The British "Daily Star" recently gave Manchester United players a 2021 rating, and goalkeeper De Gea only received a "C" rating, which caused controversy. In the words of a fan: De Gea in the first half of the year can be C, but in the second half of the year he played A-class performance.
Earlier this year, former Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer also declared that the team had "two No. 1s". At the time, de Gea looked like he was on the verge of losing his 10-year-old goalkeeper position, he made frequent mistakes and his confidence was low, and Dean Henderson saw hope of becoming a main player.
In the second half of the 2020/21 season, the manager had let Henderson start in eight consecutive premier league rounds, and fans thought that De Gea's abandonment was a foregone conclusion. Saving any "marriage" is not easy, it takes determination, sacrifice, and a little luck, but De Gea did not give up.
In contrast, the Spanish international returned to Manchester United early to start training after acting as a spectator at the European Cup, in contrast to Henderson, who was injured first, then won the new crown, and has been absent. De Gea thus got the chance to re-qualify, but the opportunity needed to be seized with performance, and the 31-year-old De Gea did it.
Since the beginning of the season, opponents can only break through the goal guarded by De Gea if they play an inexplicable world wave, and against Southampton and Wolves, his performance has pulled Manchester United back from the brink of losing or drawing. Two weeks later, De Gea, who hadn't saved a penalty in years, defused Mark Noble's whistle-blowing penalty. Soon after, he turned away all of Watford striker Sal's two consecutive penalties, proving that he had a new look.
The alarm from Dean Henderson has been lifted, and as United's defence is in tatters, "Daddy Duck" is turning the tide again and again behind his teammates, like a return to the peak of de Gea's 2017/18 season. The front court is picturesque, the back field De Gea, the only difference is that the picturesque front court, replaced by C Ronaldo.
The goalkeeper will be the best performer on the team and is a worrying sign. If United didn't have Cristiano Ronaldo and De Gea, the status quo could be very scary. This season, De Gea has also made mistakes, such as the Champions League against Atalanta, but the difference between this time and the past two years is that there is now Ronaldo, a new teammate, who may help him when needed.
De Gea is characterized by his ability to save shots that are close to the goal because of his amazing reflexes. And this season's defensive characteristics of Manchester United do often allow other teams to get opportunities in the box, so that the Spanish goalkeeper often has the opportunity to play to his strengths.
The data shows that De Gea is the Most Goalkeeper in the Premier League who has averaged the most "must-scores" per game this season, averaging 0.41 goals per 90 minutes, 0.38 goals ahead of second-place Wolves' José Sa, while Third Place Alvaro Fernandes has only 0.19 goals.
According to Opta's expected goal conceding stats, United should have conceded 28.5 goals this season, but De Gea conceded 22 goals, which means that he saved 6.5 goals that should have appeared. In terms of total, José Sa saved 6.8 goals and temporarily ranked first, but this was due to the fact that United missed two rounds. Third-placed Chelsea goalkeeper Mendy, had just 1.7 goals.
Another stat showed that De Gea had 8.99 goals saved above average, also second only to José Sa's 9.75 goals.
Interestingly, some "far-sighted" United fans are still addicted to the modern goalkeeper of Manchester City goalkeeper Edelson or Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson, believing that the most important thing for goalkeepers is not to save, but to control the ball under their feet, or to attack like Neuer. They forgot how De Gea had guarded the Red Devils in the club's downturn in the past, shouting that he was too old and should be sold as soon as possible.
But in fact, even compared with De Gea in the trough, the so-called Talent england goalkeeper Henderson is not much better. The 24-year-old goalkeeper is unlikely to reach the level of De Gea at his peak and England would rather use Pickford than him, saying it all.
"Some people say I'm old, in the goalkeeper position, 31 years old is still very young." De Gea said, "I hope to continue to play at the club for more years and win more titles."
De Gea's predecessor, Van der Sar, joined Manchester United at the age of 34, when he was also considered to have been in Juventus and could only be reduced to playing for Fulham, a middle and lower-down side in the Premier League. If it weren't for the wisdom of The Lord, the Dutch door god would have fallen, but after landing in the Dream Theatre, van der Sar played to the age of 40, and the farewell battle was the Final of the Champions League.
After Lonnick took office, De Gea increased his number of attacks and increased his control, of course, one cannot expect him to become Neuer overnight. But Former United goalkeeper coach Eric Steele told the current manager that De Gea had other abilities to exploit.
One of them is De Gea's goal-goal accuracy. Now, because of the change in rules, it is popular for goalkeepers to hand the ball to the centre-backs and organize forward. But Manchester United captain Harry Maguire's form this season has made this style of play wrong, and the risk of being counter-attacked by the opponent's direct break has increased.
One of the most effective ways United can strike into the front when Helm van Gaal is when De Gea kicks off with a big foot, with Fellaini's header or chest stoppage, and then transfers it to his teammates to attack. "It's not easy to change managers and philosophies, and there are changes in the rules of goalball." Steele said: "I never agree that United must organize the attack through Maguire or Lindelof with the ball or pass the ball, because that wastes one of David's (De Gea's) attributes: he has the incredible ability to accurately transmit the ball to his teammates over long distances. His 40-yard pass is more accurate than Maguire and Lindelhof."
Steele thinks Lonnick could change that: "I recently revisited some of the videos from his second season at Manchester United and his passing was amazing. This is also an important reason why we brought him in, and Furjue wants a young version of Van der Sar. Maybe Ronnick will change that way of playing because he's not Guardiola, he doesn't appreciate the backcourt of the backfield, the approach of attracting opponents to grab, and he wants the ball to be delivered to the front as soon as possible."
This season, De Gea has also shown his hard work in premier league matches. In Ronaldo's return debut 4-1 win over Newcastle, he scored a long and accurate pass that resulted in Bruno Fernandez's goal. De Gea said he deserved half an assist, and Fernandez gave him a thumbs up.