De Gea No Longer a Flop

After the first month of his Manchester United playing career, David De Gea was given a typical British media welcome: abuse. The unwitting Spaniard was greeted with constant criticism, terrace abuse and tabloid hopes that he would turn out to be another Taibi. He was initially thrown into the limelight, from no error of his own, as he transferred for a hefty £18million price tag in order to replace the infallible Edwin Van Der Sar, and faced a huge task in guarding the United net to the same standard as his predecessor. Admittedly, he did not help himself in his opening two competitive matches, as he made two glaring errors in the Community Shield against Manchester City, as well as conceding a soft goal away to West Brom in his league debut. Criticism of both his age and his lack of English ensued and it was clear that De Gea was going to have to improve somewhat if he was to keep the Number 1 jersey at Old Trafford. And he did.

As United began the season in blistering fashion at the other end of the pitch, the woes of young De Gea were soon forgotten. The performances of attacking players such as Rooney, Young and Nani, along with the exciting young Englishmen in the squad distracted the media who soon became bored with a keeper who was no longer making headline bloopers. But as the goals dried up and a slaughtering at the hands of the Noisy Neighbours knocked the wind out of their sails somewhat, people began to question the talent, or lack of, in the United side. The one position in recent weeks which has not been questioned, however, appears to be the big man in the net.

It remains the case that De Gea is yet to [directly] cost United any points in the league (or trophies). His errors in the Community Shield were reversed by an impressive second half performance by the United attack, and his mistake versus West Brom was cancelled out by a late Ashley Young strike. Since then, he has racked up 5 clean sheets in 15 appearances in all competitions, second only to Patrice Evra (United's top appearance maker in the last 2 seasons), and it certainly cannot be argued that he has only accrued these due to the lack of competition. Danish international Anders Lindegaard has been chomping at the bit all season and it is fair to say that he has taken full advantage of his four appearances this season, keeping clean sheets in three of them. In addition to this, young England U21 goalkeeper Ben Amos has had three appearances so far this season and has also not done anything to harm his reputation.

So whilst United continue a poor run of form which has seen them uncharacteristically concede an average one goal per game in the league, as well as conceding 6 goals in 5 games in Europe, not even the harshest critics are pointing the blame at the Spaniard, following a string of impressive performances and saves which showcase exactly what Sir Alex saw in him. Solid performances against the likes of Chelsea, Norwich City and Everton, as well as a crucial penalty save against Arsenal when United led only 1-0 (which of course ended up 8-2 to United), can only have boosted his confidence and, being so young, he still has plenty of time to learn more. The plaudits are yet to stream in, though maybe a longer period of sustained form is required before he has redeemed himself in the media's eyes. Although on the other hand, being kept out of the spotlight is probably exactly where he is happy to be right now.