Let’s Blame De Gea

Despite an impressive display yesterday against Spurs that reaffirmed why Manchester United paid £17m for him to replaced Edwin Van Der Sar, David De Gea has again found himself in the firing line.

At numerous points in the game it was De Gea that came to the team’s rescue with impressive feats of quick thinking and even quicker reflexes to keep Tottenham at bay.

Having already dived, he kept Gareth Bale off the score sheet using his legs to prevent the Welshman’s deflected effort drawing Spurs level at the end of the first half. Clint Dempsey looked a cert to score when Dembele played him through on goal but De Gea made himself big and some how kept the American out.

But at the game’s death, Benoit Assou Ekotto’s swung a ball into the box and under heavy pressure not only from a Caulker but Vidic, he failed to punch the ball clear. It fell to Lennon who set up Clint Dempsey for Spurs’ equaliser.

Whilst not all, many fans and pundits placed the blame on the goalkeeper and former Liverpool defender Alan Hansen has gone a step further urging Sir Alex to drop the young Spaniard.

Writing in his column for The Telegraph, Hansen said:

“Manchester United’s hopes of regaining the Premier League title will always be in jeopardy if David de Gea keeps making mistakes like the one against Spurs and he must surely be on his last chance now.

“Without a doubt he cost them three points and this is a crucial stage of the season where Sir Alex Ferguson needs to decide whether to stick with him or take him out the firing line.

“The result at White Hart Lane could prove a season-defining moment and United cannot afford to be drawing games when they should be winning them.”

I find it pretty amazing that Hansen could write such a thing considering the game De Gea had last night, he is an easy target as he has taken time to adapt to the English game as well as having figure like Peter Schmeichel and Edwin Van Der Sar looming over everything he does.

Scapegoating is so prevalent in football these days, it was only a year or 2 ago that the likes of Jonny Evans and Michael Carrick were being spoken of as liabilities but now both are highly rated by both fans and pundits.

Whilst De Gea does have areas of his game that need to be worked on, to blame him for yesterday’s result is ridiculous. It could be said that had it not been for him we may not have even picked up 1 point, let alone 3!