In David We Trust - the de Gea Thread

Eric Steele

 

Johno

 

Dave for me was at his best when he was under Franz Hoek's (the gk coach under van Gaal) tutelage: was already good when he arrived after the work Steele did but he literally took his game to the next level, which made him absolutely sick. He had even improved his kicking game to a decent level, which for some reason has gone completely backwards since.
Also, his issues easily predate Maguire's arrival (can easily be traced back as a matter of fact to the WC in Russia). Just as Williams provided the necessary kick in the ass Shaw needed to raise his game, the same is required for De Gea in all likelihood. Probably unconscious but he's skating right now with the knowledge that Ole will back him almost no matter what.
Whether it's from Henderson or Romero, he has to understand that his place will not necessarily be guaranteed if he keeps making mistakes.
He's made his share in the last 2yrs, with no consequence. That can not go on and Ole has to get tough with him by making him understand that he's his guy and he still backs him but continued mistakes will not be tolerated.
Probably should be enough to see him get his focus and form back, imo.

 

Ded

 

I'm not convinced by Pope. He's 28 and has had one good year.

 

Sure, but 2 good years not one.

 

He was ok this year, he slightly underperformed his xG.

 

I read it all. I think Pope is a very good keeper. But not good enough with his feet in our set up.

Were not going to find an A class all around keeper. Were going to have to sacrifice a little bit like City with Ederson.

 

Some interesting GK prospects I was not familiar with until doing a bit of searching today:

Maignan - Lille
Rajkovic - Reims
Musso - Udinese

Anyone familiar with these guys?

 

Bosnich backs Dave to recover his form.

https://www.skysports.com/football/...-manchester-united-mistakes-says-mark-bosnich

He certainly still has plenty of support apparently with Scholes relaying a similar message as well. Keane is really the only one who appears to beating the drum for getting rid of him.
Not sure how anyway, with his contract. The nature of it should earn him one final chance next season. Still won't be much easier to move him in a years' time (especially if he doesn't straighten out) but it's something that can be considered then.

 

"Save percentage: During these 14 matches, United's save percentage was 83.3%: 42 shots-on-goal against, 35 saves. Keeper David De Gea has had some shaky moments here and there, but that's an outstanding rate. Too outstanding, actually. Over the past four years, only 11 Big Five teams have hit even 77% for the season. Those 11 either a) had Jan Oblak as their goalkeeper (Atletico Madrid three times) or b) saw their save percentage fall the next season, often by a large margin."

 

Honestly, I think there is good a chance we can get a 90% peak DDG as there is similar risk to a new recruit succeeding to the same level.

I'd take a 90% peak DDG all day, everyday.

I wouldn't toss him aside yet.

He possibly needs a coach change and some pressure on his job.

 

I dont trust Henderson, DeGea should be nr 1 for next season.

 

DDG's bad season was still decent by PL standards. His PSxG +/- (expected goals based on shots on target minus goals allowed) was +2.7 this season. For comparison, in 2017-18 it was +12. Kepa was at -9 this season.
Ederson's +3, Alisson is +2.4, Henderson is +6.

Replacing DDG is far from being a priority at this stage.

 

I agree with your final statement but that PSxG is exactly DDG's strength. He is quite a bit worse than Ederson and Alisson on other facet of the game.

https://fbref.com/en/comps/9/keepersadv/Premier-League-Stats

 

Dave carried the team for a number of years and the minute he makes a few mistakes people are ready to cast him aside. Yes it wasn't vintage Dave at times last year but he has earned his spot and we need to have faith in him.

 

Pope is a good shout and likely to develop into something special, but I don't know if he could cope with the atmostphere at United. I agree that Henderson isn't quite the finished article, but he was top of the league for saves above post shot xG. He aint a great distributor, but he's an elite shot stopper. He might be DDG mark 2. We sucked at picking keepers for a long long time and then we managed to grab VDS, DDG, Romero and Henderson. By all accounts Kovar is a special talent as well, in the academy.

EDIT: I had this reply typed and forgot to hit submit and fell asleep, lots of stuff in here. I think 28 for GK is 23 for outfield players. I wouldn't write off growth for a GK until they hit 29/30.

 

Henderson was not top of the league in shot stopping. I literally pasted the link 2 posts earlier

He was 6th, DDG was 11th.

 

John knows more than you. Leave us, again.

 

Potentially drawing data from 2 different collectors/aggregators. The statsbomb folks were saying for PS xG Hendo was top of the league. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think so.

 

Fbref pulls their data from statsbomb and they have him 6th.

They have Pope 31st, so I’m confused why cr7 thinks he’s a better option than Henderson.

 

I think it was the Tifo podcast I listened to, that was really interesting on Burnley. It said that the way they set up is to encourage sides to shoot on goal. But they do it by creating, within their defensive, stand-off positioning in the 4-4-2, a V-shaped tunnel between the ball and the goal, so that any shot at goal goes straight to Pope. Anything with an angle on it is likely to be blocked by the walls of the tunnel. So Pope saves a lot of shots, and Burnley concede a lot of shots, but the overall post-shot xG is low because most of them are shepherded down Pope's throat.

 

I was referring to PSxG+/-. Pope was -2.3, which means gave up 2.3 more goals than expected. Henderson was +4.6 and de Gea was +2.5.

 

Dude was so special back then: still holding out hope he can come back.

 

I guess now we find out what Dave is really made of. With Henderson having signed a new contract and apparently staying with the team this coming season, will he rise to the challenge or will he fold?