The lack of patience, respect or loyalty being shown towards De Gea from some posters actually has me baffled. I mean fair criticism is perfectly fine (and warranted in this case given he has had a relatively poor season) and even unfair criticism is inevitable when poor form lasts for long enough but Christ it didn't take long for the revisionism to start in this case.
Just in the last few days I've seen people calling him a coward, calling him gutless, saying he's shit, saying he was never world class, saying he should be sold, saying that comparisons with VDS and Schmeichel insult them, saying he should be left to rot in the reserves, saying he needs to be upgraded, saying he isn't good enough for a top side, comparing him to the likes of Heaton and Foster, etc. It's madness.
Just to emphasise my point about Foster, I was only trying to justify the importance of Dave DeGea in our goal today. If we had Foster, Heaton or why not Barthez, we would have finished mid-table at best. I am in agreement with you with respect to what is happening this season however, so many people are judging him for a couple of bad performances, whereas other players get to be left alone without criticism. I, for one would prefer if DeGea stays and gets an improved contract simply because he has earned it.
Just to an hypothetical situation, we would have said the same thing about Peter Schmeichel or VDS if they had Rashford, Martial or Lukaku in front of them. Big Pete and VDS had players like Yorke, Cole, Solskjaer, Sheringham, Cantona, Beckham, Giggs, Rooney and Ruud. DeGea had Rooney in front of goal coming towards the end of his career, Zlatan for a couple of seasons, Lukaku and Rashford or even Martial. The point being, is that we would never know how they would have performed if the roles had been reversed. Either way, I will not vote but I will give an opinion that DeGea is currently the best player we have and he wll improve with each passing season.
Van der Sar > Schmeichel >>> De Gea.
VDS - just so calm, organised his defence so well, brilliant positioning, commanded his area, good shot stopper.
Schmeichel - organised his defence, commanded his are, great at 1 on 1s, made himself big when shot stopping, organised his defence.
DDG - probably the best pure shot stopper ever. Can't really do anything else, though.
DDG has nowhere near the all-rounded game of VDS or Schmeichel and therefore can never be as good as them.
You can really tell the age demographic of this forum from the replies in here or the favourite player thread. It's a real shame that most of you never saw the great players of the past, you would quickly realise just how poor the last few years really have been. None of this current squad would have made the teams from 10 or 20 years ago.
I won't comment on your choices since those are individual preferences however, for the bolded part, you are making a massive assumption. I have followed Manchester United just before the days when Ron bought Bryan. I, for one have lived through much worser time than today and living through that period toughened you up and prepared a fan should our team never win a trophy. Once Sir Alex finally retired after what was a majestic career in our clubs history, we all knew it could never be the same, so, we are almost back to where we were before we were managed by him.
You cannot make assumptions just because fans have a particular fondness over one player that doesn't fit your narrative. If they don't like a player, perhaps it has something to what this player brings to the team. I am over 40 years of age and seen many keepers coming through, and even though Schmeichel was a monster; DeGea, if he stays, will make sure that he is a legend in his own right.
