De Gea Winning Numbers Game

Edwin van der Sar aside, the Manchester United No.1 jersey has been a problem to fill adequately since Peter Schmeichel departed. The likes of Massimo Taibi, Riccardo and Roy Carroll have come and gone in the Red Devil's goal with little success, and while the money splashed on Fabian Barthez paid some dividends, it was not until recently that manager Sir Alex Ferguson went all out and recruited David De Gea, a player he obviously sees as United's long-term goalkeeper.

De Gea has had his problems, though. He is hardly free from criticism and is understandably, given his high-pressure role, heavily in the media's spotlight. It seems, however, that De Gea might just have come good. At the Bernabeu on Wednesday night in the most high profile, high-pressure game in European football this season, De Gea was United's star of the show, as can be seen in WhoScored.com's match centre, picking up his highest ever rating in the Champions League when many expected him to crumble. 

Of course, there was little swaying the focus from the world superstar that is Cristiano Ronaldo, who peppered De Gea's goal with 10 attempts, including his fantastic equalising header that left the Spaniard rooted to the spot. But De Gea had no chance there, and had already asserted his shot-stopping abilities in denying Fabio Coentrao with an undeniably world class save early on in the game. 

Even prior to that, De Gea has done much to silence his critics this season, and while the odd error or lapse of judgment remains, there are few around at the moment that are better at keeping shots out than the Manchester United stopper. Of the 30 goalkeepers to have made at least three appearances in the Champions League this season, only six have saved a higher proportion of the shots on target he has faced than De Gea, who boasts a save success rate of 78.3%. One might argue here that Group H - in which United competed this season - was below the standards that other goalies will have had to contend with, and that Ferguson's team qualified top of the group with all too much ease, making De Gea's job all the more simple. 

However, the third most expensive goalkeeper in history has repaid some of his hefty transfer fee with plenty of saves in Premier League games as well. Of the 20 first-choice stoppers in the English top flight, De Gea has the best save success rate, keeping out almost exactly the same proportion as in European competition (78.16%). In fact, of all regular 'keepers across Europe's top 5 leagues this season, only Bayern Munich's Manuel Neuer (85.7%), PSG's Salvatore Sirigu (83.3%) and Bordueaux's Cedric Carrasso (78.21%) have saved more often than the Spaniard. 

It would be inaccurate to attribute De Gea's consistent rate across the two competitions purely to inferior opposition, as he proved in making seven saves against some of the best in the world on Wednesday night, as well as putting in impressive performances on a number of other occasions this season. 

One of those games was away at Manchester City, when a string of fine saves brought him a WhoScored man of the match award, while at White Hart Lane he kept his side in the lead with several point-blank saves from Gareth Bale and Clint Dempsey. However, that game may well epitomise De Gea as a goalkeeper more than any other. After such a fine performance and his side minutes away from the kind of win - without playing well - that Ferguson's Manchester United have become masters of in recent years, De Gea flapped unconvincingly at a cross and Spurs profited with an equaliser. 

De Gea's shot stopping capabilities are enough to keep him in the United team at the moment, but with Anders Lindegaard always waiting in the wings for an opportunity, De Gea often finds himself on the bench after an error. The fact that he is currently enjoying a run of games between the posts shows that he is improving in that regard, and having only committed one error that has directly led to a goal this season, he is undoubtedly growing in confidence. His Manchester City counterpart, Joe Hart, who many people will argue is the better of the two title-challenging keepers, has made the second most costly errors (4) in the Premier League this season, behind only the mistake prone Ali Al-Habsi (6). 

Could it be that De Gea is kicking that bad habit from his game? His shot-stopping is simply getting better and better, and if he is shown the confidence of his manager and continues in goal for the league leaders, his performances will improve and his reputation will continue to grow. He has shown signs of being the world class goalkeeper that his transfer fee suggests he should become, and while there are aspects of his game that he most certainly has to work on, he is slowly but surely repaying the faith than Ferguson has put in him.

- Courtesy of ESPN Soccernet and WhoScored.com -

Resolute De Gea Stands Tall

Buried deep in the enthusiasm and bombast of Sir Alex Ferguson’s build-up to this game was a comment clearly as rehearsed as anything the Manchester United manager will ever say. Sitting next to his goalkeeper David de Gea at a press conference at the Bernabeu on Tuesday, Ferguson knew he would be asked about the 22-year-old Spaniard and was ready.

‘We are good at developing people,’ said Ferguson. ‘David is like a kid making his steps forward. He wobbles, he gets up, wobbles, gets up and now, all of a sudden, he is walking.’

Not only was it great imagery, it was perfectly placed. By his side, it was almost possible to see De Gea’s chest swell. Nothing, after all, fills a sportsman with belief more than flattery from his manager; well, nothing, perhaps, apart from a resolute performance in one of sport’s great arenas. That is exactly what De Gea was here: resolute. He was not brilliant or awe-inspiring or incredible. Or any other superlative.

He was resolute, dependable and influential. On this occasion, that was enough. This was a grown-up goalkeeping performance, one that perhaps serves notice that De Gea can be a force for good at United after all. Certainly, if he builds on this then he will be fine as never for one moment did he look anxious or uncertain. 

A rather awkward-looking man for an athlete, he never really looks the part physically. Once the serious business began, though, De Gea looked at ease. There were moments, in the first half particularly, when he came for deep crosses and didn’t get them. It remains his weakness, a genuine concern. Significantly, though, there was a fingertip save from Fabio Coentrao that diverted the Real defender’s shot on to the inside of a post in the fifth minute. Real were rampant at that stage and, had they scored, United could have been in for a long night.

As it was, Ferguson’s team survived the early shelling and gradually eased themselves into the game. Danny Welbeck’s goal would not have meant much, after all, had United already been three adrift. This is where goalkeepers can be so important. They can help to set the tone for games as well as saving games and winning games with contributions they may make later on.

There were other moments for De Gea to reflect on with satisfaction. As Real dragged United backwards and forwards across the full width of the pitch during the first half, it was inevitable they would fashion chances. De Gea, though, looked sound and another save he made, diving to his right to repel a shot from Mesut Ozil after Xabi Alonso’s sensational crossfield free-kick had released the German, ensured United reached half-time on level terms.

In the second half, Real were not as incisive. They lost some rhythm, tempo and — as a result — some confidence. De Gea saved well twice more — from Coentrao with his legs and Sami Khedira — but it was, in fact, home goalkeeper Diego Lopez who made the two best saves of that period, both from Robin van Persie.

For Ferguson and his team, this really was a good night. They were not the better team — far from it — but they were steadfast, organised and sporadically dangerous on the break. The latter will give them confidence ahead of the second leg at Old Trafford.

Some thought  Ferguson had put his neck on the line with his team selection. The United manager, though, would not have seen it like that. He has simply been waiting for the night he eased players like Jonny Evans, Welbeck and Phil Jones into a game of this magnitude. As such, he won’t have blinked.

Like all clubs, United experience disappointments, such as last season’s early Champions League exit. Rarely, though, do they find themselves on the outside looking in for long and that is due largely to the way that Ferguson regenerates his teams. It is a great skill and one that speaks of consistency of thought and, more importantly, of strategy and planning.

It is six years, for example, since Evans made his debut for United and four-and-a-half since Welbeck made his. At times there have been doubts about their pedigree. Here, though, they were in this team on merit. It’s what patience and maturity bring.

Of the two, Welbeck enjoyed the better night, providing an outlet that was valuable to the hustling United rearguard and making a mug of an experienced Spanish international to head his team into the lead. Sergio Ramos clearly thought he could bully Welbeck and was pushing and pulling him as the ball came over. Welbeck merely jumped and glanced the ball into the corner. He was a threat all night, too, and if Evans and Jones found things a little harder, that is understandable. Better and more experienced players have struggled at the Bernabeu.

With familiarity comes unity of purpose, though. Call it solidarity, if you will. Throughout this contest, United needed that and for long periods it served them well. There were deficiencies, certainly. Michael Carrick could not find enough of the ball while 22-year-old right back Rafael — improved this season — had a bad night. He will learn. He will be allowed to. Some teams are occasionally considered to be works in progress. Ferguson’s teams always are. They are never finished.

And De Gea, and others, took steps forward they may remember for a while.

The Greatest Player To Ever Play For Manchester United

"Ronaldo is above the rest. If he keeps scoring in this rhythm and stays in this sort of form, he will prove to be the best. Ronaldo is better than George Best and Denis Law, who were two brilliant and great players in the history of United." – Johan Cryuff, April 2008.

First of all, before we go any further, I am NOT about to try and argue that Cristiano Ronaldo is Manchester United's greatest ever player.

During his spell at Old Trafford he did not show the iconic artistry of George Best or Eric Cantona; the team-lifting fury of Bryan Robson or Roy Keane; or the consistent longevity of Bobby Charlton or Ryan Giggs.

But, when all is said and done, when we look back on his career once it's finished, when we strip away all debates about ego and arrogance and just look and the stats and look at videos – we will end up calling Ronaldo one of the greatest footballers who has ever lived – unrivalled even by all the great names that have worn red at Old Trafford.

They say "better the devil you know", but tell that to the United fans who will be at the Bernabeu later tonight. Their hearts will no doubt beat a little faster, with a sense of dread, whenever number seven in white touches the ball, because they know better than most just what he is capable of.

Better the devil you know? Better not knowing what this ex-Red Devil can do.

Ronaldo arrived at United as a skinny teenage winger but left the club as phenomenon. His final two seasons at the club were like nothing we had ever seen before or since in the Premier League. The Portuguese star dominated football pitches like a gladiator in a Hollywood epic. He slashed his way through all before him, scored and created goals, won matches, won battles,seemingly all by himself.

The scary thing is, since leaving England, he has only gotten better. He left for Real Madrid in the summer of 2009 for a staggering world record fee of £80 million. Amazingly that has proved to be bargain; if Real Madrid were to sell him tomorrow, they could double their money.

You could pick any number of games from the last few years to illustrate his class but how about just popping in the tape of last Saturday's match against Sevilla for starters?

After setting up Karim Benezma for the opener, Ronaldo then cut in from the right onto this *weaker* left foot and unleashed a bullet of a shot into the corner of the net to make it 2-0.

He scored his second just after half time, and then just before the hour mark picked the ball up just outside his own box, went on a storming run that made him look like a computer game character that had just benefited from the sprint button, laid the ball off, continued his run, and eventually tapped in for his hat-trick.

It was truly stunning to watch – the 20th hat-trick of his Real Madrid career. He could have scored more in a 4-1 win but was soon taken off after completing his treble and rested for tonight's game. Jose Mourinho won’t show United such mercy tonight.

With all due respect to Best and Law and Cantona and Charlton and Giggs and Keane – Ronaldo can, and does, do things that those players, as great as they were, simply could not.

People seem to want to resist his talent because they see Ronaldo as egotistical and arrogant. This is all a matter of perception - one man's arrogance is another man's self-belief after all - but Ronaldo's personality is by-and-large irrelevant. His job is to win football matches, not elections.

Neither should the debate as to how he matches us up against Lionel Messi sour his legacy either. Messi may well already be the greatest player that has ever lived. Ronaldo cannot be expected to have a control on anything the Barcelona star does.

We live in a world that looks back in awe on the greats in all fields of human endeavour, and there is always space for more than one towering genius: Mozart and Beethoven, Da Vinci and Michelangelo, Einstein and Newton. In time we will look back at Ronaldo and Messi with similar reverence.

Real Madrid are a team filled with international superstars but it says something about Ronaldo's abilities that Manchester United will be immensely confident of victory if they can limit his influence. If they can stop Ronaldo, they'll take their chances with everybody else.

Sir Alex Ferguson knows, the players know, the United fans know, that Ronaldo is a capable of doing so much more damage than anyone else on the pitch. It will be fascinating to watch how they try and stop him.

Ronaldo wasn't there long enough to stake his claim as Manchester United's greatest ever player, but he might just be the greatest player that's ever played for the club.