The Curious Case Of David De Gea... Why There Is A Difference Between The Quality Of Club And Country Performances For The Manchester United Man
Not many football fans will put up an argument against Manchester United's number one, David De Gea, being the greatest goalkeeper in world football at the moment. Of course, some will come up in support of Manuel Neuer, but an Injury blighted 2017/2018 season did its bit to take the German shot stopper a little out of the spotlight and keep the focus on Manchester United's player of the year.
While De Gea has undoubted quality at club level, you would be forgiven for thinking its a low budget identical twin with the same name that mans the post for the Spanish national team, and this is a curious case that needs examination.
For a keeper who the description "error prone" rarely applies to, he has been mighty prone to errors on many occasions when he has had to put on the Spain jersey.
Only last week after Portugal's 3-3 draw with Spain in the world cup where De Gea did his best Loris Karius impression with a long distance Cristiano Ronaldo shot, Spain coach, Fernando Hierro, came out in support of his goalkeeper saying
"I see David as being very calm and he has all our confidence in full,"
"Players need confidence and support at all times and my decision [that he will play] is very clear. I will be fair with every player.
"The squad has had a day off and that helped David relax and step away, because we are more interested with natural methods in our preparations, making sure we get our heads right."
But support in football can be a fragile old man sometimes, and with these rare David De Gea mistakes becoming a little less rare with Spain, a high stakes competition like the world cup might just see the demise of the old man, or at least, consign the old man to life support.
For David De Gea, the 'crisis of confidence' argument does not apply seeing as he has won the Manchester United player of the year award four times at just 28 years of age and has constantly appeared in the PFA team of the year, even winning the Premier League's golden glove of the 2017/2018 season.
Earlier in the year, De Gea misjudged the bounce on a Nicolas Otamendi header, allowing the ball to go between his hands as he dived for it in a friendly match against Argentina.
Just before the world cup, in a warm up game against Switzerland, De Gea was again at fault for Ricardo Rodriguez's goal as he fumbled a cross-shot from Stephen Lichtsteiner into the path of Rodriguez.
When he was asked about the incident by the Spanish press, he replied “Better now than in Russia.”
That comment would have been reassuring if De Gea did not already have a reputation for bottling it in major tournaments for Spain.
In the 2016 Euros, with Spain fighting to escape the group stages in first place, De Gea conceded at his near post against Croatia when he attempted to stop an Ivan Perisic shot with his feet instead of making the dive for it with just minutes left in the game.
The quarter final brought even more misery as an indecisive De Gea messed up a routine save from an Eder freekick and allowed Giorgio Chiellini to score the first of Italy's 2 goals in the 2-0 loss.
With great error comes great scrutiny and with great scrutiny comes even greater criticism and speculations. One of these speculations being that David De Gea plays with an unsettled mind in the midst of his long running transfer saga with Manchester United and Real Madrid.
The only problem with this theory is that it is working in reverse.
If we are to accept the unsettled mind theory, then the more inconsistent performances should come from an allegedly unhappy De Gea at Manchester United, but the accolades in recent times at the club will put the argument to death before it even begins to take shape.
Again, there is the hyperopia – farsightedness – talk that some will say have contributed to his dip in form for Spain.
But we are left wondering if his eyes only act up when he plays for Spain.
One could argue that his performances are always below his world beating standard because of some discomfort he feels playing in front of the Spanish audience, and that argument may not be far from the truth as the man himself has admitted openly that he does not feel the support from Spain.
He said :
“I don’t feel much support from Spain,” he told reporters. “My own criticism is bad enough. I would have liked them to defend me more in a difficult moment in my life, with an issue from outside the game.”
The comments came after a 2016 scandal where De Gea was Implicated in sexual assault claims just before EURO 2016 and later cleared of all wrong doing but the mental scars remained as is evidenced from a video where De Gea snubbed the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, who was highly critical of the Manchester United man in the days of the sexual assault claims.
The constant vilification of David De Gea by the Spanish press has also contributed in no small way to the somewhat lacklustre attitude of De Gea whenever he plays for Spain and some will say it is a sour grapes situation because De Gea has refused to push for a move to Real Madrid.
However this love/hate relationship of David De Gea and Spain pans out, De Gea will rest assured knowing that he still has the full backing of Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho, who was quoted as saying after the match against Portugal:
“It’s a mistake he doesn’t make with us… Player of the Season, fantastic performances,”
"But that happens to the best. The good thing with the best is that in the next match he will be there, not afraid, confident to go and ready to help the team.”
Spain boss, Heirro, will be hoping that the De Gea of Manchester United, not the parody of Spain, turns up against Iran in their next match, and indeed, in their remaining matches of the World Cup because a concentrated De Gea is the best De Gea.
So please, can the real David De Gea stand up?
 |
| David De Gea At Manchester United |
While De Gea has undoubted quality at club level, you would be forgiven for thinking its a low budget identical twin with the same name that mans the post for the Spanish national team, and this is a curious case that needs examination.
For a keeper who the description "error prone" rarely applies to, he has been mighty prone to errors on many occasions when he has had to put on the Spain jersey.
Only last week after Portugal's 3-3 draw with Spain in the world cup where De Gea did his best Loris Karius impression with a long distance Cristiano Ronaldo shot, Spain coach, Fernando Hierro, came out in support of his goalkeeper saying
"I see David as being very calm and he has all our confidence in full,"
"Players need confidence and support at all times and my decision [that he will play] is very clear. I will be fair with every player.
"The squad has had a day off and that helped David relax and step away, because we are more interested with natural methods in our preparations, making sure we get our heads right."
But support in football can be a fragile old man sometimes, and with these rare David De Gea mistakes becoming a little less rare with Spain, a high stakes competition like the world cup might just see the demise of the old man, or at least, consign the old man to life support.
For David De Gea, the 'crisis of confidence' argument does not apply seeing as he has won the Manchester United player of the year award four times at just 28 years of age and has constantly appeared in the PFA team of the year, even winning the Premier League's golden glove of the 2017/2018 season.
Earlier in the year, De Gea misjudged the bounce on a Nicolas Otamendi header, allowing the ball to go between his hands as he dived for it in a friendly match against Argentina.
Just before the world cup, in a warm up game against Switzerland, De Gea was again at fault for Ricardo Rodriguez's goal as he fumbled a cross-shot from Stephen Lichtsteiner into the path of Rodriguez.
When he was asked about the incident by the Spanish press, he replied “Better now than in Russia.”
That comment would have been reassuring if De Gea did not already have a reputation for bottling it in major tournaments for Spain.
In the 2016 Euros, with Spain fighting to escape the group stages in first place, De Gea conceded at his near post against Croatia when he attempted to stop an Ivan Perisic shot with his feet instead of making the dive for it with just minutes left in the game.
The quarter final brought even more misery as an indecisive De Gea messed up a routine save from an Eder freekick and allowed Giorgio Chiellini to score the first of Italy's 2 goals in the 2-0 loss.
 |
| David De Gea Mistake For Chiellini Goal In Euro 2016 |
With great error comes great scrutiny and with great scrutiny comes even greater criticism and speculations. One of these speculations being that David De Gea plays with an unsettled mind in the midst of his long running transfer saga with Manchester United and Real Madrid.
The only problem with this theory is that it is working in reverse.
If we are to accept the unsettled mind theory, then the more inconsistent performances should come from an allegedly unhappy De Gea at Manchester United, but the accolades in recent times at the club will put the argument to death before it even begins to take shape.
Again, there is the hyperopia – farsightedness – talk that some will say have contributed to his dip in form for Spain.
But we are left wondering if his eyes only act up when he plays for Spain.
One could argue that his performances are always below his world beating standard because of some discomfort he feels playing in front of the Spanish audience, and that argument may not be far from the truth as the man himself has admitted openly that he does not feel the support from Spain.
He said :
“I don’t feel much support from Spain,” he told reporters. “My own criticism is bad enough. I would have liked them to defend me more in a difficult moment in my life, with an issue from outside the game.”
The comments came after a 2016 scandal where De Gea was Implicated in sexual assault claims just before EURO 2016 and later cleared of all wrong doing but the mental scars remained as is evidenced from a video where De Gea snubbed the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, who was highly critical of the Manchester United man in the days of the sexual assault claims.
The constant vilification of David De Gea by the Spanish press has also contributed in no small way to the somewhat lacklustre attitude of De Gea whenever he plays for Spain and some will say it is a sour grapes situation because De Gea has refused to push for a move to Real Madrid.
However this love/hate relationship of David De Gea and Spain pans out, De Gea will rest assured knowing that he still has the full backing of Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho, who was quoted as saying after the match against Portugal:
“It’s a mistake he doesn’t make with us… Player of the Season, fantastic performances,”
"But that happens to the best. The good thing with the best is that in the next match he will be there, not afraid, confident to go and ready to help the team.”
Spain boss, Heirro, will be hoping that the De Gea of Manchester United, not the parody of Spain, turns up against Iran in their next match, and indeed, in their remaining matches of the World Cup because a concentrated De Gea is the best De Gea.
So please, can the real David De Gea stand up?
Comments
Post a Comment