David De(cade) Gea - How will he be remembered?

Eternitiy

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He's tarnished his reputation. He should have been replaced 2 years ago, but he's stayed and continued to cost us with ghastly errors and declining ability.

I was so happy when we signed him, and his development into perhaps the best keeper in the world for a brief period was amazing to watch. At his best, he was astonishing.

However, we mustn't forget he would have left us at his peak if not for a paperwork error. And considering he's our longest serving player (along with P. Jones), his lack of leadership and passion for the club is quite disheartening.
 

Chicharo

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Sadly the forum and fans have short memories.
Just remember who were CBs and still are which asses he was always supposed to save. And another important thing, for the majority of his presence in United we didn't have a consistent back four (especially CBs) like we had had before, plus none of them were nowhere near Vida or Rio.
By far our best player in post-Fergie era.
Short memory...
 

Baneofthegame

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To be fair, if he had learned the basics of the game he should be getting into his prime right now. Unfortunately he spent most of his career relying on his agility and never mastered the basics of the position...
Regardless, we still wasted it.
 

stw2022

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For me he's the best goalkeeper we've ever had with little question. He won't be remembered as the greatest for one reason or another but stripping everything else away he's been phenomenal.
 

Jeppers7

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Always baffles me why VDS is put with Schmeichel. Apparently was a good organiser and talker, a calming influence on the defence and an excellent keeper, But he too wasn’t brave and unlike DeGea and Schmeichel he rarely made saves you wouldn’t expect him to make.

Schmeichel is out in front because his all round game was so much better than the other two, in fact for me he’s the greatest goalkeeper of the past 50 years.
DeGea is second because despite the fact that he’s been a liability for two and a half years, he was by far our best player for five years. For that period his consistency and level of performance was probably better than any single performance VDS produced in his time at United and I’m talking week in week out, he was the best goalkeeper in the world along with Neur, playing for a team languishing around 6th.

Like others have said people get caught up with what we won in a particular period. Bryan Robson/Micheal Carrick.
 

Siezard

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The interesting thing is De Gea actually won the Europa before he joined Man Utd. He then won the Europa again in 2017. So to him, it's just another trophy.

Best known for being the keeper with the best reflexes. I am not sure if Ole will give De Gea the chance to redeem himself next season.
 
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golden_blunder

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Guy won an FA Cup, Premier League and Europa League hardly lack of big trophies. Quantities of trophies compared to VDS and Peter but look at the teams/defences they had in front of him plus Sir Alex in his prime. Without David in those first few years on post Sir Alex history would have repeated itself in us battling relegation or even so maybe being relegated. The amount of 1-0s where David single handily saved us from defeat won't be forgotten by me. Many supporters blame him from some of the crazy defeats in the last season at Old Trafford but soon as Maguire is removed realise without a Spine in the Team a proper spine we won't be battling for anything any time soon.
I agree our spine needs to be worked on. Very weak down the middle.

however a spine should not detract what we see from DDG now - declining reflexes, poor communication, no control of his area, poor kicking (instead we have to cringe as Maguire and Lindelof or Bailly and Lindelof pass the ball endlessly sideways whilst the opposition close them down), poor organisation of his defence( poor performance claiming the ball in the air. He’s like the goalkeeper version of Lindelof
 

Lemon Moon

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It's his mentality that has let him down, he lacks a mental edge in my opinion.

He's a United legend for me though still. He is an outstanding goal keeper.
 

Kostov

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Not sure how many games he has played but I will consider him as a club legend. Absolute phenomenal goalkeeper, that we surrounded with shit defense and midfield for the majority of his time here. People love to rewrite history and have short memories, but he stayed despite the broken Real transfer and didn't make a fuss. Respect him enormously.
 

Kostov

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I agree our spine needs to be worked on. Very weak down the middle.

however a spine should not detract what we see from DDG now - declining reflexes, poor communication, no control of his area, poor kicking (instead we have to cringe as Maguire and Lindelof or Bailly and Lindelof pass the ball endlessly sideways whilst the opposition close them down), poor organisation of his defence( poor performance claiming the ball in the air. He’s like the goalkeeper version of Lindelof
We should probably work on buying proper CM/CDM instead of pinning that on DDG. We tolerate midfielder who can't pass the ball precisely longer than 10m, but want DDG to kick it better?
 

golden_blunder

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We should probably work on buying proper CM/CDM instead of pinning that on DDG. We tolerate midfielder who can't pass the ball precisely longer than 10m, but want DDG to kick it better?
I want him to be able to take a normal goal kick accurately. Genuinely when was the last time we did that?
 

TrueRed1999

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I agree our spine needs to be worked on. Very weak down the middle.

however a spine should not detract what we see from DDG now - declining reflexes, poor communication, no control of his area, poor kicking (instead we have to cringe as Maguire and Lindelof or Bailly and Lindelof pass the ball endlessly sideways whilst the opposition close them down), poor organisation of his defence( poor performance claiming the ball in the air. He’s like the goalkeeper version of Lindelof
Players lose confidence but class is permanent. If We sort the Spine out and David regains his confidence which he is more than capable of doing he will return to being one of the best. I love Henderson too but he has also made some horrific mistakes due to him and the defence. Schmeichel and Van der Sar had great defences in front of them. Irwin Stam Johnsen Neville - 1999 / Irwin Pallister Bruce Parker- 1992-94 and Van De Sar had Evra Vidic Ferdinand Neville too. Build the team from the back, our attacking is fantastic but whats cost us is our defence.
 

arnie_ni

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I actually think he was the best keeper for that 3 or 4 year span and if he left for Madrid a couple of years ago i don't think many would question that.

But when you factor in his decline since the world Cup, and the lack of trophies, which is really no fault of his own because he was by far and away our best player, he's third on the list, from my time anyway
 

charlenefan

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give this man some respect for how he's performed for the club
 

Majima

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give this man some respect for how he's performed for the club
He's been a phenomenal keeper for us over the years.

This video is actually missing a lot too. Wilkinson Stoke away 11/12, Mata free-kick away 11/12, Giaccherini header Sunderland away 13/14, Coutinho away 16/17, Jese Stoke away 17/18, Jordan Henderson away 19/20 were all incredible saves.


0.15 secs for Wilkinson save, 0.57 for Jese save, 1.13 for Mata save, 1.56 for Coutinho save, 3.56 for Henderson save.


0.05 secs for Giaccherini header.

It also doesn't highlight his match winning performances too. My most memorable:

- Liverpool home in 14/15 the one vs. Sterling, where we won 3-0, but he made 8 crucial saves keeping a clean sheat.
- Spurs away in 18/19, where we won 2-1, where we were truly on the ropes, and De Gea made 3-4 unreal saves at point blank, especially the one vs Alderweireld in the last minute.

That's before we even get onto his European saves for us. Sevilla away CL 17/18 springs to mind instantly.
 

Amar__

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I am not even his biggest fan, but he is clearly a club legend ffs, he is first choice here for more than ten years and probably the best player on average in that period. People call Ronaldo one of our biggest legends and he was here for almost half the time de Gea was. De Gea was best player in more seasons than probably Ronaldo was for us, it's not his fault he was surround by shite for many years.
 

Random Task

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give this man some respect for how he's performed for the club
There are some truly outstanding saves in that video, but it's missing the one he made against Stoke and a fair few others.

He has to be ranked amongst our top three keepers of all time. Well, he is for me anyway.
 

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Always baffles me why VDS is put with Schmeichel. Apparently was a good organiser and talker, a calming influence on the defence and an excellent keeper, But he too wasn’t brave and unlike DeGea and Schmeichel he rarely made saves you wouldn’t expect him to make.
Wasn't brave? Edwin was definitely brave, he just wasn't mental. Had full command of his area, more than willing to come off his line, routinely collected crosses, was not afraid to come out in one-on-ones, had tremendous reach, good with the ball at his feet... His all-round game was easily better than de Gea's. Bolded bit is also patently false.

Fair enough, one reason for the high regard in which van der Sar is held is the shambolic line of wasters that preceded him, but he was an absolutely class goalie. That save in Moscow also gave most United supporters one of their best ever football moments, and that counts for something.

That being said, I do like de Gea. Had we won more trophies, I don't think people would be as quick to denigrate him. Probably one of the best shot stoppers the game has ever seen, and that was, for a while at least, more than enough to make up for his weaker areas.
 
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Lelouch geass

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Baffles me when people underrate David's contribution. He was one of the best keeper in world for 4 years and for about a year he topped Neuer. People simply rate rubbish Buffon more than David. Those 4 years he was best keeper ever earning more points than a decent striker for the club. On his prime he was better than Neuer, Courtious, Buffon, VDS, Casillas, Kahn though his longevity was short. Based on 4 years of astonishingly saving United's ass he deserves his payment saving United million. People are like Roy Keane like its his job he has to do it.
 

Siezard

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Ddg is the best of the best keepers since Peter Schmeichel and VDS retired. His point blank saves are tremendous. Hope he's given more chances to redeem himself and played more cup games at least.
 

SadlerMUFC

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Way to be condescending while missing the point


No, he wouldn't. That's the entire point. These basic things of goalkeeping you keep coming back to, if they're so easy to learn by working hard then any goalkeeper could do that. He'd still need to be the best in the world at shot stopping in order to actually be the best in the world. He's not that anymore, not close. If he was, we wouldn't be thinking about having Dean Henderson as number 1 next season. However, I agree that if he had worked on those attributes he clearly would be a much better keeper than he is now, but he wouldn't be one of the very top keepers in the world at the moment right now matterless.

Nobody does that. But you also cannot have a goalkeeper that keeps dropping clangers like he did during times. No matter how much more basic goalkeeping he could have known, it wouldn't have mattered.

Very true. Goalkeeping is pretty much rocket science after all.

Ok....tell me what's wrong with the goal Rodriguez scores around 1:50 mark?

 

SadlerMUFC

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Please do. I'm genuinely curious, especially to see which ones are from De Gea's peak era.

Van Der Sar was definitely exceptional on the positioning front, he rarely ever made the sort of highlight-reel saves you'd see from De Gea or Casillas but always seemed to be in the right place.

Perfect example is Rodriguez goal. The only spot he can shoot is near post yet De Gea is close to the middle of the goal and on his goal line. He should be standing to his right and at the top of the 6 and then it's a routine save. But most people saw this goal and saw the bullet of a shot and said "what a goal. De Gea had no chance". I can guarantee that VDS would have made a routine save out of that. In fact, i would have saved that...

 

The Siege

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He should be remembered as a god. He was the only reason we were even relevant for certain seasons in the middle of the decade, the variable between getting and not getting Champions League football. Sure he's not been at his best for the last couple of seasons, but the good outweighs the bad by a tremendous margin.
 

CoopersDream

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Perfect example is Rodriguez goal. The only spot he can shoot is near post yet De Gea is close to the middle of the goal and on his goal line. He should be standing to his right and at the top of the 6 and then it's a routine save. But most people saw this goal and saw the bullet of a shot and said "what a goal. De Gea had no chance". I can guarantee that VDS would have made a routine save out of that. In fact, i would have saved that...
Sure, if De Gea stood exactly where the ball was shot, he would have saved it. It's easy to say with hindsight where he should be standing to save it. A split second before the shot the entire goal is open to shoot at though, so just standing at the edge of six yards to his right would have required him to know beforehand exactly how it played out, which, you know, isn't reasonable to require him to do. I'm not saying that he couldn't have done better on the goal, but doing that seems unreasonable to me. But anyway, I seem to remember Van Der Sar not doing the same for Pedro's goal in the Champions League final.
 

K Stand Knut

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He should be considered a legend.

The only reason he wont be is because it sounds weird to have 3 goalkeeper legends in less than 20 years His lack of big trophies will also work against him. Both of these are weak arguments, imo.
I actually don’t mind having 3 GK ‘legends’. No problem at all, even if I don’t agree that DDG should be in the legend bracket, personally. If a player deserves to be in the legend category, so be it, their position should be irrelevant.

In terms of how I’ll remember De Gea, I’d say he’s been a very good servant and a very good GK. nowhere near our best ever, and never even close to being the best GK in the world, despite what some journalists and United fans will have you believe.

Probably one of the best shot stoppers i‘ve ever seen but lacked in so many other areas that he can’t be compared to the likes of Schmeichel and VDS, and that’s just other GKs at United.
 
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I think he’ll look back and think he wasted his prime at United. With more trophies, either at United, or say Real, he’d be remembered as one of the best and most spectacular ever. The Messi and Ronaldo of goalkeepers, the goalkeeper who made world class saves 1-3 times a match, the type of saves other top class keepers make once every couple of month. In a United team that over the past 10 years won 3 league titles and 1 CL, I think he’d be remembered as our best keeper ever, playing in a United team that was in the most competitive league ever.

Now, he’ll be remembered as world class form most of his time but not our best, and well be legendary in the sense that our best high light reels under Moyes and LVG were 95% just him.
 

Oranges038

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Just a gentle reminder for those who say De Gea is the best shot stopper they've ever seen at the club.



The save from Diouf in here is just insanely good, he was on the verge of retirement and could still get up and down that quickly. It's just a shame it was for City.

 

BR7

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At least he hasn’t joined city and celebrated a win against us like it was his biggest achievement ever (yet....)
 

Sparky_Hughes

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Just a gentle reminder for those who say De Gea is the best shot stopper they've ever seen at the club.



The save from Diouf in here is just insanely good, he was on the verge of retirement and could still get up and down that quickly. It's just a shame it was for City.

That brought back so so many memories, and people laughably claim dave is anywhere near Big Petes level :lol:
 

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I'll certainly remember him fondly whenever he does eventually leave. I'm still holding out some hope, on what I don't know, that he will get anywhere close to being back to his best. Unlike when Rooney declined early, it doesn't really appear to be a physical issue unless there are things that we aren't aware of.

Not a perfect goalkeeper in the modern game, but with such superb shotstopping at his prime. It made it more than worth it to be honest. It's a shame that it didn't coincide with a better period in the club's history as for a long time he was by far the best performer in an average team. We would have been a lot worse off without him. That won't get him the glory of a cup final heroic performance for example, but it's worth a lot in my eyes.
 

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Definite club legend, don't see how anyone could say any differently. Easily our best keeper in recent decades after Schmikes and VDS.
 

Siezard

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Goalkeeper in the past don't even have the best jersey or gloves. Nor do they receive top training, coaching and have good diet daily.
 

largelyworried

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Like all these things, the player at the end isn't the player you remember after they're long gone. Even with legends like Giggs, people felt it was past time to retire by the end. But once they're gone you start to think about the career as a whole. DDG may be flagging these days, but he was outstanding at his peak.

For me DDG is behind PS and VDS overall, just, but its freaky to have so many outstanding goalkeepers in such a short period of time. At another club he could easily be their best GK in the PL era. He carried this club at its lowest ebb. No player who wins the POTY award umpteen times in a row should be considered as anything less than exceptional.
 

SadlerMUFC

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Sure, if De Gea stood exactly where the ball was shot, he would have saved it. It's easy to say with hindsight where he should be standing to save it. A split second before the shot the entire goal is open to shoot at though, so just standing at the edge of six yards to his right would have required him to know beforehand exactly how it played out, which, you know, isn't reasonable to require him to do. I'm not saying that he couldn't have done better on the goal, but doing that seems unreasonable to me. But anyway, I seem to remember Van Der Sar not doing the same for Pedro's goal in the Champions League final.
It's not hindsight when you know the position and where he should be standing. This is a perfect example of how people like you shouldn't comment on these type of things because you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. For one, he should be off his line to cut the angle, and two he should be cheating short side because unlike you said here, the defender had taken away far post. But people like you will continue to say "De Gea hasn't been at fault so he should be our #1" while goals like this continue to flood in because much like you, De Gea still doesn't know the basics of his position...