Manchester United have been lucky to see a new look goalkeeper on the pitch now, one who appears to be much more confident than their predecessor, however, there hasn’t actually been a change in personnel, as Spaniard David de Gea continues to play.
Contrary to the general idea that de Gea had a good season in 2021/22, he did not. This was proven by many analysts, and even in our article written about him at the time which you can read here. His shot-stopping was sub-par, conceding more goals than he should’ve as per xG (expected goals) and the rest of his game was very poor, being one of the least proactive goalkeepers amongst Europe’s top 5 leagues and one of the worst distributors of the ball.
Following his previous season, de Gea had many doubters as to whether or not he could fulfil the role of the goalkeeper in Erik ten Hag’s system which required someone good in possession and someone who is very proactive, de Gea being neither. This was further backed by the fact that he had been dropped by Luis Enrique from the Spanish National Team with the reason believed to be the fact that he doesn’t ‘transmit peace and calmness’ with his poor distribution and sweeping ability.
De Gea had a dreadful start to the season conceding 6 goals in the opening two matches, a few of them being down to his individual errors, however since then the team have barely conceded bar the derby day against Manchester City. Again, de Gea’s involvement with some of the goals was pinpointed and he did get some blame, but since then we have seen a much different player.
In the Spaniard’s following game against Everton he only made one save, however he also had a successful high claim, two successful sweeps and completed 31 passes (86% completion). That is a huge improvement on his past performances where he’d be reliant on his shot-stopping and not attempt to prevent shots at all. The importance of shot-prevention was highlighted as he managed to tip a cross over in the last few minutes of the match, preventing Amadou Onana from having an open goal to aim at!
Two games later, David performed against an in-form Tottenham Hotspur side at Old Trafford. He completed one sweep, made a point blank save and completed 17 passes (53%), which is an improvement for him. Those passes included numerous clipped balls to the fullbacks which allowed United to bypass Spurs’ first line of press and cause a numerical overload.
However, David de Gea struggled against Newcastle United and Chelsea, two teams that pressed him on the ball and didn’t give him time to pick out accurate passes. The team also played significantly deeper in these two fixtures, holding a line height of 41.7 m against Newcastle, and 35 m against Chelsea. This aided de Gea as the defenders dealt with crosses for him.
This correlates to the general trend this season that de Gea can do the basics of goalkeeping when he isn’t under significant pressure from the opposition, however once the opposition get onto him then he struggles.
As per the data from @Jhdharrison1 (GK analyst), de Gea has been the 2nd worst goalkeeper in the league so far this season, having a negative value of 3.22 for the amount of goals his individual performances have contributed to. This is definitely worrying for United coaching staff and United fans to see their first choice goalkeeper so low down, even worse so with their ‘keeper out on loan, Dean Henderson, ranking 8th best so far.
What’s the verdict on de Gea then? Whilst it appears that he has performed better in some matches, his general form over the season hasn’t improved heavily. Some fans believe that he could be putting on a show for the new contract, which does make sense as Manchester United are currently scouting Diogo Costa. De Gea’s weak cross stopping and distribution has been hard to ignore, still heavily affecting Manchester United by causing them to play deeper, inviting pressure in games.
The Spaniard gained an award for his 500th game but the club should make the sensible decision in bringing in a new goalkeeper in order to aid progression under Erik ten Hag. de Gea still has a lot to prove, consistency being a major issue, and no doubt he will want to continue improving his game to secure a first team place next season, however the club must analyse his performances carefully and make the correct decision.
