THE REAL PROBLEM WITH DAVID DE GEA (AND A SOLUTION) – A Thread

David De Gea has undoubtedly suffered a decline in form since the last World Cup. Since then, he has been subject of some silly mistakes that have cost his team. This has caused many fans to call for him to be sold, despite his legacy for Manchester United.

This thread will investigate the problems the United keeper has had, and look at what he must do to improve, making comparisons with his past self before the World Cup. This will primarily focus on the Premier League, with one reference to a Champions league game in 17/18.

In the 17/18 season, two of his most memorable performances were against Sevilla (United drew 0-0) and Arsenal (United won 1-3). De Gea faced 8 and 16 shots on target, respectively. He was kept busy throughout each game, which helped him keep focus. This is where DDG flourishes.

Now, lets look at his least memorable performances. Looking at the game against Watford in late December, De Gea made a silly error by failing to catch what seemed like a simple header. Watford, in this game, had 3 shots on target, and the howler came from the 1st shot they had.

This suggests that, when given nothing to do, DDG is shown to drop focus from a lack of shots on target. This occurred against Palace (2 shots on target before error), Newcastle (0 shots), A. Villa (0 shots), Burnley (0 shots), Spurs (0 shots) and Bournemouth (1 shot).

Also, another pattern to be recognised with his errors is that they come early after play begins, or just before play is coming to an end. He drops his guard and focus on the game.

An example of this is against Everton, where he seems rather comfortable, and shows poor awareness of a forward running in and they deflect his kick out into his net. This occurred in the 3rd minute.

This occurred against Palace (93rd minute), A. Villa (11th minute), Watford (50th minute straight after a set piece) and Bournemouth (15th minute).

This case of lacking focus is a side effect of United improving their defence this season, which receives fewer shots than it used to, as shown previously. This has led to De Gea being caught off-guard when he receives a shot on target.

However, many people believe he is ‘finished’. Untrue. De Gea has shown a tendency to improve after conceding a goal. After conceding to Bournemouth, he saved 6 shots, with an xG total of 0.85. Also against Everton (4 shots, 0.92). He did not concede anymore in those games.

He has also only conceded one goal after an error 4 out of 9 matches and has never conceded 2. This all shows that De Gea regains his concentration after errors and looks to better himself and improve on the occasion.

And when he does keep focus at the beginning and end, he can do well, even if United do not receive very many shots on target. For example, against City, he faced 4 shots on target, 3 of which were either in the first 10 minutes or the last 70 minutes of the match

The exact same figures occurred against Liverpool at home, except one of which went in, and there was little he could do to stop it. It shows when he comes to play a world class side, when the pressure is on him, that he DOES turn up for the whole game.

All this is even mentioned by a legend of United, Peter Schmeichel. He had this to say in a press conference:

The SOLUTION is clear. Being able to stay focused throughout the game the same way staying focused while facing 10 shots on target is the requirement to be world class in a side where you do not face many shots. It sounds simple and lazy to not do but is much harder than it seems

OVERALL – This is simply a period of which De Gea is adapting to turning a corner, where he is no longer the only player that is being relied on, just as the rest of the team, except his every mistake is more costly than anyone ahead of him, and that is why they are highlighted.

This is a period where you must back the whole squad, not just the goalkeeper. Ole isn’t stupid either; he has decided to believe in De Gea and trust his ability to improve his focus.

The only reason I have to believe that De Gea will improve is that he has improved before for United, in his earliest days when mistakes riddled in his gameplay, I just hope that the game against Chelsea, where everyone in general had a bad game doesn’t destroy it.

And that he feels at home with the United squad.

The least you could do is not tweet stupid, unfunny stuff like this so you can jump on a bandwagon and get a bunch of likes on twitter. https://twitter.com/TheSaItIsHere/status/1284943761718546433?s=20

END OF THREAD - RETWEETS AND LIKES ARE APPRECIATED though I might not receive very many