I think it says a lot from an opposition point of view when you look at United's team sheet and think 'he might be a bit dodgy'. De Gea is a weak link. He's not a bad player, but he's not at the standard of most of your other regulars. For the money paid for him he's disappointed, surely? Compared to his predecessor he's not in the same class. He's not even the best young keeper in Europe anymore, far from it. Hope you realise I'm not just having a dig.
To be fair though, there's not too many keepers in England that are performing consistently well, Hart has made plenty of mistakes this season, Reina has looked shaky for a while now, Julio Cesar has made some strange decisions, Jaaskelainen has looked a shadow of the keeper he was a few years ago, Szcensny has gone from a very promising keeper to the new Almunia, Krul is making a lot more mistakes then usual, Cech has only recently picked up form after a bad patch by his standards and Lindegaard has looked terrible in most of his outings this season, all of the top keepers in England have been well below their usual standards and that's why keepers like Begovic and Mignolet are the ones being talked about, even European greats like Casillas have been pretty poor for a while now.
That's exactly it, if we decide to replace him, who is it with? There is NO ONE out there worthy of spending the money on who would be that much of an improvement. It would be so pointless to replace our goal keeper who has the potential to be so good with another who is not guaranteed to be any better. There's talk of Valdes, he's no better. We wouldn't get Neuer from Bayern so there's no point even mentioning it and everyone one else is now either aging or not as good anyway. Skelkenburg ? being the one who could possibly do the job.
Was actually going to mention Begovic and Mignolet actually. Both pulled off some great saves against us this year. I think the PL has a generally good standard of goalkeeping, but the 'top' sides haven't got 'top' keepers at the moment. Hart has declined since becoming City and England's undisputed no 1. Reina has suffered from the lack of confidence and shakiness of his side... Cech has never been the same since his injuries but is looking good again. Tim Krul looked great last year but is perhaps suffering as part of a suffering side. Across Europe there are some bright talents - think Der Stegen, Courtois, Ochoa. They'd all cost less or similar to De Gea I imagine. Wouldn't be surprised if Barca moved for Courtois however. EDIT: Just remembered being really impressed by Inter's Handonovic, watched him a few times for Udinese last year.
Begovic has been consistently good with a few great saves, still not convinced he'll be a top keeper at a big side but he is solid, Mignolet has made some great saves lately but for a long time before his recent run of form he was making some really poor errors and I thought he should of been dropped for Westwood at one point because of them, Ochoa has hardly been a rock for Mexico, he's made plenty of amateurish mistakes, Der Stegen is only just breaking through really so it's far too early to say if he'll be as good as De Gea never mind better, Adler looked amazing in Germany at his age but his never really progressed and Courtois, who is still only on loan at Atletico, hasn't looked any better than De Gea did in that very same team. Handonovic looks pretty solid, as does Stekelenburg who is now out of favor at Roma, the other that I think is looking good is Sirigu at PSG, but I honestly think if we stick with De Gea he will become a great keeper, I don't think he's been as bad as some people and the media make out, he's become the scapegoat for every goal conceded.
CR made lots of mistakes at his early age in UTD and missed lots of chances .. so should had we sold him and said oh GOD , what a disappointing signing for money we paid for him? that is one of most ******ed comment ever ... we bought him for the future .. he is too young for a GK and need games .. and he put too many great saves .. and to say he was disappointing when you can't figure out last time he made a mistake is more a prove of your biased opinion you deluded liverpool fans rate Reina and brag how good he is when he made more mistakes in his career than poor Gea
Begovic has one of tallest and most physical players in PL to protect his a$$ dealing with high balls .. and agree he is not top GK.. Stekelenburg being out of favor in Roma is a negative sign .. i seen him alot once we linked to him ... hmmm not sure he is Top GK tbh agree I can't see no better option than Gea tbh atm
For me de Gea is too lightweight, he flaps and parries too many back into play. I realise he is one for the future but all good title winning sides have a solid keeper. For me he is not a solid keeper yet. In my opinion keepers aren't in their prime til they get into their 30's. I accept that all keepers make mistakes and have the odd bad game. I just think that teams will always feel they will get an easy chance with us through a goal keeping error. Few long range attempts that a forward follows up for a tap in off him parrying it. He had done it a few times this season. Three times which lead to a goal. A couple of occasions he made great double saves. I for one would rather keep him as he is young and clearly talented but would prefer we signed someone older and better an perhaps loaned de Gea out for first team football elsewhere until he bulks up and improves.
tbh 3 times in 60% of a season is not alot to cry about .. more when those 3 mistakes were not as direct mistakes as he did last season .. they were more about not putting the ball wider , which he will learn in the future ... last year he was more a disaster tbh missing the ball completely
My solution would be to get Brad Freidel in, who remains an excellent goal keeper and has now seemingly lost his place to Lloris, to mentor and back up De Gea. Get rid of Lindegaard while we're at it. If de Gea then needs a period out of the spotlight, Friedel steps in with no worries.
He could cost us the title.. All it takes is turning a win into a draw ala spurs 2-3 more times an it could cost us the league.. What ruff is saying about freidel is not a stupid idea. If we were going to sign an old keeper I'd rather someone like Buffon.
tbh was thinking of same thing too but the QS is.. wouldn't the hold Gea's development & confidence I don't mind losing the title if i can get a great GK which will give us titles over next 15+ years
Sweats, he's saved us more points this season than he did last year, look at the tottenham, he made 2-3 world class on sunday, the manager will back De Gea, i'm not disagreeing with Ruff's idea of signing Friedel but what would that do to his confidence if we signed a 40+ year old keeper.
I know it isn't! Buffon would be another candidate, I just feel to get him over he'd have to be put as first choice. Friedel would be more cup games and occasional giver of a breather to de Gea. I did think of Buffon also though.
