David De Gea Appreciation Thread

Mr.Ridiculous__

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I know he hasn't been at his best for a little while. But today on the back of a good performance from him, I felt that at the close of the decade, we put all that aside and appreciate the fact that he has been our shining light in what was majorly a very meh decade. Let's not forget that he was absolutely the best in the world or thereabouts and he still stuck with us even when times weren't exactly the best.

I know there will be snobs here, saying stuff like " Why does he need a thread for this when he isn't leaving now" or "We just paid him a shit load of money" etc. But feck that.

What's your favorite moment from big Dave?
For me, it's the freekick save from Mata at Stamford Bridge. Changed his whole career, that one save.

 

sullydnl

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Our player of the decade by quite some distance.

The saves against Everton and Chelsea stand out, though in truth he saved us in more games than I could count. Christ only knows how much worse some of those post-SAF seasons would have been without him.
 

RedIan

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hes awesome, makes my blood boil when the naysayers slate him after a mistake. How many times has he saved us. An outstanding save today to keep that clean sheet and save an equaliser. Bravo at city let 2 far softer shots in yesterday.
 

Web of Bissaka

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Fav moment?

Just one, no way!

Fav Moments
:drool:
1) The many godlike ridiculous impossible saves he made past seasons, was it a consistent 5 seasons? Or 4.

2) assists/long passes to Chicharito and other players (forgot who). I remmber he also got an assist to assist. More than one game.

3) chose to stay with us in the end. Don't care about the stories behind it.

4) Saved us many pts and being a consistent performer. Arguably he's one of our best world class players post saf no doubt. Now is different story.

5) When he first wear the capt armband and the games after that (rare though) leading the team. I still think he's the most qualified right now. Who knows later on.
 

Jericholyte2

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The game against the Scousers when he made Sterling his bitch!

He must have had 5 great chances and on any other day would have had a hat trick.
 

Jonno

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Excellent tonight. Stopped a certain goal from Bardsley and improved on his penalty box agility in terms of coming to punch
 

OnlyTwoDaSilvas

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He's had a couple of outstanding performances at the Emirates in particular. Those saves with his feet away to Real Madrid were great too.

I vaguely remember miraculous close range saves away at Stoke and Sunderland too, but can't remember what year.
 

redshaw

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Some great saves against Arsenal when we won 3-1. They and Sanchez tore us to pieces for 85 mins and Dave the Save kept them out.

There's so many top saves and points earned over the years but he made a fabulous save tonight to keep it 1-0 from Bardsley. A very strong stretching arm to push that hammer of shot wide. I bet he thought he'd scored the fecker. Sort of thing you think only Dave is doing that when you see it from behind the goal.
 

Riz

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Probably not even his best 90 minutes for us but the Spurs game last year he was a 1 man wall. Didn’t he make like 14 saves or something ridiculous.
 

Anduin

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Most memorable saves IMHO were the one against Baines and especially v Murray at Selhurst Park, think it was under LVG. Simply outstanding from close range!

I was referring to #4 here:

 
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Mindhunter

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Most of this saves are already covered by others. The one that comes to mind was the double save against Arsenal. Sanchez looked like he has given up on life - he was so deflated.
 

VeevaVee

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The saves have been mentioned. Still love having him in goal. Still has a better highlight reel than all the others people rate higher every season, still has more to do than them.
 

Nickelodeon

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  • 11 saves in one half against Spurs in Jan
  • His double save against Arsenal with the second one with his feet from Sanchez. The look of disbelief on Sanchez's face is, sadly, my favorite Sanchez moment for United.
  • Save against Everton in the last minute with Rojo celebrating it like its a goal
  • Save against Sunderland
  • Save against Sevilla or Valencia. Can't remember which.
  • Juan Mata freekick save
  • Save from Aguero in the comeback 3-2 win at Etihad
All these saves are just from the top of my head. That's what this guy has given to us. He's my absolute favorite player over the last decade. No competition at all.
 

3KDré

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I’m certain he saved Mourinho and LVG from getting sacked earlier.

One of my favourite games from him has to be against Arsenal, when Pogba, Lukaku, Lingard and Martial ran riot against them.
 

lex talionis

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So many great saves to choose from, but the ones that first come to mind are the saves against Real and the Mata free kick.
 

Lelouch geass

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Buffon made lot of mistakes and has failed to deliver during UCL semis and penalty saves. For same reason Dave is critisized a lot
. He was best keeper for 4 years or so. There will be down moments im every players career. Love the fax machine saga and how he was so tight lipped pro!
 

lex talionis

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I'm not a big fan of the beard on Dave, but despite a few consequential mistakes the boggle the mind for even an average keeper Dave has been massive for us for a long time and has earned our respect. Watching a number of old matches of the Schmeichel era, it's clear that Peter was capable of some mistakes himself. And I'm not sure Peter was capable of putting in some of the jaw-dropping performances Dave put in for us almost routinely for 4-5 seasons, while for the most part the back line in front of was rather $hit.
 

berbatrick

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That performance against Real is under-rated a little, nice to see it brought up here. It never makes it to compilations and the usual line is that he has struggled in the spotlight. That game was the most high profile of his career and he was outstanding.
 

meamth

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Thing is, will he get to his peak back?

Maybe he will lose a bit of agility going in his 30s, interesting to see how he will compensate that.
 

RooneyLegend

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Never seen a keeper do the things he did with that regularity. Basically kept coaches in jobs.
 

berbatrick

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He was really under-rated by everyone that season. He had a bad mistake in the Shield game, and a few nervous moments (none of them leading to a goal) after that, but he also produced a ton of amazing saves. Instead the commentary was about the nervous young keeper, error-prone, physically incapable, Lindegaard is better (persisted for another season), Joe Hart is better,...
 

charlenefan

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He was really under-rated by everyone that season. He had a bad mistake in the Shield game, and a few nervous moments (none of them leading to a goal) after that, but he also produced a ton of amazing saves. Instead the commentary was about the nervous young keeper, error-prone, physically incapable, Lindegaard is better (persisted for another season), Joe Hart is better,...
One of those old football myths that De Gea was dodgy early on, he's been more questionable this last 18 months than he was at the start
 

Møllemanden

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One of those old football myths that De Gea was dodgy early on, he's been more questionable this last 18 months than he was at the start
Well. I don't recall Schmeichel or Van der Sar ever being in danger of losing their spot as #1 goalkeeper. At one point Anders Lindegaard was a more consistent performer than De Gea. Also... I've never seen opposition sides target a goalkeepers weakness as much as they have De Gea's. At least not since David James was fumbling around at Anfield... His (DDG's) aerial play has always been poor. If you compare his leadership skills to Pete and Edwin, he's also nowhere near the level required imo. I'm not saying he hasn't been a good goalkeeper - he has. But sometimes I felt like the defenders "protecting" him, might have handed him too many opportunities to shine.

What I like about De Gea is his loyalty. I'm pretty sure he would have liked to join Real Madrid a few years back. But he didn't moan or act unprofessional about it. He says he's enjoying life here. I like that. Also, he's been a life saver sooo many times. But still he will never be as good as our top top goalkeepers. That's my opinion.
 

charlenefan

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Well. I don't recall Schmeichel or Van der Sar ever being in danger of losing their spot as #1 goalkeeper. At one point Anders Lindegaard was a more consistent performer than De Gea.
As I said a myth
 

Revan

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Apparently the only keeper who has been chosen 5 times to be in the PFA team of the year (EPL only). Shame that his peak intersected with United's bottom.

Anyway, Mata's free kick for me is the best save of all time. Have watched it so many times, and everytime I watch it, it looks like the ball is gonna get in.
 

Revan

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One of those old football myths that De Gea was dodgy early on, he's been more questionable this last 18 months than he was at the start
It is not a myth to be fair. He was quite dodgy on the first half of his season here. Made some excellent saves, but also some high profile mistakes. Even got benched for 4 or so games in January. After returning he was excellent on the second half of the season, likely the best in the league.

On the second season, he made a mistake against Fulham in second/third match and then got benched. Returned 4-5 matches later, and was a monster for the remaining part of the season, even getting the PFA keeper award.
 

adamwest

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Guy deserves respect after the battering he's taken recently. 2 top class saves (the second GNEV tried to brush off - but that deflection was wicked) tonight.