I'm calling it: DDG is the best we've ever had

[Jagga7]

Nah. There's more to keeping than reflexes. Schmeichel was the best ever at one on ones as well, allowing a higher line of defending. And his anticipation was better. This, combined with his presence, allowed him to dominate his area more than any other keeper. Neuer is the closest thing to it, but he didn't have the same intimidating presence and has to compensate with speed. Schmeichel was basically the definition of the modern keeper before that idea became a thing.

Schmeichel was great at one on ones but I'm not sure how you can say his anticipation was better. There were plenty of times where he rushed out like a madman and got caught, the Owen goal at OT comes to mind also the time he got sent off for hand ball against City (I think?) and there plenty of occasions.

He definitely isn't a definition of a modern day goalkeeper, he wasn't very good with the ball at his feet, DDG is far superior than him in that category. His strengths was as you said his intimidating presence and his insane shot stopping ability.

DDG is a different calmer GK but he's just as good.

 

[B20]

Schmeichel was great at one on ones but I'm not sure how you can say his anticipation was better. There were plenty of times where he rushed out like a madman and got caught, the Owen goal at OT comes to mind also the time he got sent off for hand ball against City (I think?) and there plenty of occasions.

He definitely isn't a definition of a modern day goalkeeper, he wasn't very good with the ball at his feet, DDG is far superior than him in that category. His strengths was as you said his intimidating presence and his insane shot stopping ability.

DDG is a different calmer GK but he's just as good.

He is modern in the sense that he didn't play to his line, but all across the penalty area with confidence.

 

[Buchan]

De Gea is already Ferguson's best-ever signing, for me.

 

[Fitchett]

For me, De Gea is our best ever keeper, a view I've held for a few years. Schmeichel was, without doubt, a great keeper, but he could be rash and make mistakes, something DDG simply doesn't do. I love his calmness and how nothing fazes him, as well as his amazing agility and reflexes. Van der Sar joins the trio of our three best keepers of all time. And I'm old enough to have seen Gregg, Stepney and Bailey play too. They were all top keepers for us in the 60's, 70's and 80's. Unfortunately, we also had spells with Roche and Leighton in the 70's and 80's and the run of keepers in between Schmeichel and VDS. So elt's all savour having De Gea, for me, he is the best in the world and Romero is the best no. 2 we've ever had as well. We are so lucky to have him content to be with us as back up.

 

[alanjohnson]

it's like comparing justin beiber to elvis.

 

[ALX8725]

De Gea is already Ferguson's best-ever signing, for me.

come on... I am a huge DDG supporter, but SAF's best ever signing?? that's a bit extreme of a statement

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

For me, De Gea is our best ever keeper, a view I've held for a few years. Schmeichel was, without doubt, a great keeper, but he could be rash and make mistakes, something DDG simply doesn't do. I love his calmness and how nothing fazes him, as well as his amazing agility and reflexes. Van der Sar joins the trio of our three best keepers of all time. And I'm old enough to have seen Gregg, Stepney and Bailey play too. They were all top keepers for us in the 60's, 70's and 80's. Unfortunately, we also had spells with Roche and Leighton in the 70's and 80's and the run of keepers in between Schmeichel and VDS. So elt's all savour having De Gea, for me, he is the best in the world and Romero is the best no. 2 we've ever had as well. We are so lucky to have him content to be with us as back up.

So four years ago, when De Gea had only been at United two years and was 22.... you thought he was better than Bailey, Gregg, Stepney, VDS and Schmeicel (with their collective decades of United careers and numerous cup, league and European medals)?

Quite a statement.

 

[Fitchett]

So four years ago, when De Gea had only been at United two years and was 22.... you thought he was better than Bailey, Gregg, Stepney, VDS and Schmeicel (with their collective decades of United careers and numerous cup, league and European medals)?

Quite a statement.

Yep, a view I held from when Moyes was manager.

 

[OverratedOpinion]

come on... I am a huge DDG supporter, but SAF's best ever signing?? that's a bit extreme of a statement

Definitely up there, considering how hard it can be to find a quality keeper and the risk associated with making a teenager one of the most expensive keepers of all time.

 

[OverratedOpinion]

He is modern in the sense that he didn't play to his line, but all across the penalty area with confidence.

Also the way he so quickly would look to start attacks. I may be mistaken but I think Neuer listed him as one of his main influences.

 

[Gary_Walsh_Nou_Camp_Hell]

Schmeichel was a leader. A club man. Had the aura of a champion. he intimidated opponents. He won everything.

De Gea is a top class shot stopper. He has no presence though. He's never put the madrid rumours to bed. And he is a long long way off having half the career Peter Scmeichel had.

 

[Aza Boy]

I lives from Schmike era until DDG.

In term of skill, DDG is lots better. It is like having the 5th CB, the way he stop the shot with his feet.

But im term of mentality, Schmike was still number one.

However, Schmike in the modern football will be just a good keeper.

And about he won it all, there was no strange. Look at the starting players while he was playing. Especially, the defensive ones.

And also dont forget the EPL quality of that time. Only Arsenal considered head to head equal with our team.

Put DDG in Schmike glorious time, the result will be not much difference.

A senior poster above is a living witness of our GK.

However, GK is like a wine. I noted the talented ones only. The older they are, they will get better.

And DDG will be only being better and better, even if someday he is not playing for United anymore.

Schmeichel, VDS in United. Buffon in Juventus. That's what I called the best wines of GK.

 

[Oscie]

Schmeichel was a leader. A club man. Had the aura of a champion. he intimidated opponents. He won everything.

De Gea is a top class shot stopper. He has no presence though. He's never put the madrid rumours to bed. And he is a long long way off having half the career Peter Scmeichel had.

You don't really have keepers like that anymore though. The role has changed. The days when you had a bloke built like a brick shithouse who'd have the stature and presence to scare the crap out of opponents and their own defenders alike, are behind us. Keepers these days tend to be less vociferous but more agile. Fitter, perhaps. You're right that Schmeichel had far more presence that De Gea but Neuer perhaps aside, I don't really see presence being a characteristic that seems to be important these days in top keepers.

 

[The holy trinity 68]

Schmeichel was a leader. A club man. Had the aura of a champion. he intimidated opponents. He won everything.

De Gea is a top class shot stopper. He has no presence though. He's never put the madrid rumours to bed. And he is a long long way off having half the career Peter Scmeichel had.

Presence and influence doesn't really matter that much when judging a keeper because De Gea is rarely beaten. I think people look at Schmeichel as better because of the teams he had in front of him and what he won.

Put Schmeichel in our team of the last 4 years and it is hard to imagine he would have done better than De Gea.

The Madrid rumours have nothing to do with who is or was a better keeper. If you say that then Schmeichel played for Man City at one time, which is just as bad if not worse.

He is a long way off having the career Schmeichel had because he has retired and De Gea is still here.

Schmeichel will be regarded as our greatest ever keeper, but in 5 years time a lot of people's opinions may change if De Gea is still here.

There seems to be a lot of romanticism about past players as well.

 

[Tim Henman]

I don't get it.. What is the logic behind comparing trophies when comparing players. It's just beyond ridiculous, and I see it in almost every other post.... "until he wins xyz, VDS is still better" or "Not until he wins the Champions League will he surpass Schmikes for me"... It makes zero sense. I understand that people want to quantify everything these days, but it is pointless in this case. Is Fletcher better than Robson because he won the Champions League? The reason that De Gea has not won as much as the other two is purely down to his teammates. You cannot hold that against him.

 

[Tim Henman]

So four years ago, when De Gea had only been at United two years and was 22.... you thought he was better than Bailey, Gregg, Stepney, VDS and Schmeicel (with their collective decades of United careers and numerous cup, league and European medals)?

Quite a statement.

Relevance? If we signed Dybala tomorrow, would he be worse than Sheringham because the latter has a European cup?

 

[Champagne Football]

De Gea is already Ferguson's best-ever signing, for me.

Keane, Cantona, Ronaldo, Vidic for me. De Gea needs to win a champions league with us before he can be mentioned in same breath as those 4. Cantona never won one but Fergie bought him for nothing and turned him into best player in the league for a good few season consistently

 

[The holy trinity 68]

Keane, Cantona, Ronaldo, Vidic for me. De Gea needs to win a champions league with us before he can be mentioned in same breath as those 4. Cantona never won one but Fergie bought him for nothing and turned him into best player in the league for a good few season consistently

It doesn't matter about trophies. Not his fault his team mates haven't been that good.

Also Eder won the European cup with Portugal. Is he better than Rooney for the national team?

 

[Jonno]

Schmeichel was a leader. A club man. Had the aura of a champion. he intimidated opponents. He won everything.

De Gea is a top class shot stopper. He has no presence though. He's never put the madrid rumours to bed. And he is a long long way off having half the career Peter Scmeichel had.

So for that same reason you’ll not even consider Ronaldo to be one of our greatest ever, either?

 

[sun_tzu]

schmeichel > De Gea for me and its not even that close

 

[Todd]

If I had pick of any GK in the world to bring to United, I'd decline and keep De Gea, because none are better than him.

However, for all the incredible saves we've seen him make, he's also let in some pretty weak goals over the years. Not enough to outweigh the positives, but enough that it's noticeable.

Can't agree with him being SAF's greatest signing, though. That would go to Giggs or Scholes. If he'd stayed, it would've wound up being Ronaldo.

 

[Massive Spanner]

If I had pick of any GK in the world to bring to United, I'd decline and keep De Gea, because none are better than him.

However, for all the incredible saves we've seen him make, he's also let in some pretty weak goals over the years. Not enough to outweigh the positives, but enough that it's noticeable.

Can't agree with him being SAF's greatest signing, though. That would go to Giggs or Scholes. If he'd stayed, it would've wound up being Ronaldo.

Maybe in his early years but in the last five? Bugger all, certainly nothing compared to almost every other GK out there. I'd argue Neuer lets in more weak goals than De Gea does.

 

[Denis79]

Still think you're looking for reasons to back up an opinion (or as Sherlock Holmes would say, twist facts to suit a theory). If your opinion is De Gea is better, fine - just give footballing reasons and don't assume why some of us rate certain players.

I can guarantee you it's nothing to do with loyalty, De Gea has almost been here as long as Schmeicel was and Schmeicel played for City! I couldn't care if he'd gone on to play for City, Liverpool and Leeds.... Good is good, great is great. He was the best goalie I've ever seen period.... not because of his era, not because of his medals, not because I'm all misty eyed and not because De Gea may move to Madrid.

Because I have footballing reasons .... because he organised defences, because his will to win was huge and infectious, because his distribution was excellent (feet and especially throws), because he was protective of the younger players, because his 1on1 saves were amazing and regular, because his ability in the air was great, because he made amazing full-length saves, because he made them in massively important games and against great competition (both for us and Denmark), because he did it for years.

Got to go now, it's after 8pm and Matron is shouting my bedtime cocoa is going cold.

He would have gone completely mental at some of the goals we conceded. At times I actually thought a fight would break out when he attacked Pallister and Bruce after a goal.

Remember this?

 

[2cents]

Now I'm thinking maybe the mis-kick was against Barnsley? He definitely got stupidly sent off in the 94 Charlton game. Another one was away to Bayern in 98. He definitely deteriorated by the start of that last season but got himself together after Christmas for the run-in.

Here's that Charlton game, Schmeichel's crazy feck-up is at 2:30 - check out Bruce and Robson's reaction :

 

[Buchan]

come on... I am a huge DDG supporter, but SAF's best ever signing?? that's a bit extreme of a statement

Not in the slightest. He's phenomenal.

 

[Massive Spanner]

Not in the slightest. He's phenomenal.

And Cantona, Keane and Ronaldo weren't?

 

[2 man midfield]

De Gea would've just kicked it

 

[Denis79]

Not in the slightest. He's phenomenal.

.

He is fantastic but you have to remember players like, Cantona, Schmeichel, Ronaldo, RVN, Vidic, Rio, the list is long. Not arguing with you about the skill of the player, De Gea has the potential to become one of the best goalkeepers of all time world-wide, but in terms of the impact he's had on the club there is a long way before he get's the status of the players mentioned above. I would argue that Cantona was the catalyst to our 20 year long supremacy in English football, the impact of that transfer was immense.

 

[Todd]

Not in the slightest. He's phenomenal.

He's a goalkeeper though...he can only impact the game so much.

We have matches where De Gea isn't even called into action to make a save. Hell, we won a European cup last year in which De Gea didn't even play a match.

All other things equal, the difference between a good goalkeeper and a legendary goalkeeper probably have less of an impact on a team overall than the difference between a good midfielder and a legendary midfielder.

 

[2 man midfield]

De Gea is already Ferguson's best-ever signing, for me.

Hard to say. It looks a bargain now but wasn't it the second largest fee for a keeper ever? And the largest for a teenager? Anyway, what're his top 5?

Schmeichel - £500,000
Irwin - £600,000
Cantona - £1,000,000
Ronaldo - £12,000,000
Vidic - £7,000,000

I'm not sure it beats any of those, personally. SAF said Schmeichel was the bargain of the century and his best signing, I'd find it hard to disagree.

 

[lawliet354]

De Gea still has the habit of not coming out his area when there's through ball coming in, I don't expect him to be like Neuer where he stand outside the box, that is not necessary as Jose prefers to play pretty deep defensive line anyway, but many times that you think he should have come out and pick the ball but he choose to stay in the line instead and the defender ended up clearing it for throw in, and that's his only weakness for me

 

[Lennon7]

De Gea is already Ferguson's best-ever signing, for me.

Better than Ronaldo? What?

 

[Blzbud]

Presence and influence doesn't really matter that much when judging a keeper because De Gea is rarely beaten. I think people look at Schmeichel as better because of the teams he had in front of him and what he won.

Put Schmeichel in our team of the last 4 years and it is hard to imagine he would have done better than De Gea.

The Madrid rumours have nothing to do with who is or was a better keeper. If you say that then Schmeichel played for Man City at one time, which is just as bad if not worse.

He is a long way off having the career Schmeichel had because he has retired and De Gea is still here.

Schmeichel will be regarded as our greatest ever keeper, but in 5 years time a lot of people's opinions may change if De Gea is still here.

There seems to be a lot of romanticism about past players as well.

I'm in the Schmeichel camp and as to the point above, I had the privilege of watching a lot of him playing for Denmark and, trust me, nobody was saying he had good defenders in front of him then. Still, Denmark won Euro championship and had by far their most successful period in international football on his watch. It wasn't a coincidence.

Alex Ferguson, last I heard, rates Schmeichel as the GOAT GK, and I don't disagree.

Having said that, I wouldn't want to change De Gea with any keeper in the world right now and I hope we won't have to.

 

[Josep Dowling]

The problem with comparing current players with past players is nostalgia. Our image of past players are always clouded by nostalgia. I mean if I think of Schmeichel right now the first things I think of are the save against Newcastle in 96, the save against Inter Milan in 99 and the penalty save against Bergkamp in the semi final of the FA Cup. These are probably his most important saves, trophy winning saves.

For me De Gea is the best goalkeeper in the world right now and has been for a couple of seasons. He has made some world class saves already this season. I feel he is already the best goalkeeper we have had. It's just a shame his rise has come at the same time of the club's demise in silverware. If he can win a few more trophies and becomes the most capped goalkeeper for the club I think most fans would agree he is the best we have had.

 

[RedRonaldo]

Lets not forget its easier to make lot of good saves when you are playing for a weaker team, than making a lot of key saves when you are playing for a stronger team which dominant most of the time. I remember the number of top class keepers we signed after Schmeichel retired, most of them impressed when playing for a weaker team, but end up failing big here.

 

[Champagne Football]

It doesn't matter about trophies. Not his fault his team mates haven't been that good.

Also Eder won the European cup with Portugal. Is he better than Rooney for the national team?

Just my opinion. De Gea is awesome and the best in the world I reckon tied with Neuer, Cortois and Donnarumma.

But when I think all time legends under Fergie's reign that were signed by Fergie in terms of influence on rest of the team, contribution in big games, total consistency season after season, ability to win tough games on their own, then I'd easily have Keane, Cantona and Ronaldo ahead of De Gea. It's slightly easier to replace a world class keeper than it is a world class outfield player also if you get the right young keeper at the right time.

A world class outfield player you could argue is a slightly more specialized role than a world class keeper even though both roles are of equal importance. Maybe a bit like comparing the best chess player in the world to the best draught's player in the world!

 

[The holy trinity 68]

I'm in the Schmeichel camp and as to the point above, I had the privilege of watching a lot of him playing for Denmark and, trust me, nobody was saying he had good defenders in front of him then. Still, Denmark won Euro championship and had by far their most successful period in international football on his watch. It wasn't a coincidence.

Alex Ferguson, last I heard, rates Schmeichel as the GOAT GK, and I don't disagree.

Having said that, I wouldn't want to change De Gea with any keeper in the world right now and I hope we won't have to.

Yeah mate I don’t disagree what you’re saying and I think Schmeichel is Uniteds greatest ever keeper. I am putting up a counter argument as it isn’t crazy to say De Gea is better now. Over his whole career nah no way, yet. I emphasise the yet. Schmeichel was 28 when he joined United. De Gea is only 26. De Gea at 28 will be better than Schmeichel when he joined us in my opinion.

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

He would have gone completely mental at some of the goals we conceded. At times I actually thought a fight would break out when he attacked Pallister and Bruce after a goal.

Remember this?

Yip. I think his middle name was "doesn't suffer fools gladly" (an unusual name I grant you).

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

Relevance? If we signed Dybala tomorrow, would he be worse than Sheringham because the latter has a European cup?

Because the thread is about the best goalie we've ever had and the length of time you've watched a player AND the times you've watched them first-hand/live (as opposed to TV highlights or YouTube) are relevant (unless you make such decisions based on one season and/or YouTube?)

The poster I replied to said he'd decided De Gea was our greatest goals a "few" years ago, i.e. when De Gea had had relatively few appearances for us, built up no track record and was 22.

I wouldn't have rated Messi as great at 22.

 

[Blzbud]

Yeah mate I don’t disagree what you’re saying and I think Schmeichel is Uniteds greatest ever keeper. I am putting up a counter argument as it isn’t crazy to say De Gea is better now. Over his whole career nah no way, yet. I emphasise the yet. Schmeichel was 28 when he joined United. De Gea is only 26. De Gea at 28 will be better than Schmeichel when he joined us in my opinion.

Well, I think the age factor is a good point and we simply don't know for certain exactly how good De Gea can become. But, for me at least, De Gea will actually have to up his level to better than Schmeichel, it wouldn't be enough for me if he just kept playing at the level he is playing at now for the rest of his career. So, having nailed my colors firmly to the Schmeichel mast, it is a measure of how highly I rate De Gea when I say that I do believe he could just be good enough to do it.