David de Gea’s Manchester United currently occupy third place in the Barclay’s Premier League, with only one point separating them from current leaders and cross-town rivals, Manchester City. After a hard-fought tie with second-place Leicester City this past weekend (thanks to the incendiary Jamie Vardy, who’s running BPL defenders ragged this season), I took a look at where United sat last year at November’s end and compared the two seasons.
After a dismal 2013-14 Premier League season under David Moyes, the Reds finished in 7th place. Moyes was fired at the end of April after only ten months at the helm. Moyes was chosen to be Alex Ferguson’s successor, but instead, steered the Red Devils to their worst Premier League finish since the league’s inception in 1992 and out of European competition. Eight days after the last BPL game of the season, Louis van Gaal—who coached Ajax to three Dutch league trophies, a UEFA Cup, a UEFA Super Cup and a Champions League title, Barcelona to two La Liga titles and a Copa Del Rey, Bayern Munich to a Bundesliga title, and the Netherlands to a third-place finish in the 2014 World Cup—became the first non-UK manager in Manchester United’s nearly-150 year history.
Under van Gaal, and although it was a molasses-slow start, United finished fourth in the Premier League in 2014-15, returning to Champions League competition (currently 2nd in Group B, with a match against first-place VfL Wolfsburg looming on the 8th of December). But a closer look reveals that, statistically, United is in a better place than where they were at this point in 2014.
While some might say that the squad needed to become familiar with van Gaal’s possession-dominant, wing-attack system—a system which certainly took time for the players to buy into, and which fans still haven’t bought into—a larger factor in both last year’s starting slog and this year’s success is David de Gea. From the beginning of the 2013-14 season (or earlier) until August of this year, de Gea was wrapped up in the now-famous Real Madrid transfer saga.
His days at United were numbered…until they weren’t. The transfer that would have brought Keylor Navas from Real Madrid to United for de Gea fell apart at the deadline. Even after the deal evaporated, it was still presumed that de Gea would move home to Real Madrid, despite making his senior debut for rival Athletico Madrid, when the window opened again in January. Then, two weeks into September, de Gea signed a four-year deal with United.
It’s made a world of difference.
Between adjusting to van Gaal’s system (offensively and defensively) and de Gea’s uncertain status, at the end of November of 2014, United were 6-4-3 and in fourth place. They were 5-1-1 at home, with fourteen goals scored and only five allowed. However, they were a paltry 1-3-2 away, with only eight goals scored and ten allowed. All told, whether de Gea was distracted by the epic transfer saga or not, through thirteen Premier League games in 2014-15, de Gea had made thirty-three saves and allowed fifteen goals[1; all statistics in graf gleaned from the linked URL].
This year, the story thus far is very different.
De Gea was held out of the first four Premier League games of the season due to the much-discussed pending Real Madrid transfer. Sergio Romero played in his stead, allowing only two goals in those games, but was putrid in terms of distribution, playing with his feet, and game command—areas de Gea excels in. Between Romero and de Gea, who’s played every Premier League game since, United has only allowed ten goals in fourteen games, producing eight clean sheets total, both good for best in the league.
De Gea’s individual stats are even more impressive (all statistics in graf taken from linked URL). In ten Premier League games, he’s made twenty-nine saves, only allowing eight goals. Third-place United have amassed an 8-4-2 record and a goal differential of +10 (twenty goals scored to ten allowed). At this time last year, they were 6-4-2, with a +4 goal differential (nineteen goals scored to fifteen against). At the end of November in 2014, de Gea had four clean sheets in thirteen BPL games, and would finish with ten clean sheets on the season; this year, de Gea already has five through ten games. De Gea has only allowed one goal at Old Trafford in four games, and seven goals through six away games—which is nothing to sneeze at, considering five of those came in a win against Southampton on September 20th (3-2) and a loss to Arsenal on October 17th (0-3, de Gea’s only loss thus far this season), respectively.
That’s not to say de Gea wasn’t flat-out brilliant in 2014-15; he was the PFA Team of the Year’s goalkeeper, and was both the United players’ and fans’ choice for Player of the Year for the second season running. Any doubters need only watch this. De Gea’s 2014-15 BPL season runneth over with show-stopping, awe-inspiring saves that kept United afloat—Week 7 vs. Everton alone produced a penalty kick save against Lleyton Baines (breaking Baines’ 100%, Premier League-best record from the spot) and a full-stretch, fingertip save on Leon Osman that was voted the Premier League’s Save of the Season. By February 2015, de Gea (6.3) was behind only Hugo Lloris (6.8) in Goals Kept Out, in accordance with Goals Conceded vs. Expected Goals Conceded.
He’s just been even better, thus far, this year.
In 2015-16—despite Wayne Rooney’s free fall decline in form and Memphis Depay’s inconsistency—United has fully bought into Gaal’s system, even if it’s on-par, excitement-wise, with watching grass grow. Their twenty goals scored are tied for seventh in the league, which should be higher, but with the surprisingly stingy back line—some combination of Matteo Darmian, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Paddy McNair, Marcos Rojo, and Daley Blind—it’s working, and de Gea’s form is a big part of that. Lack of goals recently has been a big talking point, with only five in their last five games, but their next three PL matches look promising, in terms of likelihood of victory and goal-scoring potential: West Ham at home on December 5th (8th place, 6-4-4, 21 goals allowed); AFC Bournemouth away on December 12th (18th place, 2-4-8, 30 goals allowed); and Norwich City at home on December 19th (16th place, 3-4-7, 25 goals allowed). United plays Stoke City away a day after Christmas (12th place, 5-4-5, 14 goals allowed), who allow goals sparingly, but are last in the league in terms of goals scored. On December 28th, Chelsea (14th place, 4-3-7, 23 goals allowed—6th most in the BPL) come to Old Trafford, giving the Reds a chance to plunge the knife deeper into Mourinho’s nearing-relegation-territory Blues.
Don’t get me wrong…Manchester United, the winningest club in English history, is one of the three richest clubs in the world and one of the wealthiest franchises in all of sports. But the flamboyant soccer that made them the world-renowned superpower they became under Alex Ferguson is gone, replaced by the languid, yawn-inducing, possession-centric football van Gaal champions. Even now, fans and the media alike are calling for van Gaal’s resignation. (Van Gaal’s current Premier League record, per the Premier League’s official website, is 28-14-10 through 52 Premier League matches, while Moyes’ United record was 17-6-11 through 34 BPL matches.) Van Gaal, however, has promised he’ll retire by August of 2017, making room for (United fans hope) Red Devil legend Ryan Giggs to take over. Thus, the flamboyant, attack-heavy style that Giggs cultivated during United’s most successful years would return to Old Trafford.
The goals will come, and sooner rather than later…but more importantly, as long as de Gea—who debuted with United at age twenty, and, earlier this year, was named the Top Young Goalkeeper in the World by The Sportster—is between the sticks, they won’t be allowed. Despite the offensive flair and flurry of goals that usually comes from watching Manchester United play being absent, United display world-class defense and goalkeeping. It’s a great time, once again, to be a Manc.