Roboc7
Full Member
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2014
- Messages
- 7,063
After this performance I can't help but feel that if Romero (or any decent goalies, tbh) also had to play behind a shaky defense and an incompetent midfield (that provides zero-to-none cover and quick to give the ball away) like how De Gea did in previous seasons he would have probably done just as well. This is probably a (very) knee-jerk judgment but I do think DG was overrated, in terms of how well he performed when played along not-so-good defenders, simply because the goalkeeper would certainly have many more opportunities to stand out if he had to deal with a large number of dangerous situations. Not that the praise was undeserved, of course, but like in the last match majority of the shots came straight at the goalie and in some way expected to be saved (positioning! yeah I know, but to be fair isn't getting in the right position what decent goalkeepers anywhere should be capable of?! The penalty save was inexcusably great though, but penalties have always been more of a mind gambling game). To be more straightforward, I think the main reason why DG (during that period, and Romero yesterday) received such recognition was because we played like a mid-table team, unable to organize attacks from behind and constantly letting our goalkeeper shine against their shooting practice. Always make me sad that United in recent years give so much spotlight to goalkeepers and yet unable to retain their loyalty, as if allowing them to succeed through our defensive weakness is not such a good idea after all. (*sigh*)
It is a massive knee jerk reaction, DDG was outstanding and some of the saves he made most keepers wouldn't he is genuinely one of the top keepers in the world and has proven that over a long period of time. On that same time Romero was playing in serie b, getting dropped by sampdoria, put up for sale with no interest, sent out on loan as backup to an average keeper and spent two years as a backup here.
Romero has had a good season but he has made mistakes against Blackburn and anderlecht (but got away with them) and in his first season he cost us the game at Swansea and he is has been a backup for most of his career.People are judging him over too short a period, even mignolet can look good for short spells, playing week in week out, dealing with pressure and recovering from mistakes make playing regularly completely different. Going with Romero is a huge risk because he hasn't proven he can do that, it's more likely he is a decent keeper in a good run of form than a genuine contender to replace DDG.