David de Gea produces yet another erratic performance in defeat by Crystal Palace as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer considers handing Manchester United opportunity to Dean Henderson
- David de Gea continued his slump in form during Man United’s 3-1 loss to Palace
- The Spaniard was also given little support by his sloppy defence at Old Trafford
- De Gea made penalty save from Jordan Ayew but was pulled up for encroaching
- The time is right for Dean Henderson to make his United debut at Luton
Bring in Dean Henderson, they said. Give David de Gea some competition, they said. It will bring out the best in Manchester United’s increasingly erratic goalkeeper.
That plan looked rather flawed after a quarter of an hour of the season here at Old Trafford.
De Gea, sporting a new cropped hairdo for the new campaign, was presented with his first opportunity to pass the ball out from the back in the sixth minute and played it straight to James McArthur.
David De Gea once again made critical errors in Manchester United’s 3-1 loss to Crystal Palace
Harry Maguire scrambled the ball clear and it would be wrong to say it contributed to Crystal Palace’s first goal moments later because the move started deep in the Londoners’ half.
No doubt, De Gea was badly let down by his defence when Tyrick Mitchell played a pass down the right flank. Jeffrey Schlupp evaded Victor Lindelof to get in a cross and Luke Shaw had lost track of Andros Townsend who aimed a shot back across De Gea.
It was not an effort the Spaniard should be expected to save and he didn’t despite getting a hand to the ball.
De Gea moves quickly to clear the ball away from Wilfried Zaha during the first half
Eight minutes later, however, De Gea very nearly cost United another goal. Palace pumped the ball forward and the hapless Lindelof did his keeper no favours with a weak header under pressure from Wilfried Zaha.
De Gea was still a clear favourite to get there first and Zaha backed out of the challenge, but the United completely fluffed his clearance with an unconvincing waft of his right boot. Had the ball fallen differently, Zaha had an open goal.
As starts go, it really wasn’t the best in response to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s decision to install Henderson as No.2 after a loan spell at Sheffield United to keep De Gea on his toes.
De Gea saved Jordan Ayew’s penalty but the kick was retaken due to de Gea’s encroaching
Solskjaer claimed on the eve of this game that the level of goalkeeping had gone up a notch in training, and De Gea produced the save of the match in added time at the end of the first half when he instinctively thrust his right arm into the air to turn over Jordan Ayew’s goalbound shot.
And he produced his first penalty save in more than four-and-a-half years when he kept out Ayew’s weak effort in the second half, only to be pulled up by VAR for encroaching before Zaha converted the retake and then scored again to make it 3-1.
But there is more to this job than shot-stopping and De Gea still looks like a keeper with mistakes in him.
Dean Henderson is an ambitious, young goalkeeper who will expect to start at Luton
Henderson is not as content as Sergio Romero to sit on the bench, and he is expected to make his senior debut for United in the Carabao Cup at Luton on Tuesday.
‘Look there is potential in Henderson but I’m not getting carried away at all, it’s a million miles away from thinking he should take De Gea’s place,’ said Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville beforehand.
De Gea has had worse days than this, but Henderson is an ambitious young man and will sense an opportunity.
