Adam Dennehey WAFU manager
Many feared that he’d need ‘protection’ this weekend. Some feared that he might be dropped by Sir Alex due to Bolton’s aggressive and rugged style. But David De Gea came away from Bolton this weekend with a clean sheet and most importantly his confidence intact.
There were rumours yesterday morning on Twitter as well as articles on several leading newspaper websites that the Spaniard might be ‘rested’ (or in other words dropped) in place of Anders Lindegaard by Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Dane being better equipped to deal with Bolton’s aerial threat with Kevin Davies.
At the time on Twitter many #MUFC fans were split on this rumour. Some thought that it might be a good idea for Anders to prove himself. Some thought it would be a strange decision to drop the Spaniard who had certainly come of the back of an impressive performance against Arsenal in our last league fixture. De Gea’s supporters argued that it would be ‘criminal’ to drop him, as he needs to play in testing circumstances to become more assured in goal for us.
We play Stoke City away in two weeks time and nobody can deny that our defence will come under pressure in that game. The Potters are well known for their rugged approach which has seen them become a very difficult side to beat at the Britannia Stadium. Supporters of De Gea argued that with that game coming up so soon, it was vital that our no.1 played yesterday as it would be a good learning curve for him – which he would miss out on if he didn’t play.
Alas in the end, there was no chance of David being dropped for the game, which Sir Alex confirmed to ESPN’s Rebecca Lowe before the kick-off yesterday. He looked assured throughout and dealt with every aerial threat (bar one cross which wasn’t his to claim) and made a fantastic save from Ivan Klasnic when United lead was only 1-0.
Just over 70 seconds later, the lead was doubled by Wayne Rooney thanks to a peach of a cross from Phil Jones and whilst Jones got the majority of the plaudits for his cross, there’s no doubt it’s a goal that our keeper can gain much credit for. Had he not saved Klasnic’s attempt the game would’ve been 1-1 and whose to say we would have won the game.
This coming week will be another testing week for our keeper and there’s no doubt the games against Benfica in the Champions League and Chelsea in the league at the weekend, will be matches that he will need to play well in.
His confidence is getting better by the game and whilst of course there will be a few wobbles along the way (which given his age we should expect) – there’s no reason why our fans should be uncertain of his ability going into those games. We should back him 110%, after all that’s what the players and management will be doing.
By Adam Dennehey @ADennehey87
