[Rockets Redglare]

I noticed that as soon as Dave got the ball the defence and in particular Martinez all moved quickly to give him options, which will help him out massively as he isn’t a natural with the ball at his feet.

Having a defence he trusts will be a massive boost to him and what I really like is that he’s obviously putting the work in and listening to the coaching staff.

 

[Raw]

If we can get De Gea to distribute well then feck maybe we can get him to save penalties too

 

[RopersReturn]

I noticed that as soon as Dave got the ball the defence and in particular Martinez all moved quickly to give him options, which will help him out massively as he isn’t a natural with the ball at his feet.

Having a defence he trusts will be a massive boost to him and what I really like is that he’s obviously putting the work in and listening to the coaching staff.

Good comment, I noticed he also seemed a bit calmer than usual, possibly because of renewed confidence and understanding in the new back line as you mentioned.

 

[Gavinb33]

I think De Gea's kicking has always been there but successive coaches didn't coach to play the way and he lost it somewhere.

Like other posters have said having a coach that coaches and wants a pattern on playing has helped and the players now knowing where to be quicker and giving more options which again hasn't been coached into the players for a long time has helped.

The one thing I am shocked by is the willingness to come off the line and collect balls is becoming more of a thing long may that continue.

In reality should this form continue we'd be better off getting a new contract to the keeper if only for 2 or 3 years as it would likely be cheaper than buying a new keeper as I think we have other more important holes in the team.

 

[Solius]

I specifically remember one really good pass he played out to Shaw. Shaw's control was impeccable, because the ball was fizzed into him, but it was not a typical De Gea pass at all. Fair play.

Shaw is a superb player to use to break a press because his first touch is often spot on. Gives him enough time to then pick the second pass before being closed down.

 

[DanNistelrooy]

Just watched the highlights back and was expecting to see his save from Kane (just before our 2nd goal). Was that offside? Looked like a match winning save but I was a long way away from it!

 

[Jev]

I think De Gea's kicking has always been there but successive coaches didn't coach to play the way and he lost it somewhere.

Yep, this. He's always been a pretty good kicker and passer. He's not Ederson or Allison but his distribution is more than adequate. We've just not had a structure that offered the passing options those two constantly have, and as a result he's often been under a lot of pressure when receiving the ball, which he doesn't deal well with. His kicking technique in itself is very good.

 

[Jev]

Just watched the highlights back and was expecting to see his save from Kane (just before our 2nd goal). Was that offside? Looked like a match winning save but I was a long way away from it!

Yeah, was offside, the referee just let the game go on because we had a breakaway chance. I've actually never seen the advantage rule enforced like that before and am not entirely sure it's within the laws but who cares.

 

[youngrell]

Showing he's capable of improving and adapting his game. Hopefully he keeps it up.

 

[lex talionis]

Are we done now with the demand to get rid of De Gea?

 

[The Corinthian]

Are we done now with the demand to get rid of De Gea?

No. It still makes perfect sense to replace him at the end of the season.

It’ll work nicely for us as he’ll come to the end of his contract, and to pay a keeper that isn’t good enough £350k a week is nonsensical. He’s been a good servant but it’s time to move him on.

 

[bosnian_red]

Are we done now with the demand to get rid of De Gea?

Hard to say. Not usually one to talk about wages but they're way too big. And he's been mostly shit since his last contract. So extending him might shoot ourselves in the foot. He's improved on the ball, but aerially and sweeping it'll always be an issue. And at his age, it's only decline from here. So would have to be a big pay cut, cutting his salary in half basically, for it to make sense, where we can still sign someone like Diogo Costa and phase out de Gea to be a rotation/mentor guy.

I'm guessing we'll extend him and just put off the goalkeeper position for a couple of years while we focus on CF and Frenkie if that's possible.

 

[lex talionis]

I appreciate the prior two posts in reply. Sure, 350k/week is a massive wage for a keeper. But if we’re going to get rid of De Gea who exactly are we going to bring in next season?

I’d hate to see us backslide on the keeper position next season in order to save the Glazers 150k/week.

 

[Kostov]

David De Gea is one of the most talented GK in the world, and he was never rubbish with the ball in his feet. Of course he can adapt and hopefully improve along with a stable CB pairing that we hopefully have in Martinez and Varane.

 

[sullydnl]

Are we done now with the demand to get rid of De Gea?

I don't see why we would be?

He's shown improvement on some of his weaknesses, which is great, but there are still a lot of goalkeepers better than him at those things and better than him as an overall package as a result.

On sweeping for example, last season he averaged 0.24 defensive actions outside his penalty area per game and this season he's averaging 0.50 so far. Which is a big improvement, but still only takes him from the 20th most in the league last season to the 16th most this season (so far). Hardly something that should earn you a new contract.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

As someone who has been constantly slating him for ages, I have to give credit where it's due. His last few performances have been very good. Especially in the areas of his game where he usually seems poor. I'm loving his confident passing. Zipping the ball along the ground.
No idea what's going on but more of the same please.

 

[largelyworried]

I appreciate the prior two posts in reply. Sure, 350k/week is a massive wage for a keeper. But if we’re going to get rid of De Gea who exactly are we going to bring in next season?

I’d hate to see us backslide on the keeper position next season in order to save the Glazers 150k/week.

I don't think accepting an average player simply because we might get someone worse is an approach that makes sense for this club. We have to trust that ETH has what it takes to find the right pick from among the many players with better stats on paper than De Gea.

 

[red woppit]

Yeah, was offside, the referee just let the game go on because we had a breakaway chance. I've actually never seen the advantage rule enforced like that before and am not entirely sure it's within the laws but who cares.

Always has been in the rules that the referee can play advantage, but there have been a few changes over the past few years, although I would be surprised if they had rescinded that.
De Gea has actually impressed me recently, I thought he had run his course with United, but he seems a lot more proactive nowadays, and it's nice to see him collect the ball on the edge of his area.

 

[JB7]

Are we done now with the demand to get rid of De Gea?

PSxG: -2.0, 18 of 22 goalkeepers in the league (who have played more than 2 games)
Sweeping: 0.5 occasions per game, joint 16th of 22.
Crosses: Deals with 3.1% of crosses, 20th of 22.
Passing: Long passing completion at 37.6%, has him 10th of 22.

We're seeing an improvement over recent weeks which I've been pleasantly surprised with but let's not go overboard.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

We're seeing an improvement over recent weeks which I've been pleasantly surprised with but let's not go overboard.

I’m really curious to see if the stats match the eye test on this. Don’t suppose you’ve seen any?

 

[Jev]

Always has been in the rules that the referee can play advantage, but there have been a few changes over the past few years, although I would be surprised if they had rescinded that.
De Gea has actually impressed me recently, I thought he had run his course with United, but he seems a lot more proactive nowadays, and it's nice to see him collect the ball on the edge of his area.

That I'm aware of but until recently there was no scenario where you could play on after a striker in an offside position, adjudged to have been in an offside position, received the ball and took a shot, because the referee would have whistled before the shot.

Now they're not supposed to wave the flag and whistle until after the incident in close call situations. But this is the first time I've seen the play go on after the flag being raised. It's a situation that could have never happened before VAR and it wouldn't surprise me if they haven't yet clarified whether you can even let the game go on in that scenario.

 

[DJ Jeff]

I am speaking of 10 years ago here, but does anyone remember how bad VDS distribution was in his final season and how by 12/13 people were amazed at how good Dave's kicking was. Then it seemed to decline a fair bit post Fergie.

 

[Strootman's Finger]

One can only wonder how good his passing could bei if he woudn't have been told to hoof it away for the last 8 years or so.

If i remember correctly this was supposed to be one of his strenght before his transfer to us. Insane how this part of his game has been ignored by pretty much every coach before Ten Hag.

I don't know if it's too late now but credit where it's due. He has really been improving and he seem to love this club. Hard not to like our Dave.

I want to preface this with saying I love De Gea, fantastic shot stopper and servant to the club. But I don't know if that was the case, him coming with the reputation of good passing play. We went from Van der Sar, that 15 years ago played like a modern keeper better than any modern keeper plays like a modern keeper now. He was one of my favorite ever footballers, so for me massive shoes De Gea had to fill. And while I was immediately impressed by his shot stopping, I also immediately felt his impact on our overall play, because he didn't have the distribution of VDS or the ability to play out from the back. This was immediately evident on him signing for us. De Gea took a long time to win me over for this reason.

Having said that, he must of had some of that in him, because it looks like with a sound defense in front of him and some proper coaching he obviously has some of those skills because we saw it yesterday.

 

[JB7]

I’m really curious to see if the stats match the eye test on this. Don’t suppose you’ve seen any?

FBRef do match reports so you can look at them and average things out. So, looking at the Everton, Newcastle & Spurs games as our last three league fixtures:

PSxG: +1.0 (0.33 per 90)
Long passing: 48% completion (25 of 52)
Crosses: 6.67% (2 of 30)
Sweeping: 0.67 per game (2 actions)

So looking at the goalkeeping stats overall for the season, those numbers would have him at 4th for PSxG per 90, 6th for long passing, 13th on crosses and 15th for sweeping actions which obviously is a considerable improvement.

 

[Adisa]

His passing from the back has improved a lot. We bypassed both Newcastle and Spurs' press with ease.

 

[Oranges038]

PSxG: -2.0, 18 of 22 goalkeepers in the league (who have played more than 2 games)
Sweeping: 0.5 occasions per game, joint 16th of 22.
Crosses: Deals with 3.1% of crosses, 20th of 22.
Passing: Long passing completion at 37.6%, has him 10th of 22.

We're seeing an improvement over recent weeks which I've been pleasantly surprised with but let's not go overboard.

Was just looking at that. Best paid keeper in the world and he still occupies the bottom % of the league in terms of most stats. I am not going to go overboard on any praise, what he's doing is nothing special. But shows exactly what we've been missing for years now.

I don't understand why people are creaming themselves because he's decided to pass the ball, caught a cross or two and appeared outside the box once or twice.

 

[Revaulx]

I am speaking of 10 years ago here, but does anyone remember how bad VDS distribution was in his final season and how by 12/13 people were amazed at how good Dave's kicking was. Then it seemed to decline a fair bit post Fergie.

It was fine under Moyes and LvG.

Jose wasn’t interested in retaining possession and liked his keeper just to hoof it long and hard. Ole and Ralf never got round to stopping that; maybe because they didn’t realised DDG was capable of anything else.

Whatever. It’s great to see his distribution improving after all the years of stagnation.

He’s even coming off his line more. I don’t think he’ll ever be great at dealing with high crosses though.

 

[JB7]

Was just looking at that. Best paid keeper in the world and he still occupies the bottom % of the league in terms of most stats. I am not going to go overboard on any praise, what he's doing is nothing special. But shows exactly what we've been missing for years now.

I don't understand why people are creaming themselves because he's decided to pass the ball, caught a cross or two and appeared outside the box once or twice.

I agree, though in fairness I have also just put up the combined stats from the previous 3 fixtures which does make better reading. He's not the one, obviously, but I am pleased to see some improvements in his game over recent weeks.

 

[Jev]

I want to preface this with saying I love De Gea, fantastic shot stopper and servant to the club. But I don't know if that was the case, him coming with the reputation of good passing play. We went from Van der Sar, that 15 years ago played like a modern keeper better than any modern keeper plays like a modern keeper now. He was one of my favorite ever footballers, so for me massive shoes De Gea had to fill. And while I was immediately impressed by his shot stopping, I also immediately felt his impact on our overall play, because he didn't have the distribution of VDS or the ability to play out from the back. This was immediately evident on him signing for us. De Gea took a long time to win me over for this reason.

Having said that, he must of had some of that in him, because it looks like with a sound defense in front of him and some proper coaching he obviously has some of those skills because we saw it yesterday.

That was absolutely the case. His reputation when he came and for his first few seasons here was that he had outstanding distribution. One randomly googled example from the time:

He’s always been a terrific shot-stopper, kicker and distributor of the ball, which was taken for granted when he was flapping at crosses and getting stranded underneath corners.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles...t-becoming-one-of-the-worlds-best-goalkeepers

 

[Pogue Mahone]

FBRef do match reports so you can look at them and average things out. So, looking at the Everton, Newcastle & Spurs games as our last three league fixtures:

PSxG: +1.0 (0.33 per 90)
Long passing: 48% completion (25 of 52)
Crosses: 6.67% (2 of 30)
Sweeping: 0.67 per game (2 actions)

So looking at the goalkeeping stats overall for the season, those numbers would have him at 4th for PSxG per 90, 6th for long passing, 13th on crosses and 15th for sweeping actions which obviously is a considerable improvement.

Ah. Ok. Better but still not great.

 

[BlackBen]

It seems you actually can teach old ddg new tricks.

Fixed

 

[NewYorkRed]

Lots of people told me ETH would never play him. He’s going to be our starting GK till he retires or actually starts declining seriously. Not to say there haven’t been moments when he hasn’t been great, but if you look at his tenure in full he has absolutely been one of the best (he was the actual best for a brief period) goalies in the world during his time here, and he gets not nearly enough credit because he’s played largely infront of a crap defense.

 

[largelyworried]

Lots of people told me ETH would never play him. He’s going to be our starting GK till he retires or actually starts declining seriously. Not to say there haven’t been moments when he hasn’t been great, but if you look at his tenure in full he has absolutely been one of the best (he was the actual best for a brief period) goalies in the world during his time here, and he gets not nearly enough credit because he’s played largely infront of a crap defense.

He hasn't been remotely close to best in the world since 2017-2018.

 

[NewYorkRed]

He hasn't been remotely close to best in the world since 2017-2018.

I didn’t say he was? Might want to read my post again.

 

[Oranges038]

I agree, though in fairness I have also just put up the combined stats from the previous 3 fixtures which does make better reading. He's not the one, obviously, but I am pleased to see some improvements in his game over recent weeks.

Aye, but it's the same with Shaw, Martial etc, we've seen this before with some of these players, they are so painfully average for so long that a couple of decent games where they show any sign of improvement and people start jumping the gun claiming they are world class etc etc.

If he maintains this form and way of playing through to the end of the season, that's great. But the real problem is that he's out of contract next year, there's no way he's worth anywhere near 350k a week.

 

[JB7]

I didn’t say he was? Might want to read my post again.

Yeah your post was completely insane. You said he is going to be our goalkeeper until he retires or declines. He's already nearly at the bottom of every goalkeeping stat in the league this season, how much worse do you want him to get?

 

[JB7]

Aye, but it's the same with Shaw, Martial etc, we've seen this before with some of these players, they are so painfully average for so long that a couple of decent games where they show any sign of improvement and people start jumping the gun claiming they are world class etc etc.

If he maintains this form and way of playing through to the end of the season, that's great. But the real problem is that he's out of contract next year, there's no way he's worth anywhere near 350k a week.

Oh I agree, I hope he maintains it until the end of the season but even if he does it's still nowhere near the level we need if we are to return to the top level - and certainly nowhere near value for money wage wise.

And Ten Hag is aware of that, hence his vague answers when he's been probed about DDGs contract.

 

[largelyworried]

I didn’t say he was? Might want to read my post again.

he has absolutely been one of the best (he was the actual best for a brief period) goalies in the world during his time here

 

[Art]

David's playing for his career here now. However we should move him on. He'll stop trying once we extend his contract.

 

[NewYorkRed]

Do you understand how time works? He’s been here a very long time, a lot of which he was one of the best in the world. He hasn’t been for the last few years. Is that easier for you to read and comprehend?