Targeting David De Gea

Red00012

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Sheff Utd had a plan last night to crowd the area in and around DDG for corners . It clearly worked with the 1st goal. He was caught in no mans land again in the 2nd half , he decided to come and then realised he hadn’t a hope and backed off only for Matic to save him and win the header.

I’m surprised most clubs don’t do this as he clearly hates coming into contact with players. If he comes he should be taking ball and man with him he isn’t going to be penalised but his bravery clearly is lacking in this area.
 
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Surprised more clubs don’t do that? Was that the first United match you’ve watched in the last few years?
 
Red00012 said:
Sheff Utd had a plan last night to crowd the area in and around DDG for corners . It clearly worked with the 1st goal. He was caught in no mans land again in the 2nd half , he decided to come and then realised he hadn’t a hope and backed off only for Matic to save him and win the header.

I’m surprised more clubs don’t do this as he clearly hates coming into contact with players. If he comes he should be taking ball and man with him he isn’t going to be penalised but his bravery clearly is lacking in this area.
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Quite a few teams have clubs have done it this season alone. Off the top of my head, Southampton, West Ham and Burnley did it... there's definitely more too.

If teams are crowding the 6 yard box we need to get people on the posts in my opinion.
 
This has happened in every game I’ve watch featuring De Gea since he arrived. Sometimes he gets brave and goes on a run of games where his confidence is up and it’s not an effective tactic for the opposition. For the most part he’s weak as piss and when the delivery is good we’re in trouble as the ball inevitably finds then net and he stands there looking like he’s about to cry because some bigger boys have stolen his teddy. One of the best shot stoppers I’ve ever seen. Average to poor at every other aspect of goalkeeping.
 
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Park's Petrified Pooch said:
This has happened in every game I’ve watch featuring De Gea since he arrived. Sometimes he gets brave and goes on a run of games where his confidence is up and it’s not an effective tactic for the opposition. For the most part he’s weak as piss and when the delivery is good we’re in trouble as the ball inevitably finds then net and he stands there looking like he’s about to cry because some bigger boys have stolen his teddy. One of the best shot stoppers I’ve ever seen. Average to poor at every other aspect of goalkeeping.
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I agree his aerial ability is so limited and his distribution is sometimes abysmal.
That does not mean however that he wasn't clearly fouled last night and that goal shouldn't have stood.
 
They scored from a similar corner in the away game with Henderson in goal. They crowded our keeper and have done it in every other game.
 
Every corner we face with him in the team should end in a goal for the opposition, I'm genuinely surprised when it doesn't. He's barely improved this aspect of his game, its been laughably inept since day one, and for some reason its been allowed to continue.
 
rron10 said:
I agree his aerial ability is so limited and his distribution is sometimes abysmal.
That does not mean however that he wasn't clearly fouled last night and that goal shouldn't have stood.
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He’s so meek he’s never going to get the foul though. If he goes with purpose he’s more likely to get the decision. His reputation as a complete fanny, coupled with his apathy and acceptance of what’s happened means that refs don’t give him any sort of benefit of the doubt. He reaps what he sows unfortunately for us. Was it a foul, in my opinion yes, probably, but it was subtle and frankly looked the same as about 20 other times he’s conceded while flapping so refs just don’t give him the decision.
 
It's very clear and obvious that De Gea struggles in the air and that if you crowd him, it makes it even more apparent. I'm not even sure what he was trying to do last night as that was an abysmal attempt at a punch. They have to do something to keep him free even if that means taking someone to keep the attacker off of De Gea. Seems strange to have to do that but something has got to give.
 
Didn't we buy Harry to sort things like this out?
 
Dans said:
Didn't we buy Harry to sort things like this out?
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Yeah because he can stand in every part of the box and head every ball :lol: what a stupid thing to say
 
Red00012 said:
Sheff Utd had a plan last night to crowd the area in and around DDG for corners . It clearly worked with the 1st goal. He was caught in no mans land again in the 2nd half , he decided to come and then realised he hadn’t a hope and backed off only for Matic to save him and win the header.

I’m surprised more clubs don’t do this as he clearly hates coming into contact with players. If he comes he should be taking ball and man with him he isn’t going to be penalised but his bravery clearly is lacking in this area.
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This has been done in pretty much every game I've watched all season, and has happened for most of his time here.

He's got a slim physique, doesn't seem particularly strong and is a too timid on the pitch, he's not going to dominate in the air around the goal, it's not in his game. Teams target him and rightly so, it's up to him to man up and figure out a way deal with it. He's had enough time to work it out.

I suggest he comes Ireland and plays some Gaelic football for the summer, preferably Junior B or lower, somewhere good and physical, with biased and very lenient referees. He'll soon get used to challenging for a high ball under pressure and taking some solid hits in the process.
 
Adam-Utd said:
Yeah because he can stand in every part of the box and head every ball :lol: what a stupid thing to say
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He isn't our leader who should take charge and organise the defence?

Who's saying stupid things?
 
Its shambolic that this hasn't been addressed and been dealt with already. Just start Henderson. I'll accept hin kaing mistakes, De Gea is just repeating the same mistakes over and over again and doesn't look like he will ever get over them.
 
Red00012 said:
Sheff Utd had a plan last night to crowd the area in and around DDG for corners . It clearly worked with the 1st goal. He was caught in no mans land again in the 2nd half , he decided to come and then realised he hadn’t a hope and backed off only for Matic to save him and win the header.

I’m surprised more clubs don’t do this as he clearly hates coming into contact with players. If he comes he should be taking ball and man with him he isn’t going to be penalised but his bravery clearly is lacking in this area.
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he's never been strong enough at coming into crowded areas - or brave enough
 
Dans said:
Didn't we buy Harry to sort things like this out?
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Not just Harry but I do think in general if you have a weak keeper who's easily bullied then your big lads should be defending him on corners.
 
Dans said:
He isn't our leader who should take charge and organise the defence?

Who's saying stupid things?
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So you expect 1 man to stop every corner? what are you smoking?
 
Guy is a wuss, infuriating to see him not leave his line and come get the ball. Even when its clear he has distance on his side and its the attacker that's up against it. Not sure what's the solution as Dean doesn't fill me with confidence either. Between the two of them DDG has an edge (lesser of two evils) but only just.
 
Im surprise you havent noticed we are clearly targeted. De Gea is awful at those, teams dont try it much since its an easy cake for the keeper when its done well. But since De Gea has proved time and time again that he has that glaring weakness then teams are targeting that space. Its hard for the CBs as any deviation and it could end up in your own net, thats why those balls are exclusively responsability on the keeper. No one should be heading a ball in the "small box" I dont know if thats a proper translation to english but I mean the little box inside the penalty box. Thats 100% keeper area and he should command it.
 
We need to hire this guy as a goalkeeping coach to make Dave a little more fierce:

 
Someone on the post match forum compared last nights defeat to that at home to Blackburn in 2011.

The winner came from DDG getting bullied in an aerial 'duel' from a corner.

Nothing has changed.

He has been and is still one of the best shot stoppers in the World, but he's nowhere near peak level, even in this department.

Every other department has always been dubious.
 
He's a proper shithouse like. Big Pete would be throwing bombs to get the ball safe
 
It happened for almost the entirety of his first season here. Then he got a bit better at dealing with it. Still never been great at coming too far off his line, but he got better at winning the ball aerially. Now he's gone back to barely even jumping for the ball.

I think he was clearly fouled by Sharp, who just ran into him, and I still can't understand why it wasn't spotted. But he still needs to be stronger. He needs to go through whoever was in his way and actually jump for the ball. And if someone like Sharp barges him over from the side, he needs to be making a meal of it, pretty much exactly as they did.
 
Judas said:
Every corner we face with him in the team should end in a goal for the opposition, I'm genuinely surprised when it doesn't. He's barely improved this aspect of his game, its been laughably inept since day one, and for some reason its been allowed to continue.
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We've had various ways to mitigate that. Fellaini for a long while, along with the centre backs. But I'm also surprised that we don't see teams crowding him every single time we concede a corner. He's pretty useless dealing with them.

Is it wrong to want a keeper who is a physical monster rather than seeing Henderson take over after the cracks cannot be papered over any longer?
 
I don't blame the opposition targeting him because apart from once against Fulham never comes off his line
 
It's always been a risk with him. We employ Maguire and Lindelof/Bailly to protect him but even still he sometimes get's caught, and last night with Tuanzebe playing so badly we had no chance. Unfortunately Henderson is not looking like the answer either.
 
11101 said:
It's always been a risk with him. We employ Maguire and Lindelof/Bailly to protect him but even still he sometimes get's caught, and last night with Tuanzebe playing so badly we had no chance. Unfortunately Henderson is not looking like the answer either.
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In fairness Henderson did take the ball and Bailly out on one occasion at OT in the league
 
I don’t get why this isn’t worked on in training? Surely this is something that can be taught? Such a shame as if he was decent at coming off his line it would improve the defence massively. He’s clearly not an aggressive person by nature if he’s still getting bullied at set pieces like he was 10 years ago.

I wish he would shout more when he’s fouled, as well. That was a foul 9/10 on him last night but he’s got to push the player off him and smash the ball and anyone who dares to get near it. He then shrugs his shoulder and gestures to one of our players that he was held. Run at the ref screaming and point at the play. Throw your arms in the air. Scream at the sky.
 
we're too nice as a team.

De Gea should be cleaning anything out in front of himself.... if he doesn't make it making sure the referee knows he's been fouled.
 
buckooo1978 said:
we're too nice as a team.

De Gea should be cleaning anything out in front of himself.... if he doesn't make it making sure the referee knows he's been fouled.
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Yeah far too soft and accepting of decisions which is part of the reason we lose out with these things
 
This has been happening for years now, everyone knows De Gea is suspect with balls into the box. You literally see it every game there’s 4-5 opposition players surrounding him on corners, more than any other Keeper in the league. If he hasn’t improved on that aspect of this game at this stage in his career then he never will I’m afraid.
 
They’ve been doing it since his first season with us. It’s by far his most glaring weakness. He’s never commanded his 6 yard box, let alone his area.
 
Whilst teams target De Gea because he is soft, the rest of our team should be able to help him out and deal with that.
Pogba 1.91 m
Maguire 1.94 m
Matic 1.94 m
McTom 1.93 m
 
Dans said:
He isn't our leader who should take charge and organise the defence?

Who's saying stupid things?
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Of course he has the time to tell every single player who they should mark in the box. It's not kids or sunday league football. The problem is zonal marking clearly not working for us.
 
croadyman said:
Yeah far too soft and accepting of decisions which is part of the reason we lose out with these things
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I can't recall an occasion when a referee has blown for these aggressive tactics towards DDG. He seems to be the only goalkeeper who doesn't get the "protection" that the commentators always talk about. When you think of the two recent goals which were disallowed because Harry Maguire barely touched a defender it's hard to take. Agree that DDG needs to be more assertive towards these attackers - and towards the referees.
 
Red & White said:
I don’t get why this isn’t worked on in training? Surely this is something that can be taught? Such a shame as if he was decent at coming off his line it would improve the defence massively. He’s clearly not an aggressive person by nature if he’s still getting bullied at set pieces like he was 10 years ago.
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Yes, but you don't really want your keeper punching players as well in training. It will never be with that intensity.

We just have to be better at defending set pieces. Why do we always lose the first header?
 
11101 said:
It's always been a risk with him. We employ Maguire and Lindelof/Bailly to protect him but even still he sometimes get's caught, and last night with Tuanzebe playing so badly we had no chance. Unfortunately Henderson is not looking like the answer either.
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I don't see why not. Apart from the mistake for his kick he has made out right errors. Maybe he could of done better with a couple that he let in but apart from that he's far better aerially than de gea
 
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