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How David De Gea matured into Manchester United’s savior

By on January 17, 2015

Tim Howard wrote a telling note in his recently published book, The Keeper; “(forwards are) always one goal away from being a hero. As a goalie, I was one goal away from being a villain.” Ironically being published after the 2014 World Cup, his career high, it only goes to explain the story of what happened next in his career – a few mishaps and a poor defense in front of him and suddenly he is back on the wrong end of the stick at Everton.

That’s how it is for goalkeepers. Even if you make multiple brilliant saves in one match, and even then it is hard to gain credit for such, some balls will inevitably get past the ‘keeper, and some goals will be your fault. Especially with a shaky defense in front, or applying to goalkeepers for lower level clubs, a lot is needed the goalkeeper to keep balls out of the back of their net.

That is what has happened to Howard, and nowhere is the same fated truer than at Manchester United. Historically, the club have had incredible goalkeepers in Peter Schmeichel and Edwin Van Der Sar, both perhaps the best Premier League goalkeepers around in their day, however, that only made David De Gea’s expectations larger when he joined the club in 2011. Even after catching Sir Alex Ferguson’s genius coaching for the first two years of his United career, he struggled.

Whereas a midfielder, forward, or even defender can take more time to settle into a new country and club, De Gea didn’t have any, moving straight into United’s startling lineup. First of all, he physically wasn’t ready for the Premier League. As much as the internet taunted his weight, he was actually too lean. He was physically pushed around by opponents, and given his mindset of coming out for crosses, lost United some games with mistakes.

And then was his mental weaknesses; he need time to adjust his game to the Premier League. He has always been a shot-stopper, and indeed his famous save from Juan Mata’s free-kick against Chelsea in 2012 is credited with turning his United career around, but originally lacked at much everything else. Low balls straight at him, for instance, he always struggled with, leading to some embarrassing mistakes as recent as last season. He was surprisingly poor at getting behind the ball and reverted to making life hard for himself by kick saving shots.

For his first season and a half at the club, he was ridiculed. At the time of signing he was only twenty-one, as well as being the most expensive goalkeeper in England. He didn’t fit the bill then, but over time, he grew into the role. He gained muscle, but most of all, adapted his game. He no longer comes haplessly flapping out of goal at crosses, and stays in goal whenever possible. He has gotten used to low hard shots. The Spaniard also learned to use his feet more effectively. Nowadays it seems that the majority of his saves are with his feet – a skill he is almost certainly the best in the world at. On the post facing a shot from a tight angle, there is no goalkeeper in the EPL or even in the world you would rather have in goal. And all the time he still keeps the capability to make the incredible diving saves at full stretch which he made his name with. Just today as Manchester United faced Queens Park Rangers he made an incredibly save to tip wide Charlie Austin’s dipping volley.

Moreover, he is dependable. Only a few goalkeepers for top EPL clubs, like Hugo Lloris of Tottenham Hotspur, have made more saves than the 24-year-old so far this season, and that can be accredited to Lloris facing more shots. Goalkeepers such as Thibaut Courtois find themselves all the way at the bottom ends of that list as they face fewer shots. At the other end if the spectrum United are only increasingly reliant on De Gea to keep them at right end of the table, and De Gea has matured incredibly quickly into that role.

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.