Can someone please explain De Gea’s overnight decline?

RashyForPM

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Or at least punches it out 25 yards rather than let Maguire put his head on it in the first place (which we've seen him do multiple times), spreading out the field and giving the midfield a chance at getting the ball back.

Watching the replay on it, DDG should have stopped that shot.

For what Ole wants to do from the back, he needs Henderson out there. Dean has all the qualities that we know David lacks - command of the box, good distribution, and no fear of coming off the line.
And I’m sure Ole can see it as well. I honestly do not know why Dean isn’t playing by now. Loyalty? No, because De Gea has been the individual player most likely to cost Ole his job for two years, starting from his implosion which single-handedly cost us a CL place in 2019. His wage? Maybe, because Dean has been a sight better since last season began. DDG’s apologists will say that Dean has been ‘shaky’, but that too is totally wrong as he has been as good as can be aside from one mistake against Sheff U. Remember, he made a flying save at the end of the game to save us the 3 points as well.
 

nainaisson

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But yeah, Blind and Smalling are unquestionably better than Maguire and Lindelof.
If you think Lindelof is bad in the air, I encourage you to watch Blind's performance away at West Ham in Van Gaal's last season, which is available for free on YouTube (last time I checked, at least). And it wasn't an atypically bad performance from Blind - he was similarly atrocious against Spurs and several other games I can only vaguely remember.

I lost count of how many times our defence was dismantled and we lost games by 4 goals with Blind and Smalling in our back line, but for some reason the myth persists that they were an incredible centre-back duo. You'd think they were at Real Madrid and Barcelona now instead of Roma and Ajax.
 

MadDogg

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I lost count of how many times our defence was dismantled and we lost games by 4 goals with Blind and Smalling in our back line, but for some reason the myth persists that they were an incredible centre-back duo. You'd think they were at Real Madrid and Barcelona now instead of Roma and Ajax.
You mustn't be able to count too high since they never conceded four goals in a game when they played together as a duo. :smirk:

The only time they ever conceded 4 when playing in the same team was against Chelsea when Blind was at leftback and Mourinho stupidly wanted Smalling to play with a broken toe.
 

Number32

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Ole keeps playing De Gea to make sure his value isn't drop in the market. He did that with Ashley Young, and hopefully any club will come for De Gea next summer. If we drop him now, we would be stuck with his big contract for a long time.
 

Red_toad

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A few links to Donnarumma in the media today, I believe he’d be a free agent, shame his agent is a twat, but best young keeper out there maybe it’d be a price worth paying.
 
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Raredaredevil

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De Gea is basically the same as Casillas was, an outrageous shot stopper who has no other world class attributes and once the reflexes went on the decline it was rapid but the difference is Real are ruthless with zero sentiment (see Ronaldo and Raul as well as Casillas) and get rid whereas we hang on (see Rooney) until it’s so obvious Stevie Wonder in a blacked out basement could see the problem.
This is a good comparison. I'd even go as far to say that Romero has a better command of the penalty area than De Gea. The way how we shafted Romero is disgraceful. De Gea is still only 30, way too young for a goalkeeper, not sure when did Casillas start to decline but I think it was at least when he was 35 or 36. He would have been perfect for Real Madrid at that time, I can't believe we manage to keep hold of him for so many years, the irony is he has declined whereas we are on the trajectory. This is already his 10th season with us. His contract expires in 2 years, I think we need to let him go after his contract ends and have Henderson as our no 1.
 

davidmichael

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This is a good comparison. I'd even go as far to say that Romero has a better command of the penalty area than De Gea. The way how we shafted Romero is disgraceful. De Gea is still only 30, way too young for a goalkeeper, not sure when did Casillas start to decline but I think it was at least when he was 35 or 36. He would have been perfect for Real Madrid at that time, I can't believe we manage to keep hold of him for so many years, the irony is he has declined whereas we are on the trajectory. This is already his 10th season with us. His contract expires in 2 years, I think we need to let him go after his contract ends and have Henderson as our no 1.
Casillas is only 39 years old now which is crazy as he’s been around since 1999-2000, if I remember right I think it was around 2012 that Casillas started declining and then it was rapid just like De Gea so Real let him go on a free to Porto a couple of years later.
 

crossy1686

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Saw an interesting tweet the other day, not sure how credible it was but it stated that Henderson had been told that either himself or De Gea wouldn’t be at the club next year (loan for Henderson, sale for De Gea) and United are in the market for a class goalkeeper that doesn’t mind playing a handful of games next season.

Take from that what you will but we seriously need to move De Gea on. The decline hasn’t been overnight, it’s been years and steady. His good performances are getting further and further apart.
 

::sonny::

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Earned so much money, not really interested in improving himself

But Ole doesn’t have the courage to bench him, so he has nothing to fear
 

RashyForPM

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Saw an interesting tweet the other day, not sure how credible it was but it stated that Henderson had been told that either himself or De Gea wouldn’t be at the club next year (loan for Henderson, sale for De Gea) and United are in the market for a class goalkeeper that doesn’t mind playing a handful of games next season.

Take from that what you will but we seriously need to move De Gea on. The decline hasn’t been overnight, it’s been years and steady. His good performances are getting further and further apart.
Choosing De Gea would possibly top the lengthy list of screw ups made by our board/managers since Fergie’s retirement. It’s a complete no-brainer to go for Dean.
 

LiamMillerBC

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The world cup totally fecked him. He was amazing before that, but after he shit the bed there he never recovered and its been mistake after mistake ever since.
He's an absolutely amazing shot stopper , he doesn't seem to have the best communication on the field, And I Don't feel he's ever had the confidence required to be the best in the world, i think he has the abilities though which is a bit of a shame. He always seems to do the best when the pressure is lowest , not counting league derby matches. Great keeper, probably time to go pretty soon here.