It’s intriguing and not by all means surprising how a change in management reverses the state of affairs in a team. Manchester United FC was on the verge of becoming this season’s “certified has-beens” which was accredited mainly to total mutiny from the players towards management. Performances from individuals and collectively were below par at best for a club that strive on excellence and perfection. It was inevitable that change was urgently needed on the managerial level and in steps a United legend, Ole Gunnar Solskjær to save the club’s reputation and dignity from obscurity. This narrative is of great importance as we look into the transformation of the team, and individuals players but as you would expect, I’m here to discuss exclusively about the emergence of David De Gea.

To be favoured as the current world’s best goalkeeper is a feat on its own, under the banner of meritocracy and judging by yesterday’s performance in the English Premier League clash against Tottenham Hotspur FC at Wembley, he isn’t far off the mark. Having said that, it just goes to show how a change in circumstance can progressively elevate one’s game. On the day, David De Gea was unbeatable, playing to his strength and getting the job done as I would expect from a goalkeeper of his calibre. What stood out was his impeccable positioning to make the various saves which many current professional goalkeepers would be found wanting. My argument here is that a high percentage of goals being scored are due to poor positioning and set-positioning of goalkeepers, and David De Gea demonstrated a masterpiece of the art, making all the saves look seemingly comfortable. Most of the saves were made with his feet and although there might be a remote case for making orthodox saves with the hands, his style triumphs above all as I’m an advocate of individual style. What makes his style of play works is his effective use of the A-frame set-positioning ( .. where the legs are wider in proportion to the shoulders ) that allows him to instinctively flip either foot out to block low close body shots from the opposition with great accuracy. I’ve seen goalkeepers like Kepa Arrizabalaga of Chelsea FC using the A-frame set-positioning but hasn’t been effective in ways that David De Gea has executed it. I’m not a fan of this style as it generally restrict one’s capability in deploying explosive low dive reaction saves, but as I’ve mentioned in former blogs, style is player dependent and adaptation is key for effective deployment.

After the game social media platforms as usual went into overdrive as praises where heaped on David De Gea’s performance as he was rightfully named man of the match for the eventful 1-0 win. Some commentaries stated that most of the shots were more or less straight at him but I disagree with this line of thinking, as I’ve mentioned earlier that the correct positioning won the day. Although I would agree with a particular comment made by former Evertonian and Wales legendary goalkeeper Neville Southall, who said that he expects a goalkeeper to make those saves. He should know because in his illustrious career, he’s made even better saves than the ones De Gea is being lauded for. Also on Twitter, Champions League created a poll on who’s the best Manchester United Goalkeeper and after looking at the runnings, it looking increasingly obvious that the majority of voters are from the millenials because David De Gea as expected is leading the poll, with Edwin van der Sar a close second and the legendary Peter Schmeichel a distant third! I’m not going to delve into this debate because it’s a non starter as far as I’m concerned but David De Gea would be first to admit he is no way near on the level of the great Dane but this gives an insight into the level of standard of the modern day goalkeeping. In the era of the 90s and early 2000s, there where big characters and talents in the world of Goalkeeping, the likes of Oliver Kahn, Benard Lama, Grégory Coupet, Jerzy Dudek, Gianluca Pagliuca, Antti Niemi, Francesco Toldo, Gianluigi Buffon, Jens Lehman, Kasey Keller, David Seaman, Neville Southall and many more that I haven’t mentioned, had the complete goalkeeping skills that brought maximum impact and entertainment. Today we measure the ability of goalkeepers based on their footwork comfortability, attack orientation, distribution skills incorporated with the ideology that the main objective is to score one more than the opposition. Then on rare occasions like these where the goalkeeper actually works hard to keep a clean sheet, he is lauded for his exceptional abilities and touted as one of the greats. Many goalkeepers will praise David De Gea for his heroics on the day but just as much will say that all the saves are expected to be made by a competent goalkeeper.

All I would say is goalkeepers need to raise their game, play to their strengths and believe in their abilities to not just be a number, but an influencer in having a stake in the outcome of games, just as David De Gea demonstrated..

You Are The Ultimate Keeper Of Your Destiny – ULTIMATE KEEPER