We still wouldn't be able to score, whoever we had at the back. And we are still suffering from it now. A good striker and we win by 2 or 3 goals last night.
David De Gea Appreciation Thread
- Thread starter Mr.Ridiculous__
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We still wouldn't be able to score, whoever we had at the back. And we are still suffering from it now. A good striker and we win by 2 or 3 goals last night.
A good keeper and you win 2-0. A good striker and you win 4-2. In the end a win is a win, both would be an improvement
It wasn't just the last two seasons. De Gea was quite poor for his last five seasons, bar a few patches here and there where he showed something like he once had (mostly in the first half of 21/22). Hell, I'd actually say that his last two seasons were better than the two and a half seasons before that. He also had a bad tendency to make a lot of his mistakes in the bigger more important games.
De Gea absolutely needed to go. It's getting to the point that it's almost certain we chose the wrong replacement, but replacing him was the right move. Now we just need to get the replacement of the replacement right.
1. There are more than two keepers in world football.
2. De Gea wasn't going to play for free. We'd be spending a fortune keeping him too.
I think most of us knew how good we had it before we let him go. All the more painful.
My point is that while you can certainly make a case that DDG was better than Onana, relying on that Golden Gloves trophy is a poor argument. Imo, DDG should give that award to Casemiro - it was him providing much-needed protection to the centre backs which shored up our defence that season (unfortunately his form went off a cliff after that), resulting in so many clean sheets - more so than Dave’s Hollywood saves.
I think there's some revisionment about De Gea's last couple of seasons. Not that he was great, but he was decent to good the last two seasons. He was really poor the few seasons before though.
My opinion in this question has always been that we needed to move on from De Gea eventually. I'm not sure that eventually was 2023. We've certainly been worse off with Onana, that much is clear.
My opinion in this question has always been that we needed to move on from De Gea eventually. I'm not sure that eventually was 2023. We've certainly been worse off with Onana, that much is clear.
We deserve all the shit - as a fanbase and as a club for treating De Gea the way we did. On his worst days he's still better than Onana
On his worst days he was making howlers just as unforgivable as Onana though? So how is he better?
His worst days came over how many years exactly?
His howlers were becoming more and more frequent as he got a bit older. Nowhere near the frequency of Onana's mind.
That's my point. On his worst days his form was still slightly better than what we see with Onana right now.
We basically replaced De Gea with a keeper that cannot hope to touch his peak form but commits howlers at the same consistency as David did towards the end
For saves DeGea was the better goalie. For distribution they are as bad as each other. De Gea wanted too much money to resign on and the club/TH jumped on the hype wagon after Onana in the Ch lge final. Funny that TH got shut of him from Ajax.
I was more alluding to his generally distribution not being very good
De Gea wasn't very good his last few seasons here. He was making errors after errors, and was regularly beaten at his near post. Onana hasn't been an improvement, but letting De Gea go was the right decision.
Wtf is this masochistic shit?
If DDG had to go, does Onana have to go this summer?
In a perfect world yes, but I doubt he does unfortunately due to all the other issues.
DDG's form in his last two to three seasons was a problem, just because Onana isn't the solution doesn't means we should go back to old mistakes.
We spent 70m euros on Hojlund and 50m euros on Onana. Bayern spent 95m euros on Kane. Tell me how was it smart to let go of DDG for nothing, while we lacked a proper striker on the minimum.
And this is not in retrospect just now, this same issue was discussed 2 years ago, the same logic was applied back then. Some people adressed our lack of goals and creation to DDG, and were convincing us that Onana would improve the team in that regard also.
Feels disrespectful to even try to compare him to Onana.
David was world class at his best. Arguably our most important player for a couple of seasons and kept us alive in some games we had no right to be alive in.
Onana will be forgotten in short time.
Thank you so much for everything Erik.
David was world class at his best. Arguably our most important player for a couple of seasons and kept us alive in some games we had no right to be alive in.
Onana will be forgotten in short time.
Thank you so much for everything Erik.
And due to what other issues that are any different from 2 years ago exactly?
EDIT: We bought Mount, Onana, Hojlund, Amrabat (loaned in) that same summer.
I love Dave but I think it was the right time to replace him. We just did it poorly.
1. We bought 2 GKs that same summer, both are obviously not fit for their expected role. We had DDG and Kovar on the books that summer.
2. Onana plays for free?
People have short memories.
De Gea was a liability towards the end of his time here. There's a good reason that no big clubs went near him despite him being available on a free.
Even after 12 months of waiting for a big offer, the best team to come in for him were a Europa Conference level Italian team. Onana looked good in a better team in Italy. The standard in that country is a lot lower than in England, hence why the likes of Lukaku and Pulisic look good over there.
De Gea was a liability towards the end of his time here. There's a good reason that no big clubs went near him despite him being available on a free.
Even after 12 months of waiting for a big offer, the best team to come in for him were a Europa Conference level Italian team. Onana looked good in a better team in Italy. The standard in that country is a lot lower than in England, hence why the likes of Lukaku and Pulisic look good over there.
DDG wasn't good enough anymore. It was obvious. Onana should have never been the replacement
And due to what other issues that are any different from 2 years ago exactly?
EDIT: We bought Mount, Onana, Hojlund, Amrabat (loaned in) that same summer.
Are you ok? Is this because I don't want to still worship at the alter of De Gea? What's so funny about what I said? Are you just easily amused? That the club is still riddled with issues? Onana was obviously bought in with the idea he'd be successful, hasn't happened, much like many other recent signings. Again I have to ask if you're ok.
It's pathetic how some of you will try and convince themselves that DDG even at his worst in the last couple of years was as bad as what we are now witnessing by Onana. Firstly you wouldn't accept that he wasn't even an improvement, parroting how he still brings this or that, then the stats army tried their best, now nobody debates that he was ever an improvement at all.
Now the same posters don't even fight the narrative that he is an actual disastrous downgrade. Revisionism about DDG is you last straw by the looks of it.
Now the same posters don't even fight the narrative that he is an actual disastrous downgrade. Revisionism about DDG is you last straw by the looks of it.
I am okey don't worry. It's just laughable how you can point out that this summer we can't replace Onana because we have more pressing issues, that's your take. But in 2023 our most pressing issues were a GK (while DDG and the defense just won the golden glove), Mount and a striker who just had a full debut season. Blew our budget on that.
I doubt we will replace him this summer, not that we can't. Learn to read babe.
DDG was mediocre, at best solid. You can get mediocre keepers for far less than 50m transfer fee and for far less salary than what DDG got. Based on what I have seen United even could just have tried it with Kovar.
A pretty good keeper could have been bought for 50m and we wouldn't have this discussion. But in the end it was Onana who was bought and didn't justify his fee. That was a waste and a mistake.
I don't think anyone is comparing Onana to De Gea in his prime - its more the later years where he was making lots of mistakes.
Letting De Gea leave was the correct choice.
If he had more years on his contract then I would absolutely have prioritised other upgrades. But he didn't. Our options were to either use that summer to try to make the upgrade that obviously needed to be made imminently, or tie ourselves to a not-good-enough goalkeeper for another couple of years via an expensive new contract.
The easy, obvious choice was to just let his contract run out, give him a graceful exit, and move on.
But we unfortunately botched his exit by messing around with contract offers, and then botched the upgrade by spending big money on someone who hasn't been good enough either.
The plus side is that, having taken a year out, De Gea is now doing well for Fiorentina. Not well in a way that suggest we were wrong to think he was no longer good enough for us, but well in a way that suggests he's found a happy level for himself playing for a mid-table Serie A side in a gorgeous city. Which is good, because he's a player we should have affection for as a fanbase.
If he had more years on his contract then I would absolutely have prioritised other upgrades. But he didn't. Our options were to either use that summer to try to make the upgrade that obviously needed to be made imminently, or tie ourselves to a not-good-enough goalkeeper for another couple of years via an expensive new contract.
The easy, obvious choice was to just let his contract run out, give him a graceful exit, and move on.
But we unfortunately botched his exit by messing around with contract offers, and then botched the upgrade by spending big money on someone who hasn't been good enough either.
The plus side is that, having taken a year out, De Gea is now doing well for Fiorentina. Not well in a way that suggest we were wrong to think he was no longer good enough for us, but well in a way that suggests he's found a happy level for himself playing for a mid-table Serie A side in a gorgeous city. Which is good, because he's a player we should have affection for as a fanbase.
3 minute refresher course for why we didn’t renew DDG
This is a video compilation of the errors DDG did mostly in his last few seasons here. Onana being terrible doesn’t mean that DDG didn’t make any mistakes here. He needed to be replaced. That we did a poor job in replacing him is a management problem.
This is a video compilation of the errors DDG did mostly in his last few seasons here. Onana being terrible doesn’t mean that DDG didn’t make any mistakes here. He needed to be replaced. That we did a poor job in replacing him is a management problem.
Onana's distribution is good but here's the thing. That's not something that GKs regularly practice. It's a skill that is only used regularly in certain systems and with certain managers. It also require a confident GK to do it as well. It really take courage for a GK to risk so much knowing that one mistake would lead to a goal. Onana's confidence is shot and he hasn't worked in a team that rely in such system for the past 2 years. He's extremely rusty on it
Schmeichel describes the GK role at united as the loneliest and most difficult job in the world. The spotlight on it is relentless. It's no place for a showboater and a confidence GK. Those old enough remember barthez and it also ended badly
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You keep bringing up Onana for some reason, when I've already said countless times that signing him was a mistake. Clearly your reading comprehension is nonexistent.
Blocked.
This is interesting. Especially when you consider that shot stopping is supposed to be De Gea’s best quality. Turns out there’s not much between them.
Saves per 90 tells its own story.
In the summer of 2023, De Gea was about to go a year without playing because nobody wanted to take a punt on him on a free transfer
Onana had reached a Champions League final and appeared to be a good signing. However, like probably 75% of our signings since 2013, he hasn't worked out.
Onana had reached a Champions League final and appeared to be a good signing. However, like probably 75% of our signings since 2013, he hasn't worked out.
It is pathetic how people keep saying this while it is easy to check that out. You have on youtube highlights from every game in Dave's last season.
It doesn't take long to check all goals which we conceded and saves which he did.
He had two clear and obvious errors in whole season. But that last season fans were so convinced that he is the major problem why we don't play tiki-taka and were desperate to have flashy ball playing gk.
Btw, i love and rate Dave but i am not fanboy. I don't have problem to say that he was in decline. But come on, bolded part is simply not true.
You seem to imply that only DDG was going to be paid wages, every other GK was going to be playing for free. So letting go of DDG was such a smart solution in a summer where we had the same exact problems we have in 2025. And that’s creating and scoring goals.