Erik Ten Hag Admits Concerns With David De Gea’s Kicking

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has admitted he has concerns with the kicking of his goalkeeper David De Gea.

The Spanish international has enjoyed an impressive season, but there have always been significant doubts about his ability to effectively distribute the ball.

These doubts have persisted during the current season, which has witnessed his passing become a notable problem for United.

In United’s 4-1 win over Real Betis in the Europa League at Old Trafford on Thursday night De Gea misplaced several of his passes, and just before half-time gave the ball directly to Juanmi, who moved it to Ayoze Perez before his deflected shot hit the post, which would have given the Spaniards a 2-1 lead.

“From today, I can’t ignore it, but I think we have seen many games he did really well,” Ten Hag said at a press conference when asked about De Gea’s kicking being a weakness.

“I don’t know why, or what the reason today was. There was a lot of wind, it’s a different ball, he probably had some problems with that. But I know he can deal with it and he will do Sunday better.”

“We work on that; David is working on that. But I think we have seen, in the season, that he is improving, and he will keep improving, I am sure.”

The Dutch striker Wout Weghorst is another United player that has attracted criticism for only scoring twice since he joined the club in January, but he was relived to score against Real Betis on Thursday.

“He is often in the right position, then he fails,” Ten Hag said. “But he keeps going. So, he showed great personality and character so not only in this game, I think also in this game, he could have already got his goal early on, but he keeps focused, he keeps working and he keeps putting himself in the right positions. And, finally, he got his goal and his reward.”

Weghorst has surprisingly started all 15 games since he arrived at Old Trafford. “Yeah, because he is capable,” Ten Hag said. “He is physically capable to play a lot of games. He is a very fit player, and he recovers very well.”

“Did I expect it? I expected that he will play a lot but obviously we have an injury with Anthony Martial, so it’s obvious that’s the main reason why he’s playing every game from the start to almost finish. Against Barcelona I think I took him off, but many other games he played, and I think he’s doing well as the striker or as the no.10 in the midfield, he’s also bringing good performance.”

“I think he has intelligence from positions, he is a very good anticipator. I tell him to of course help linking up there, what he is also doing as a high striker. But in that position, he is linking up and getting in front of the goal, when crosses are coming in. And for the rest, also there the defending part he is very good at it.”

Ten Hag is hopeful Martial could return from his latest spell out with injury for United’s Premier League game against Southampton at Old Trafford on Sunday.

“Yeah, but I think, all the time, we had a good plan and until now it didn’t always work well,” Ten Hag said. “But he is on his way back, he is back in training, but we will be cautious, yeah.”

Ten Hag also gave an update on the United midfielder Christian Eriksen, who is recovering from an ankle injury he sustained against Reading in the FA Cup in January.

“I think he will play, definitely [before the end of the season],” Ten Hag said. “But I can’t tell now an expectation, but I think his progress in the rehab is okay. It is going according to plan, so definitely we will see him. But not before the international break.”