Every title-winning season review DVD features a segment
congratulating the manager for rotating two keepers regularly every time
one makes a mistake. Every great side down football history has been
remembered for having two fantastic goalkeepers, working perfectly in
tandem while only playing half the games.
Back in reality, winning sides are built around a solid spine, and
the man between the posts is a vital part of that. As Ferguson tries to
build another great team, getting the goalkeeper right is essential, as
he discovered when he signed Peter Schmeichel.
And in David De Gea, Manchester United have someone who could become a
superb no.1. But rather than showing faith in what is undoubted talent,
his confidence and form has been scuppered as he sits on the bench
waiting for Anders Lindegaard to make an unfortunate error so he can
take his place in the starting line-up again.
I’m all for managers attempting to rip the rulebook up and trying
something different. Without changing ideas we’d be sat watching a 2-3-5
formation every week. But this isn’t that radical from Sir Alex –
afterall, he’s tried it before. I’ve desperately tried to forget the
dark years of rotating Tim Howard and Roy Carroll in 2004 and 2005, and
yet the last year has brought them all rushing back. It failed then, and
there is absolutely no evidence that, seven years on, it’s suddenly
morphed into a stroke of genius. In fact, all the evidence points to
exactly the opposite.
We’ve got goalkeepers with rock-bottom confidence, an uncertain and
confused defence, and we’ve kept one clean sheet in the Premier League
this season, at home to Wigan.
The continued chopping and changing of De Gea and Lindegaard is extremely frustrating, and to be honest, difficult to fathom.
Patrice Evra recently explained that no Manchester United player
feels safe from being dropped because there is currently a large squad
of talented players all vying for places. As he himself said, perhaps
last year there wasn’t enough of a challenge to players in some areas of
the squad.
Certainly with Evra, this subject has probably been done to death.
Throughout last season, I read countless articles and twitter
conversations bemoaning the fact that the Frenchman had taken his eye
off the ball and was only keeping his place because there was no one
else. The arrival of Buttner at the start of this campaign has seen the
subject revisited as fans hope that particular issue is now resolved.
Yes, if a player has a consistent loss of form, and for a run of
games leaves fans uttering regular expletives, his place being taken by
an exciting back up is an excellent option. Everyone needs a kick up the
backside occasionally.
But goalkeepers are different. They don’t run around for 90 minutes
twice a week and need a rest, and they don’t need altering to match the
other team’s tactics. A keeper’s confidence, form and focus is improved
through consistent starts.
Additionally, there is a big difference between three ineffectual
games, and one isolated mistake which can instantly leave an important
player excluded.
Torres open goal misses aside, mistakes are amplified at the back. As
a general rule, if a striker misses one obvious chance, he and the team
can make another, which he may well go on and score.
If a goalkeeper makes a clanger, it’s probably a goal to the
opposition, and the team finds themselves behind. Suddenly the
complexion of the game has changed. Ashley Young had a goal chalked off
for offside at the weekend, which was much maligned. But in two weeks,
will many people remember that clearly? Probably not. Yet Lindegaard’s
errors against Reading remains fresh in the mind.
Given the annual defensive injury curse has started early this year,
and fans had already seen Carrick deployed as a centre back before the
end of August, the confidence that comes with a settled goalkeeper would
have been vital. Vidic, Ferdinand, Smalling, Jones, and Evans have
already had spells on the sidelines, so the back four is uncertain at
best. Much has been written of the damage done to United’s title hopes
last season by a constantly changing rear guard which was unavoidable
then and continues to be so, but voluntarily messing about with what
should be a settled face behind them smacks of folly.
When United signed De Gea in 2011 for a fee of around £17m, Ferguson
said: “We identified him quite a while back as one we should go for.
He’s young, very quick, good composure, presence and an outstanding
replacement for Van der Sar.”
That’s a fantastic testimony, and a large fee suggests that he was
prepared to put his money where his mouth was. And yet the slightest
mistake and De Gea is relegated to a very expensive benchwarmer.
In that quote, Ferguson acknowledges that De Gea is young. It’s
escaped no one’s notice that he was only 20 years old at the time, and
United bought potential on top of an impressive start to his career at
Atletico Madrid.
He’s a sensational shot stopper. Against Everton, what now looks like
an unfortunate loss on paper could have been a much heavier beating
without his intervention. Restored from the bench against Galatasaray,
he made a late double save to keep a clean sheet and ensure the three
points.
While it is fair to point out his command of his box, particularly on
crosses, isn’t consistently good enough yet, that is something else
that won’t improve from the bench. It also won’t improve through the
occasional start in the Capital One Cup against Newcastle’s reserve
strike force, until the late appearance of Cisse. Sir Alex says he wants
to give both keepers experience of the Premier League, but De Gea’s
experiences with added referee protection in Europe and in “lesser” cup
competitions domestically just doesn’t provide the same learning curve.
With Anders Lindegaard, you are supposedly blessed with a “safer”
option. Perhaps an advantage in commanding the box, but what is safe
about sacrificing world class saves? Not to mention inheriting dreadful
distribution. With the Dane, it seems as if every ball has to go out to
the centre backs, because his accuracy isn’t good enough to try any
further. Against Tottenham, we saw perfectly how much pressure this puts
the defence under when forwards press high up the pitch. De Gea can
pick out a winger and start a counter attack. With Lindegaard, that poor
distribution can give the opposition a chance to continue the pressure
that United should have just alleviated by getting the ball back!
Realistically, I’d still be unhappy if Lindegaard was chosen as
Ferguson’s first choice permanently, because I think De Gea is a better
long term option. But if Sir Alex thinks the Dane is a better bet, then
stick with him, and give him his chance to turn into the keeper that a
great United side will need.
Be bold, make a decision and stand by it through the tough times. One
squad will struggle to develop two young keepers to a world class
standard. And United need one.
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