Corey
Full Member
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2012
- Messages
- 333
Can't think of any catches, but 01:21 in the clip below is a good punch from De Gea against Villa. Gets some good distance on it.Out of interest, can anyone remember the last time De Gea caught a set-piece into our box? Failing that, the last time he punched one clear?
It looked like Ward-Prowse had been briefed to drop every single corner into the middle of our six yard box, a yard or two from the line. If we’re relying on our central defenders to repeatedly compete for the ball that close to our goal we’re inevitably going to concede at some point. They can’t win every single header.
https://video.avfc.co.uk/video/dm9k...vbWUlMkZjYXJvdXNlbHMlMkYwJTJGZmVlZA==?lang=en
I don't think De Gea is quite as bad from crosses in open play, but with set pieces he seems unable to simultaneously focus on the ball and on navigating the bodies around him. Sometimes he gets overly preoccupied with tussling with the opposition players, but mostly he just refuses to engage and stays on his line.
It's definitely an issue. He was terrible at claiming crosses when he first joined, but he improved marginally in his first couple of years. Since then I haven't seen any improvement and I don't think we will sadly.