David de Gea | 2011-14 Performances

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As a GK I am of the strong belief that a GK should be physically intimidating. When you have players like Jones, Davies, Carrol, Huth, Shawcross etc you really do need a physical presence to intimidate them.

No outfield player will come in hard on a GK they know will come with their elbows knees and isn't bothered about breaking someone in half.
 
He is just 20 tbh.Thats like being 16-17 for an outfield player.

He can be a flop this season but that doesn't rule him out to be a world class player in future and for United

His distribution is amazing but what he lacks is that presence.Its probably nerves and I blame Vidic and Rio for not really talking to him whenever possible just to give him confidence.

The problem may be more with them talking to him too much, it's very disconcerting having people talk to you in a language you don't understand.

Just keep playing him for now, I'm sure Fergie will. I think we'll only see him left out if he's making a 'big' mistake every game when we've played about 10. Playing at Old Trafford will do him a world of good, but seeing as it's against Spurs and he won't have Ferdinand or Vidic in front of him, it could be a tough time again.

I can't see mch problem with Spurs tbh, I think their fitness will be hugely suspect given it will be only their 2nd game, the first being against hearts 4 days earlier.
 
I can't see mch problem with Spurs tbh, I think their fitness will be hugely suspect given it will be only their 2nd game, the first being against hearts 4 days earlier.
Yeah, I don't think they'll be that much of a problem either, there's just the potential of it in the first 45-60 without Ferdinand and Vidic there. If Crouch is still there I'm sure they'll try to test him, but I can't see them getting the chance to really have a go at him like certain other teams will. While Spurs and Arsenal are teams that will be finishing top 6, I think they're two of the least likely teams to rough him up as they like to play football. They're both at Old Trafford as well, so the crowd behind him should do him a lot of good before a tough, bruising trip away to Bolton.
 
Yeah, I don't think they'll be that much of a problem either. If Crouch is still there I'm sure they'll try to test him, but I can't see them getting the chance to really have a go at him like certain other teams will. While Spurs and Arsenal are teams that will be finishing top 6, I think they're two of the least likely teams to rough him up as they like to play football. They're both at Old Trafford as well, so the crowd behind him should do him a lot of good before a tough, bruising trip away to Bolton.

Also let's face it, for someone as big as Crouch is he is woeful in the air.
 
As a GK I am of the strong belief that a GK should be physically intimidating. When you have players like Jones, Davies, Carrol, Huth, Shawcross etc you really do need a physical presence to intimidate them.

No outfield player will come in hard on a GK they know will come with their elbows knees and isn't bothered about breaking someone in half.

I think thats more important than being physically intimidating. I wouldn't call Edwin physically intimidating besides being tall but he was nobody's fool and would happily crack you in the head with a fist if you got in the way of his attempt to punch the ball. What we saw yesterday was West Brom trying to bully De Gea. Shooting at him from distance, jumping in on him at corners.

There's a reason keepers tend to get known for being a bit nuts and thats cos the best of them generally develop this 'persona' of being fearless to the point of stupidity/insanity. De Gea needs to get that. He should overcome his nerves by psyching himself up.
 
Also let's face it, for someone as big as Crouch is he is woeful in the air.
Woeful at scoring with his head, yeah. But de Gea looked a bit nervous trying to pluck a ball out of the air against West Brom players. He wasn't stretching his arms out to reach high enough above the players. If he can't do it against them yet, I don't fancy his chances against a 6ft7 lamppost. Hopefully if he can't claim it, he'll let Smalling challenge and just be ready for a knock down.
 
Woeful at scoring with his head, yeah. But de Gea looked a bit nervous trying to pluck a ball out of the air against West Brom players. He wasn't stretching his arms out to reach high enough above the players. If he can't do it against them yet, I don't fancy his chances against a 6ft7 lamppost. Hopefully if he can't claim it, he'll let Smalling challenge and just be ready for a knock down.

That's quite harsh, both times he failed to claim it after going up he was either manhandled or elbowed in the face, Crouch doesn't have enough control of his limbs to do that.
 
I looked again at the Shane Long Elbow. De Gea was a bit slow to react - he wasn't off the ground so he was reaching up with his arms leaving his face exposed.

I think he needs to learn how to jump with his shoulder for protection. Ie when he goes for a ball he first jumps then reaches rather than what he did which was just reach.
 
That's quite harsh, both times he failed to claim it after going up he was either manhandled or elbowed in the face, Crouch doesn't have enough control of his limbs to do that.

Players won't back into you if they know they will get a knee into their back. Watch Jens Lehman he was a sizy chap but he would always jump with his knee hanging in the air.
 
That's quite harsh, both times he failed to claim it after going up he was either manhandled or elbowed in the face, Crouch doesn't have enough control of his limbs to do that.
I guess it is, but he still certainly lacks the confidence to think "I can use my hands to catch his before you get your head on it." His body position, shoulders / knees, leap etc aren't quite there for English football yet. Even if Crouch isn't going to crash into him, I can see him actually still winning the ball. Hopefully I am wrong, I am a fan of de Gea despite these latest comments :lol: I just don't think the concerns are unwarranted.
 
De Gea is a long term solution. Shame he's dropped two clangers already, but hey ho, dust off, move on. He'll be under more pressure when it costs us points, he'll learn

Lindegaard will come in to take the pressure off at some point.

I have every faith that De Gea will be a top keeper for many many years for us
 
"We had a player that once said to me Rooney and Ronaldo weren’t good enough. Can you believe that? He actually said they weren’t good enough and he wasn’t prepared to wait until they were. That’s what happens, that’s the problem with potential – people don’t identify potential, they’re very poor at it. I’ve identified it all my life within young people – I know potential, I know how it can be developed and I know how to have faith in it - young people surprise you when you give them an opportunity. And that’s what this club is about. So when you see Manchester United at the moment with all these young players, you can’t see Manchester United three years ahead because you’re not thinking about that."
 
Guillem Balague has just said some stuff about de Gea, mainly that he's excellent and whatnot. I'd start worrying right about now, lads.
 
He talked sense in fairness, to give de Gea three months to settle and to ask the same questions at the end of the season, he thinks he'll be considered in the top three 'keepers in the league by then.
 
He talked sense in fairness, to give de Gea three months to settle and to ask the same questions at the end of the season, he thinks he'll be considered in the top three 'keepers in the league by then.

Top 3 at the moment - Cech Reina Hart?
 
De Gea would be doing exceptionally well if at the age of 20/21 he equals them 3.
 
I think its fair to assess him after 3 months. Before, it just doesnt make much sense and we always knew that we were buying potential that has to be developed, a la Ronaldo, Rooney, Nani, etc. Like these, he has the potential to be world class
 
"We had a player that once said to me Rooney and Ronaldo weren’t good enough. Can you believe that? He actually said they weren’t good enough and he wasn’t prepared to wait until they were. That’s what happens, that’s the problem with potential – people don’t identify potential, they’re very poor at it. I’ve identified it all my life within young people – I know potential, I know how it can be developed and I know how to have faith in it - young people surprise you when you give them an opportunity. And that’s what this club is about. So when you see Manchester United at the moment with all these young players, you can’t see Manchester United three years ahead because you’re not thinking about that."

This.
 
"We had a player that once said to me Rooney and Ronaldo weren’t good enough. Can you believe that? He actually said they weren’t good enough and he wasn’t prepared to wait until they were. That’s what happens, that’s the problem with potential – people don’t identify potential, they’re very poor at it. I’ve identified it all my life within young people – I know potential, I know how it can be developed and I know how to have faith in it - young people surprise you when you give them an opportunity. And that’s what this club is about. So when you see Manchester United at the moment with all these young players, you can’t see Manchester United three years ahead because you’re not thinking about that."
Fantastic
 
We've got a very good goal keeping coach in Eric Steele - he'll be spending a lot of time with De Gea and teaching him about the English league and how to improve his game, make no mistake about it.
 
He made a few good saves and of course this two mistakes. We won so nothing happened and he will learn. Lets judge him after say 10-15 games. Only to mention it, bit if Fabio hadnt lost the ball cheaply the chance would have never occured. Fabio wasnt up to his standard at all imo.
 
I guess you can't really blame the idiot media and pundits.

They are always desperate to find faults with United.And we have won both our games so far and shown some real potential in the rest of the areas of our squad.

So they will be finding something negative to write about and De Gea makes perfect sense for them.Although there is no use of common sense there.
 
Once he beefs up a bit and has learnt enough English to command his defence, then we'll see him get better and better.

At the moment it must be very difficult for him, trying to get by without knowing the lingo
 
"We had a player that once said to me Rooney and Ronaldo weren’t good enough. Can you believe that? He actually said they weren’t good enough and he wasn’t prepared to wait until they were. That’s what happens, that’s the problem with potential – people don’t identify potential, they’re very poor at it. I’ve identified it all my life within young people – I know potential, I know how it can be developed and I know how to have faith in it - young people surprise you when you give them an opportunity. And that’s what this club is about. So when you see Manchester United at the moment with all these young players, you can’t see Manchester United three years ahead because you’re not thinking about that."

Who in gods name said that?
 
I don't think we should read too much into this perceived 'defenders being afraid to play the ball back to De Gea' thing. This is just an assumption, and they might have simply been taking the pressure off David by not passing-back very often.
I'm sure that was the idea, but I would say getting him involved as much as possible would actually be the most settling thing for him. If you've just made a mistake the last thing you want is to just be standing there the next 10 minutes not doing anything and mulling over the mistake. Get him on the ball when there's no danger and let him feel a bit more in control again.

But where has this perception come from? In the second half there were loads of times that the defenders played it back to him
I noticed it a couple of times in the first half (especially after the mistake). Times where I expected a defender to play it back to him as that is what they would've done with VDS, but instead they attempted to force the issue and played a harder ball to another defender who wasn't really in a great position either.

Like I said, it was likely to try to take the pressure off him. But giving him the ball more often (as long as it wasn't putting him under immediate pressure obviously) probably would've been the better option.

I can't remember it happening again after Jonny and Jones came on.
 
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