David De Gea Is Changing His Game To Satisfy Erik Ten Hag’s Man Utd Demands

When the full time whistle blew on Manchester United’s narrow 1-0 win over West Ham United, almost every player in red rushed over to David de Gea to offer their congratulations, and thanks. The goalkeeper pulled off a number of saves to give his team a much-needed victory. It was the sort of performance de Gea has produced many times over his career.

De Gea’s reputation as one of the best keepers of his generation is well-established, but the 31-year-old has come under scrutiny for his all-round play since the arrival of Erik Ten Hag at Old Trafford this summer. The Dutch coach prefers his goalkeepers to be comfortable with the ball at their feet and this isn’t a strength of de Gea’s game.

Goalkeepers like Alisson Becker and Ederson have changed expectations of players in their position in the modern game. While keepers were not so long ago solely judged on their ability to keep the ball out of their net, they now play a role in starting attacks through their use of possession.

This is where de Gea is lacking as demonstrated by the mistake the 31-year-old made on the ball in the catastrophic 4-0 defeat to Brentford earlier this season. Ten Hag has instead installed Lisandro Martinez as the deep-lying player to start attacking moves from deep with the Argentine tasked with taking the ball from de Gea as early as possible.

However, de Gea is still making changes to his game in order to be a better fit for Ten Hag’s Manchester United. The Spaniard is coming off his line much quicker, something that allows United to play a higher defensive line in the knowledge they have something of a safety net to prevent opponents from getting in behind.

A more proactive approach is hiding same of the flaws in de Gea’s game and Ten Hag is showing his faith in the 31-year-old after a difficult start to the season which had many speculating whether the Manchester United manager would be forced to enter the transfer market to find a new goalkeeper.

“Everyone has his own opinion but for me, the first thing for a goalkeeper is to protect the goal and make sure you don’t concede goals,” Ten Hag said after de Gea’s eye-catching performance against West Ham. “In that fact he is magnificent. But with the feet he has capabilities as well. That is not only with the keeper but also the one in front and what options you give to bring passes in. I am convinced he can do it. The games so far he proved it.”

It’s still entirely possible that Manchester United will target a new goalkeeper who is a more natural fit for Ten Hag’s approach with Porto’s Diogo Costa believed to be on their radar. De Gea, however, is a club icon and is showing willingness to learn new skills even at this late stage of his career.