Does Ole have it in him to drop De Gea for the last 2 PL games?

[Jazz]

Does anyone know if we can play Henderson in the Europa?
Is there a rule that bans returning loanees doing so?

We can play with Romero in Europa. We won the Europa with him in goal, he will be fine.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

The only criticism I have of Ole yesterday was not starting Romero. Nothing down to De Gea's form, but because Romero has played most, if not all of the games in the FA Cup.

 

[Strelok]

Think when we signed DDG he suited our style and probably the style of most teams, he is a brilliant shot stopper. However the very top teams are moving away from that and are playing out from the back and their goalies are almost like outfield players and are part of the attacking process. It is like we are trying to go that way without actually having the components to do it consistently. I hate mentioning Liverpool, but look at their fullbacks and goalie, the production from their fullbacks. People say about them not being great defensive fullbacks, they don't have to be as their CB's are rock solid.

Yeah it's not just the trend but imo it's actually the only way to do it when facing teams with low block.

Our current system requires heavy ball possession and you can't do that without building from the back. Our midfielders and strikers are not great in aerial duels, especially against big, strong CB of the PL. You just can't huff the ball and hope our guys to win it. So you have to build from the back, then came the high pressing stuff. In order to keep the ball against that you'd need at least a GK which is good with the ball at his feet. One bad pass or bad ball handling (after receiving a back pass) from a GK usually result in a goal.

Agree that our current defenders and keepers are not good enough for this style yet. But it's only our first season under Ole. He inherited a squad made to play huff balls under Jose. Plus those defenders or keeper who are both good defensively and with the ball are usually rare and very expensive anyway.

 

[youngrell]

It's a really tough decision. DDG still makes saves that are beyond Romero but Romero seems a safer pair of hands for the simpler stuff that has been catching DDG out.

May be worth giving Romero a shot vs West Ham, where we are hopefully the far superior team on the night and thus less risk, see how he plays and then make a judgement for the Leicester game.

It's a bit of a lose-lose for Ole.

 

[Keefy18]

Yes I do, first off you back a player to the hilt, for 1.5 seasons despite tonnes of mistakes. That shows loyalty and confidence in said player. However, after that backing not showing to have any effect, you show the players that you have a certain level of expectation and drop a player for a couple of games.

Anything else is simply showing the players that fecking up every few games is just fine by you.

And why are you ignoring that a latino is sat on the bench whilst DDG is making all these mistakes?

Don't get me wrong, I would be leaning towards totally agreeing with you that he has now already shown staunch loyalty to DDG over the last 18 months or so and has publicly backed him (but he does that with all players regardless).

Problem is, Romero is still not better than him and Henderson is at Sheffield... so the replacement options for the final two games aren't good enough for me and Ole I think feels the same.

The bold part though won't be an issue going into the new season if he is dropped and I reckon he will be, just not immediately.

 

[UpWithRivers]

Don't get me wrong, I would be leaning towards totally agreeing with you that he has now already shown staunch loyalty to DDG over the last 18 months or so and has publicly backed him (but he does that with all players regardless).

Problem is, Romero is still not better than him and Henderson is at Sheffield... so the replacement options for the final two games aren't good enough for me and Ole I think feels the same.

The bold part though won't be an issue going into the new season if he is dropped and I reckon he will be, just not immediately.

On this form he is. A championship goalkeeper is better than him. Even if hes not its the message you send out. i.e its ok to be sht and subpar and nothing will happen. Thats a cancer of an attitude that should never happen. Drop him.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Don't get me wrong, I would be leaning towards totally agreeing with you that he has now already shown staunch loyalty to DDG over the last 18 months or so and has publicly backed him (but he does that with all players regardless).

Problem is, Romero is still not better than him and Henderson is at Sheffield... so the replacement options for the final two games aren't good enough for me and Ole I think feels the same.

The bold part though won't be an issue going into the new season if he is dropped and I reckon he will be, just not immediately.

Les Sealey wasn’t better than Leighton either, sometimes that’s not the point. And that was a cup final man!
DDG with his confidence shot, is much more likely to drop a massive clanger in these final two games.

 

[Rozay]

‘David is, for me, the best goalkeeper in the world’.

 

[harms]

DDG needs a proper wake up call. Sending him on holidays when the rest of the squad is fighting for a trophy will send a loud and clear message.

It's a childish and unprofessional move that won't lead to anything other than trouble. He is playing badly, he should be benched. He hasn't been a bad influence off the pitch, he didn't fight with anyone, neither did he made a tantrum or leaked anything to the press.

 

[Neilwij]

No he won't drop him. I think he should be this isn't going to happen.

 

[Keefy18]

On this form he is. A championship goalkeeper is better than him. Even if hes not its the message you send out. i.e its ok to be sht and subpar and nothing will happen. Thats a cancer of an attitude that should never happen. Drop him.

Possibly but its also a big risk to start a keeper who has spent a career failing to be a regular #1 anywhere (Romero).

I think we over rate his ability sometimes in that we forget the quality of forwards he faces in the cups. I mean, Tranmere? Derby? Rochdale & Colchester is the type of team he faced this season.

Les Sealey wasn’t better than Leighton either, sometimes that’s not the point. And that was a cup final man!
DDG with his confidence shot, is much more likely to drop a massive clanger in these final two games.

You could be right and that's the risk / reward managers have to decide on.

I'm all for phasing DDG out at this point but I think with 2 games left it'd be the wrong time still to do so.

 

[Zlatan 7]

As I said a bunch of times already. I don't think.he knows there's more the 13 players in the squad. He doesn't rotate these days.

And it’s the same 11-13 getting us this close and playing well. Everyone would be up in arms if he dropped Bruno for pereira a few games ago

 

[VivaObertan]

If Ole drops De Gea in the next 2 matches, we may still lose top 4. However it would really convince me that Ole has it in him to be ruthless when necessary and he really learned his traits from the great Fergie. If not, his words about "being ruthless" were just all-talk.

He's not made enough big decisions for you yet? Dropping Alexis, Lukaku, Matic, Lingard?

 

[sglowrider]

My instincts are to drop DDG. But as the OP said, the damage to the relationship particularly for a goalie would be irreparable. I think the coaching staff have had this convo for a while now.

You would do it if you are confident of the alternative. Romero is a steady good but I remember the odd clangers. I think its too early for Hendo -- he needs to another season or two to calm himself down and not keep doing Pickford like antics.

So I suspect Ole will stick with DDG unfortunately -- lack of better alternatives and needs to protect the £20million quid a year player. Drop him now, he's confidence will be shattered and then Ole will need to rebuild it again.

Play him enough to an acceptable enough to a showcase quality then we sell him off to someone like PSG.

 

[Terminator]

Gifted Chelsea top 4 last year and possibly FA cup this year, he is a better keeper than Kepa for them.

 

[sglowrider]

And it’s the same 11-13 getting us this close and playing well. Everyone would be up in arms if he dropped Bruno for pereira a few games ago

WTF. I just had a flash of a nightmare and seeing our CL chances explode.

 

[The Oracle]

Phil Jones missed a penalty that knocked us out of the League Cup, and he also gave away a penalty that cost us the FA Cup.
He is still at Manchester United.

I do think De Gea will play the remaining two league games this season, and the pressure on him in those games will be immense.

In my opinion De Gea is declining, and I think next season is going to be his last.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

You could be right and that's the risk / reward managers have to decide on.

I'm all for phasing DDG out at this point but I think with 2 games left it'd be the wrong time still to do so.

I’m not talking about phasing him out, just doing what is best for this club over the next 2 games.
SAF despite the close personal ties to Leighton, knew Sealey was less likely to make a costly mistake in that final replay.

 

[JohnnyKills]

Think it would create more problems than it solves dropping him now tbh. We should definitely reconsider the Henderson situation over the summer though.

 

[MiracleInMadrid]

Gifted Chelsea top 4 last year and possibly FA cup this year, he is a better keeper than Kepa for them.

Come on. Yes he is at fault for the two goals, but we were doing nothing on the ball against Chelsea. Almost the entire team gifted Chelsea the game. Or do you seriously think that we were looking like winning apart from the two drops from De Gea.

 

[Keefy18]

I’m not talking about phasing him out, just doing what is best for this club over the next 2 games.
SAF despite the close personal ties to Leighton, knew Sealey was less likely to make a costly mistake in that final replay.

Just a reminder, Romero had an error vs Norwich in the FA Cup. Was beaten by similar shot to Mounts and fumbled it.

Our best option is at another club and can't play until next season so I reckon he'll stick with and then tell him once the season is officially over, you've lost your #1 spot.

 

[Lash]

Think it would create more problems than it solves dropping him now tbh. We should definitely reconsider the Henderson situation over the summer though.

Agree with this. After watching the montage of De Gea's mistakes this season, it's safe to say we will be seriously considering Henderson as our no 1 next season. I think it would help our back line as well, as he's far more vocal.

 

[MiracleInMadrid]

Let him play the two remaining games in the PL, and let Romero play in the EL. I don't think it will cost us missing top 4.

All eyes are now on De Gea, if they weren't already. If he still can't find the right concentration level and make the right decisions in the upcoming games, we can't trust him going forward.

 

[United Hobbit]

Dammed if you do dammed if you don't

We keep using DDG and he blunders- should have dropped him and used Romero he's cost us top 4 again

Use Romero and he blunders- should have stuck with DDG why would you drop our number 1 goalkeeper for such important games

I hope they're having lots of meetings with DDG as the important part here is WHY he's making so many mistakes as that will help determine the best route forward. He seems to still be making the difficult saves look easy and messing up the easy ones. I keep wondering if its an eyesight problem but then think surely not as they'd test that...

 

[Mr Anderson]

Ole needs to, but he wont. It's 2 games and then it's the Europa run were Romero should play, hiding the fact Dave is technically dropped.

 

[Withnail]

Gifted Chelsea top 4 last year and possibly FA cup this year, he is a better keeper than Kepa for them.

Bit of a strange point, Kepa is worst keeper in the league.

 

[Kerry Donaghy]

I've been painstakingly trying to point out that this was coming a long time ago.
Two years of absolutely horrendous form is not a blip.
It was bad enough that his errors cost us a top 4 place last season and our only response was to make him the highest paid player in the league, if we let it happen again this year then we don't deserve to be a champions League club.

We need to count or blessings that those blunders happened during an FA cup match and not in these crucial league games coming up, take it as a sign and play Romero.

To those of you saying it's a big risk to make a change and play Romero, is it even that big of a risk?
He can't possibly be any worse than De Gea right now.

Football is all about opinions, we all see the game differently, and that's why we love it, but this is getting ridiculous.
If you can't see how much of a liability De Gea is now (and a damn expensive one at that) then you're obviously not watching our matches with any kind of serious attention.

If you don't think De Gea should be replaced by now then I'm genuinely asking what would it actually take?

 

[Rhyme Animal]

Dammed if you do dammed if you don't

We keep using DDG and he blunders- should have dropped him and used Romero he's cost us top 4 again

Use Romero and he blunders - should have stuck with DDG why would you drop our number 1 goalkeeper for such important games

Only one of those has actually happened though...

The other one is just a made up, imaginary scenario. Also one which conveniently lets Solskjaer off having to make a decision.

Solskjaer lets DDG off the hook - you let Solskjaer off the hook... that's how a culture of mediocrity seeps into a football club.

 

[NK86]

Ole will not drop him now, not with what's at stake in the next two games.
I was surprised to see Romero on the bench tomorrow. Why not give DDG a break and start your regular cup competition goalie and keep him ready in case he needs to step in. That was a bad mistake by Ole.

 

[CM]

I think there would be more of a question mark over it if Henderson was already waiting in the wings but there's no chance he drops him for Romero.

 

[NK86]

VDS and Schmeichel made clangers as well but Fergie did not drop them because they were brilliant GKs but he did drop De Gea for Lindergard early on and then De Gea came good.
De Gea is in the top three GKs we have had and Ole is not going to drop him.
Fergie said one of the reasons why they went for De Gea was his temperment so we will see if he can bounce back from that horror show.

It's not a scenario of him having a poor game once in a blue moon anymore. It has become very regular and there is potentially a mistake in him every match.
The situation is nothing like that of VDS who was brilliant for us till his last game and didn't have a 2 year patchy form to have question marks against him.

 

[LARulz]

No. He is the best keeper we have and while he has a mistake in him, he still makes a lot of saves. The question should also be why our midfield and defence let up over 10 shots a game with almost no pressure

 

[RashyForPM]

Seems the perfect thread for me to list the mistakes of our 3 hapless keepers in all competitions.

Premier League:

1) DDG vs Palace H - Let Van Aanholt’s shot squirm through.

2) DDG vs Brighton H - As usual, didn’t come out to punch a corner away. Dunk scored.

3) DDG vs Sheff Utd A - Let McBurnie’s shot slip through his weak palms. Cost us a fantastic comeback win.

4) DDG vs City A - Why can’t this man be brave for once? Otamendi scored. Thankfully we won.

5) DDG vs Everton H - In fairness, DCL elbowed him. However, it would have been soft to call it off and proper keepers like Ederson and Alisson knock DCL out cold, which the age old adage rightly says is the correct thing to do.

6) DDG vs Watford A - Sarr’s goal. Absolutely disgraceful. Wanted him sold from then on.

7) DDG vs Arsenal A - Sokratis’ volley. Corner again. Of course.

8) DDG vs Everton A - Smashed it straight into DCL, and it rocketed in. Disgraceful.

9) DDG vs Spurs A - First game back, same old De Gea. Basically punched Bergwijn’s shot in.

10) DDG vs Bournemouth H - How isn’t he covering Stanislas’ shot in the one place he could put it?! Pitiful goalkeeping.

Europa League:

11) Grant vs Astana A - Let some guy’s shot in so meekly. Terrible, but expected from the 35 year old 3rd choice on 10k a week, so I’ll let him off.

12) Romero vs Brugge A - Came out so far he was basically back in Manchester, and got lobbed. No one says anything though as he is not as high profile as De Gea, who himself is awful.

FA Cup:

13) Romero vs Norwich A - Let Cantwell’s shot from a million miles away at a good height go through due to going down far too slowly.

14) DDG vs Chelsea N - Thought it wasn’t a mistake at first glance and said so in the matchday thread, but he Giroud’s shot squirm through his horrendously weak hands as usual.

15) DDG vs Chelsea N - The worst of the lot. Williams was horrible there too, but I really don’t know how he couldn’t save that from Mount. It wasn’t even a good strike.

15 mistakes in total, 12 from the shocking De Gea. I don’t go into any match now with confidence in our keepers, even Romero who everyone seems to rate. So so bad, and if we don’t get a new keeper next year, we’re in trouble and I doubt will challenge for anything. Can’t be Henderson too, let him develop at Sheffield. Most importantly, sell De Gea and get his pointless arse off the wage bill. He’s the worst keeper in the league. To whoever told me that I was wrong to say Pickford and Ramsdale are better than him: where are you now?

 

[NiceGuyEddie]

Ongoing problem with DDG is that for every clanger he drops, he then turns into a cat and proves his worth. So you think it's just a blip and he's coming good again. However, the errors seem to be getting more frequent and he hasn't looked right to me for a long time. I was hoping the lockdown break would've done him wonders, but if anything he's worse. The massive bad publicity he has generated since yesterday will surely affect him, but Romero is steady enough to see the season out. Should've had a rocket up his backside long ago, but I fear we are too far past this point now. I wonder if he knows deep down that it's looking increasingly likely that Henderson will be No. 1 next season? That's got to knock his already low confidence surely?

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Just a reminder, Romero had an error vs Norwich in the FA Cup. Was beaten by similar shot to Mounts and fumbled it.

Those are not comparable at all

 

[Jazz]

It's like the worse time for this to happen. If I were Ole I would look at:

1) Ascertain DDG mindset
2) Speak to the players about whether they feel confident having him in goal for these last two matches

Ole also has to think of is it fair to the other players who have been working their arses off to get us within touching distance of too 4, to put DDG needs over them achieving top 4.
He also has to think of the wider implications for the club - losing sponsorship money from Adidas as we would be two seasons without CL. This impacts a lot of things, but mostly would we have to make cuts to our non football staff.

In short, it's a huge huge decision. He will need help to assess David's psychological state especially with all the bad headlines and publicity.

I really hope we can get through this somehow, but it's not easy at all.

 

[SambaBoy]

I think it would be too risky of a move to do it now. If he had done it after the Watford or Everton game then fair enough, but with 2 massive important games to go, to throw in a GK who hasn't played since before the lockdown would be too much of a risk.

 

[Freak]

It's like the worse time for this to happen. If I were Ole I would look at:

1) Ascertain DDG mindset
2) Speak to the players about whether they feel confident having him in goal for these last two matches

Ole also has to think of is it fair to the other players who have been working their arses off to get us within touching distance of too 4, to put DDG needs over them achieving top 4.
He also has to think of the wider implications for the club - losing sponsorship money from Adidas as we would be two seasons without CL. This impacts a lot of things, but mostly would we have to make cuts to our non football staff.

In short, it's a huge huge decision. He will need help to assess David's psychological state especially with all the bad headlines and publicity.

I really hope we can get through this somehow, but it's not easy at all.

Good post. Confidence is a huge thing for a footballer, and even more so for goalkeepers and strikers. Ole has to judge for himself how De Gea’s confidence and mental state is.

 

[Bondi77]

It's not a scenario of him having a poor game once in a blue moon anymore. It has become very regular and there is potentially a mistake in him every match.
The situation is nothing like that of VDS who was brilliant for us till his last game and didn't have a 2 year patchy form to have question marks against him.

Every keeper has potentially a mistake in him in every match, that is one of the ways goals are scored.
Let us see how he performs in his last two games as Ole will not be dropping him.

 

[Eire Red United]

There is absolutely no justification for De Gea playing again this season.