidence and mentality he had a few years ago.
When he was at his best, you knew what you were getting. Teams knew they had to be able to finish to beat him, top corner only and that adds pressure to all strikers - now any striker going up against DDG won't be thinking this guy is one of the best 1v1 goalkeepers, or I have to place this perfectly. It's just shoot on site.
We obviously aren't getting the best out of him. It's time for both player and club to move on. Best of luck to DDG, i am sure he will be making headlines at the next club for the right reason if he can pick up that confidence and mentality he had a few years ago.
Do you mean Martials?
He was the best in the world for a couple of seasons but it was largely because there was a real lack of competition at the top. The previous generation had declined and the next generation hadn't quite stepped up yet. After Neuer (who had obviously been the best) started struggling it basically left De Gea at the top of the mountain alone. Oblak was coming up fast but I'd give it to De Gea for a season or two there. Then he started dropping away just as the next generation of keepers really started coming to the fore.
Kind of the same reason why I consider VDS to have been the best keeper in the world in his last ever season before retiring. Not only was it arguably his best ever season, but all the normal competitors for that title at the time either started dropping away or just had a bad season. Probably the only ever season where he was actually the best in the world, and it came at the age of 40.
VDS was great with his feet originally, but that ability started declining throughout his time with us. Whether that was due to his age or our training I'm not sure. DDG was actually the same - when he first joined he was quite good with the ball at his feet(not great but quite good), but obviously he declined quite significantly over the years.