Paul Scholes has ripped into Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea.
He is absolutely right to do so.
For years De Gea has been an asset to United. It just does not feel that way any more.
United concede too many soft goals. De Gea is beaten at his near post too frequently, and does not command the box as he should.
The third goal conceded against RB Leipzig was embarrassing.
Harry Maguire put De Gea in trouble, but the goalkeeper showed himself up with his lack of effort.
De Gea actually turned away from an onrushing Justin Kluivert and made himself smaller.
He did this against Paris Saint-Germain too, for Neymar’s opening goal.
Former United star Paul Scholes criticised De Gea after the game, and rightfully so.
Scholes told BT Sport: “Basically, he’s scared of getting himself hurt.
“De Gea, even as a goalkeeper, make yourself as big as you can.
“You might get smashed in the face, you might get injured but he turns his back away. He actually makes himself smaller. It’s criminal. For such an experienced goalkeeper, it’s criminal.”
There is a simple solution
United have an easy solution here, to replace De Gea with Dean Henderson.
Henderson has proved himself a quality shot stopper with his performances in the Premier League over the past year, is strong on crosses, and importantly, he is good at communicating with his defence.
It was the communication breakdown which led to Maguire leaving the cross for De Gea to deal with.
Maguire is not blameless by any stretch, but the De Gea issue is simpler to solve.
Get Dean Henderson in for the derby, and for a run of games between now and the end of the year and give De Gea a break.
If he is still feeling some pain from the injury sustained against Southampton, then he should not be in.
Right now it feels like United need to make a change to get back on track.
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