Hindsight in football can be wonderful. Think back to the first half of last season when Manchester United lost 3-2 to Steve Kean’s Blackburn Rovers. It would be a defeat that would come back to haunt the Reds at the end of the season as the title-race was lost so painfully to Manchester City.
After United had fought back from 2-0 down to level the scores, it seemed that there would only be one winner.
How wrong fans were as 12 minutes from time Blackburn’s young Scottish defender Grant Hanley headed home the winner after a blunder from David De Gea which wouldn’t’ have looked out of a place on a school playground.
De Gea’s confidence had shattered said the media. His talent was crumbling said opposition fans. It was hard to argue against those points having an element of truth. After all despite making some fantastic saves in the first-half of the season, the Spaniard had made his fair share of errors.
Every goalkeeper is prone to mistakes. Even Peter Schmeichel made them! De Gea’s mistakes though were worrying as they were simple one’s which a top-class goalkeeper shouldn’t be making. After all you would expect a goalkeeper to be able to hold onto an easy-looking shot and to deal with crosses easily instead of childishly getting crowded in a box when coming to collect a high cross.
The mistake against Blackburn was probably the most important point of De Gea’s season as it gave him a chance to reflect on his mistakes and go back into training with less pressure on his young shoulders as Anders Lindegaard was then given 4 games behind the sticks starting with United’s 3-0 defeat away to Newcastle United.
Despite starting at Anfield in United’s 2-1 defeat to Liverpool in the fourth round of the FA Cup, it looked like De Gea would only reclaim his starting-place if Lindegaard got injured, which is exactly what happened when the Dane unfortunately damaged ankle ligaments in training ruling him out for the rest of the season.
Like all good players, De Gea took advantage and despite United’s defence not being as sound as it once was, showed his class shutting up his critics to have an outstanding second-half of the season. Even in defeats against Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League and in the crushing 4-4 draw against Everton at Old Trafford, the 21-year-old impressed.
His finest moment of the season came at Stamford Bridge in the closing stages of United’s thrilling 3-3 draw against Chelsea. Despite fighting back from 3-0 down to level, Chelsea ended the game on the front-foot.
As you can see in the video, Juan Mata had a free-kick 30 yards from goal tipped away by De Gea breathtakingly seemingly at the last moment. It was a thrilling save, one which looks better every time you view the replay. To cap that off he also kept out a drive from Gary Cahill shortly afterwards.
Despite suffering disappointment with Spain this summer already; being part of a Spain side that have been knocked out of the Olympics at the pool stage after defeats to Japan and Honduras, where he hasn’t been at fault for the goals conceded – the signs are that the 2012/13 season should be De Gea’s year.
All he has to do is continue to work hard in training and to avoid making a mistake early in the season. There’s no reason why the Spaniard cannot match Joe Hart as the League’s top goalkeeper and if he can do that, that will only make United’s challenge to regain the title and challenge in Europe a stronger threat.
By Adam Dennehey @ADennehey87
