I love all three of our best 'keepers. Pete, I expected him to win all one-on-ones; DDG, I expect him to save practically everything; Edwin, the most intelligent of our goalkeepers. I don't care who's best - I'm just grateful that they've played for us.
I'm calling it: DDG is the best we've ever had
- Thread starter Rado_N
- Start date
We've been ridiculously fortunate goalkeeper wise, barring the odd Taibi, I mean when we complain about one of our worse recent keepers was a World Cup and Euros winner, and our current backup is a World Cup finalist....
I read that as 'Taliban', mate. Blimey, he wasn't that bad. 
I read that as 'Taliban', mate. Blimey, he wasn't that bad.
Then again, who knows what he's up to these days....
Has any player won 3, not consecutively even?
"The big 3" are all amazing. I'm just glad they played for us. Who's the best or the worst out of them? I don't know. Perhaps DDG benefits from being our only good player right now, but he'd probably get my pick ahead of Pete and VDS.
Big Pete. DDG, VDS in that order but if DDG sticks around then i accept him to overtake the great dane at some point all De Gea lacks is a bit more leadership but it will come in time.
DDG is the equivalent of Messi and Ronaldo of goalkeepers. My only very slight reservation is his occasional reluctance to come off his line when needed. Smikes and VdS were also fortunate to have played with great defenders. I'd go along and say he's marginally the best goalkeeper to have played for United. We'd definitely be a mid table team had it not been for his brilliance over the last few years.
Our current crop of defenders certainly give DDG plenty of opportunity to prove how good he is.
I've seen a lot of the same names listed as Schmeichel era keepers but very few Italian keepers. Serie A had the best keepers of that era. Peruzzi, Pagliuca, Toldo, Zenga, Marchegiani and of course Buffon were top class. Buffon has played for so long that he can claim to share an era with both Peter and Kasper Schmeichel.
Such a shame we've treated him so badly, putting an utterly shite team around him.
Almost certainly gone in the summer.
Almost certainly gone in the summer.
This is not true. The PL has been played at a ferocious pace for a while now, especially since the back pass rule was put effect in 1993. I've seen much faster derbies between United and Liverpool in the 90s than what we've been subjected to in the last few seasons. Case in point, Cantona's return match from suspension in 95, the 3-3 draw at Anfield in 94, the FA cup semifinal replay against Arsenal in 99. Substantially faster than just 20 years ago is an overstatement
You know someone is special when they are a keeper and you would still buy their kit. No one ever buys a goal keeper kit.
First season I thought he was a waste of space (are you reading this Memphis?) and wouldn't be here too long.
He's incredible, even the very late save today, that's through a load of legs, made it look routine-ish, was an absolute great stop.
I think he is better than Schmeichel except maybe under the high ball & lots of nasty oppo bodies - the presence thing. Probably gets more FKs for those than PS would though.
I think DDG might get the vote playing like he has been the past 2 years. We'd be a sorry state without him this season.
He's incredible, even the very late save today, that's through a load of legs, made it look routine-ish, was an absolute great stop.
I think he is better than Schmeichel except maybe under the high ball & lots of nasty oppo bodies - the presence thing. Probably gets more FKs for those than PS would though.
I think DDG might get the vote playing like he has been the past 2 years. We'd be a sorry state without him this season.
Well maybe it's the part of the game that affects goalkeepers that is faster - pace of forwards and pace/swerve of shots. My impression is that the forwards overall are better and quicker and more powerful and athletic and can shoot harder. And, more importantly perhaps for a goalkeeper, the balls seem to fly and swerve more now and many keepers struggle to hold shots.
I'll agree with the part about the physics of the ball but i'll have to disagree again when it comes to the statement about forwards being better overall. The top forwards in the league these days are scoring less in a season on average than forwards did twenty years ago so how can they be better? Is it the defending today that has improved? Most people today also complain about the dearth of top centerbacks though. Twenty years ago you had the Pallisters, Steve Bruces, Stams, Maldinis etc. In abundance. Twenty years ago you had also had forwards like Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke, Tony Yeboah, Ian Wright, Robbie Fowler, Shearer, Owen, Les Ferdinand, Hasselbaink...all save for Yeboah are among the top ten of goalscorers in the PL era. To this day I haven't seen anyone hit a ball harder than Yeboah and im sure you know what im talking about. Fast forward to 1:30
Does anyone else still put up with people thinking that he is not the best in the league?
I have people all the time saying that lloris and butland are better.
I have people all the time saying that lloris and butland are better.
Do these people also think that Kane is better than Neymar?
Revisited - September 2017
People still want to argue about this?
Schmikes was my hero as a kid. Dave is better.
Schmikes was my hero as a kid. Dave is better.
Might agree, he is certainly on par with Edwin now I think.
Never saw Schmeichel but he sure sounds marvellous.
He must've been some keeper if he was better than De Gea.
He must've been some keeper if he was better than De Gea.
Depends on how you define 'best' or 'greatness'. If it's purely on how good they are as keepers, then I'd put him in the same league as Schmikes and above Edwin. If it's something more than that, then he's still got quite a bit to do before reaching Schmikes' greatness.
#Dave
#Schmieks
#VDS
#Schmieks
#VDS
Didn't see Schmeichel in his prime but he's certainly much better than VdS.
It's still Schmeichel. Better one on one and more commanding of the area. Plus he was more fun to watch.
It's getting closer though.
It's getting closer though.
Just slightly behind big Pete at this stage in his career but head and shoulders above any thing around at the moment.
Distribution from the hands is what keeps Pete ahead at this stage for me even though Dave's got better feet.
How many attacks did Pete start from distributing to Giggs and Andre out on the wings on the half way line.
But with DDG age he could easily surpass the great Dane.
Distribution from the hands is what keeps Pete ahead at this stage for me even though Dave's got better feet.
How many attacks did Pete start from distributing to Giggs and Andre out on the wings on the half way line.
But with DDG age he could easily surpass the great Dane.
Too young to comment on level of assured feeling Schmeichel gave.
Between VDS and DDG, latter is better. DDG is clearly the best keeper on the planet right now, and clearly closing in on peak levels achieved by Buffon and Casillas (highest peak levels I have seen for keepers).
Between VDS and DDG, latter is better. DDG is clearly the best keeper on the planet right now, and clearly closing in on peak levels achieved by Buffon and Casillas (highest peak levels I have seen for keepers).
Yeah big Pete was my favourite player as a kid but DDG is the best shot stopper I've ever seen.
I think the one area Schmeichel was better was in the air, he was world class at gathering crosses and corners.
Definitely the best currently. One thing he can improve on is his distribution, for sure. We have the options of both hold up play from Lukaku, and runners in behind with Martial an Rashford, but we can't seem to make the most of that, unfortunately, and some of it is down to De Gea's average distribution. He does give the ball away directly to the opposition as well, sometimes.
But, David De Gea is head and shoulders above the rest of the crop.
But, David De Gea is head and shoulders above the rest of the crop.
Yeah I agree with this, I think VdS is massively overrated by some fans. He was the best we had since Schmeichel and we endured a fair amount of dross/average keepers in the interim. I think if we went Schmeichel > VdS > De Gea in that order without anyone in between then VdS wouldn't even be in the running as to who's the best.
Blasphemy
Not even considering the amount of trophies Pete has over Dave i would still say Dave doesn't have the same presence inbetween the sticks. Dave's shot stopping is up their with the best, but the majority of them Pete would have saved aswell, i am sure of that.
Edwin was better.
Schmikes was better at 1v1s, throwing with his hands and aerial crosses. De gea has neo like reactions and is better with his feet. The game has changed a lot since Pete played. Defences are not as high up the pitch and crosses are less frequent.
Still think schmikes shades it, but both very different keepers.
Still think schmikes shades it, but both very different keepers.
I'd probably put him ahead of Big Pete too at this point.
The ultimate compliment I can pay to De Gea is that I already know he's the best shot-stopper in the world, and yet he still manages to astonish me with some of his saves.
The ultimate compliment I can pay to De Gea is that I already know he's the best shot-stopper in the world, and yet he still manages to astonish me with some of his saves.
Not even in the contest mate. His best asset is that he was the first quality keeper we had after, what was it, 5 or 6 years of crap. That's the context through which he's even in this conversation. Best keeper v keeper it's Schmeichel vs De Gea. No denying he was a terrific keeper but the other two were/are arguably the best in the world during their time with us.
Was Edwin ever really that?
Since 1990;
1. Buffon
2. DDG
3. Schmeichel
In terms of pure shot stopping.
1. Buffon
2. DDG
3. Schmeichel
In terms of pure shot stopping.
You're overrating De Gea a tad bit much. Edwin was a beast who rarely ever made a mistake and was a wall in front of the goal. Sure, he didn't make as much flashy saves as De Gea has (which is probably why you overrate De Gea), but his positioning, awareness and defense control is miles ahead of De Gea's.
Controversial - but here it goes. Schmikes was able to make a fantastic save, stop an unstoppable shot and that. But he also had a fair number of blunders. IIRC his form in the Treble Season wasn't anything spectacular until November/ December.
DDG had a wobbly start which you can understand given where he came from and that. But I can hardly remember a goal he was at fault in the last 3-4 years.
DDG, VDS and Schmikes - hard to tell, but imho DDG marginally wins it.
DDG had a wobbly start which you can understand given where he came from and that. But I can hardly remember a goal he was at fault in the last 3-4 years.
DDG, VDS and Schmikes - hard to tell, but imho DDG marginally wins it.
He was and he was.
Top level for longer (remember we were playing top quality pretty much all the time and he still came off best) with his amazing performances for Denmark in Euros 92 the icing on the cake.
(Edit.... Just remembered his throws. Great defensively and he set up our attacks.)
Jesus, just read on twitter a barcelona fan claiming ter Stegen to be better