De Gea Returns to Errors
David de Gea made his £18 million move to Manchester United in the summer to the astonishment of many. Despite being relatively young, Manchester United had no second thoughts about paying this huge sum of money for a goalkeeper. However, David de Gea failed spectacularly in the first few matches, as he was responsible for a number of cheap goals, which are never really the Manchester United way. Even though he has since recovered to keep a number of clean sheets, there has always been a lingering doubt regarding the ability of David de Gea to keep guard for a club like Manchester United.
The doubts once again reappeared in the match against Benfica. Manchester United secured a lead through Darren Fletcher goal, but Sir Alex Ferguson would have been shocked to find that David de Gea gave the possession back to Benfica for them to score a simple equaliser. The clanger was so bad that Manchester United never really recovered from that point onwards – they ended up drawing the match against Benfica 2-2, in what proved to be a crucial result. Because of this draw, United now have everything to do in the final group match against FC Basel.
United will be up against the Swiss club FC Basel, a match that they are expected to win quite comfortably, though whether they are able to play at their best under the extreme pressure to deliver remains to be seen. Basel drew 3-3 at Old Trafford, and played well – though it’s probably still worth a Man Utd bet.
Sir Alex Ferguson criticised David de Gea after the Benfica match by saying “The backpass could have been a little bit better; David should have kicked it into the stand. There was something a bit freaky about the match as a whole — an own goal and then the bad kick out from David de Gea.” De Gea is still on course to finish the season as the best goalkeeper, according to betfair’s ‘Lee Dixon bets‘ column, with the young Spaniard averaging 10 saves per match.
Tags: David De Gea, De Gea