Why Sir Alex Ferguson was completely wrong to drop David de Gea

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – AUGUST 20: David de Gea of Manchester United punches clear under pressure from Phil Jagielka of Everton during the Barclays Premier League match between Everton and Manchester United at Goodison Park on August 20, 2012 in Liverpool, England.

It’s been 10 days since those odd few hours at the St Mary’s Stadium where United dramatically snatched victory from the grasp of Southampton. It would be wrong, and perhaps unfair, to say that United snatching a late victory after two dramatic goals is odd, but there’s no doubting other things about the day were slightly unusual. For starters we seemed unable to keep the ball and string a set of passes together, our defensive positioning was also poor, and for large parts of the game we were just all over the place. Things like that need to be improved, but they tend to be forgotten quite quickly – especially with people entering into hibernation for the international games. However, nearly two weeks on, one event that still doesn’t make sense to me is the decision to drop ‘keeper David de Gea to the bench in place of Anders Lindegaard.

As legendary and ‘untouchable’ as Sir Alex is, there are times where he needs to come in for criticism. Over the summer, Sir Alex aggravated supporters over his ‘real fan’ comments, but that’s for another time – another item on the agenda is certainly his occasionally naive approach to tactics and team selection, certainly a department that I think this issue falls into. It’s hard to find an articulate way to talk about the events and possible consequences of De Gea being dropped so it might be best to simply go one by one. Firstly, and probably most importantly, the fact many remain undecided over De Gea was even at fault for the goal in the first place makes it a bit of a joke to drop him. There are so many factors to consider. Did Vidic get in his way? Did Vidic hear a call and leave it, or did he just make a silly assumption? Was there a foul on De Gea from Petric who quite clearly pushed him? And so on. The fact it’s debatable that he was even at fault in the first place makes it a farce to see him dropped for it.

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND – JULY 26: David de Gea of Spain looks on

Regardless of whether or not it was even his fault, dropping him after that one mistake was incredibly short-sighted and shows a strong case of double-standards at the club. I appreciate that the incident could have cost us the game, but if one mistake means you’re out then the bewildering case of Patrice Evra continues. Either Sir Alex is making exceptions with Evra because he’s one of the more experienced players or he’s blind and can’t see the costly mistakes Evra makes week in, week out. The fact so many players made mistakes for our two goals against Southampton was fitting. Going by the new rules we’ll probably have a completely different starting XI against Wigan this Saturday – our defending at times was so woeful that it was hard to watch. Although I appreciate it’s a bit different with goalkeepers, in every game across the world, each weekend, every player on the pitch will make a mistake that in one way or another will cost their team. There are risks with having such a young goalkeeper – and being accountable to making mistakes is one of them. If Sir Alex expects to have a goalkeeper that doesn’t make mistakes, then signing a 20-year-old wasn’t his best idea to date.

If you can even call Fulham’s last goal De Gea’s fault, aside from that ‘mistake,’ De Gea has been magnificent this season. We might have got beaten by Everton, but the 1-0 scoreline flattered us, and we got nowhere near what we deserved because we were by far the second best team. If it wasn’t for De Gea pulling off a string of fine saves then it could’ve been three or four-nil. Even against Fulham, we relied on him a few times to keep us in the lead, and that excellent double save is the first thing that springs to mind, a save that changed the course of the game. Regardless of his excellent form, he was dropped and that’s one of the most shocking factors for me. If a player is in good form and makes a mistake, the mistake is usually buried behind the positive parts of their game. Why hasn’t that been the case with De Gea, who’s been arguably one of our standout performers? During his tough initiation last season he actually did make mistakes where he was fully accountable, but he wasn’t dropped then. It’s all about taking the rough with the smooth. I appreciate the circumstances were a bit different back then, but the point remains the same.

SUNDERLAND, ENGLAND – MAY 13: David De Gea and Wayne Rooney of Manchester United leave the field after the Barclays Premier League match between Sunderland and Manchester United at Stadium of Light on May 13, 2012 in Sunderland, England.

For the consistent defending of De Gea last year, it’s odd that Ferguson has been so openly critical about the ‘keeper, especially so early on in the season. Like I’ve already said, it’s odd to drop him so early on in the season but to go a step further and criticise him just adds to the confusion. Last year he stuck by De Gea until New Year and dropped him – a decision that later lead to De Gea playing his best football in a United shirt – yet a year on, with De Gea still being unfairly criticised, it’s a completely different story. Although we witnessed a few mistakes from De Gea last year, Ferguson never criticised him in the press. I appreciate it’s all part of growing De Gea as a both a player and a man, but I don’t think it should be as black and white as it appears to have been. Dropping him would be acceptable had he made a mistake, but even if he was in the wrong, dropping a young player like Ferguson did is unfair, and just invites the press onto his back the next time he makes a mistake.

Accepting the fact that he’s been dropped is bearable, the very idea of dropping De Gea “for one game” to “learn his lesson” as Sir Alex suggested, is even more baffling than dropping him in the first place. If a player needs to learn their lesson, especially as a goalkeeper, then drop them for good. Obviously I’m not saying De Gea should be left out and set to fight for his place, but what is dropping him for one game going to do? In any other position, I could understand it but, as he knows too damn well, messing about with goalkeepers is never a good thing. If De Gea actually made a mistake, by all means drop him – but do it for more than one game and make him fight for his place. People say that for a young player like De Gea it’s good to learn a lesson as Sir Alex is going to try but I argue that the cost of not having him in the team and the subsequent loss of confidence is larger than any benefit he’ll get out of it.

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND – JULY 29: David de Gea of Spain looks on

What makes a mockery of it all is the fact that De Gea didn’t exactly have the easiest of introductions to Manchester and English football. I’ve already mentioned how he’s somehow still underrated and unappreciated by journalists, and how he was battered by the press and even some ‘fans’ when he came – but the fact is in his first year at United he’s yet to play behind our strongest defence. When he joined, I said how important it was for a young goalkeeper to have an experienced and consistent back four in front of him and the game against Southampton was only the second time we’ve played our best back four or Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic and Rafael since he’s been here. It’s a shame he missed it and, with the defensive injuries we usually succumb to, you wonder how many other times he’ll have a chance to play behind that defence again. When we lost the title last year on goal difference, it seems mad that we’re chopping and changing our goalkeeper when we actually have our best defence out for the first time in months.

In the year that De Gea has been with us it’s become pretty apparent that he’s a confidence player, and that’s my biggest worry over the whole thing. When on form and high on confidence, De Gea has been magnificent. But when he’s been low on confidence, his problems have been much more visible. What good is dropping him going to do? I find myself asking the same question over and over again because, for me, it just doesn’t make sense. You could argue that after being dropped last year he was magnificent when given a chance again, but personally I think his good run of form was more to do with the fact Lindegaard was injured than anything else. Even though it’s only for one game, it’s hard to predict the dent in confidence this might have on him but I’m sure it’ll do more harm than good. All things considered, I think it’s obvious that the decision to drop De Gea looks like a bad one on paper. Hopefully, in the real-world, the decision proves to be a good one. But even if it turns out to be a good move, is it a risk that was worth taking?

Time will tell, but I’m not so sure it will be.