De Gea & Shotstopping

De Gea's Greatest Strength On Display

American Clint Dempsey tried every trick in the book a few weeks back to beat De Gea for Tottenham.  Here, we see De Gea stuff Dempsey point blank through remarkable posture (remember he's 6' 3" -wikipedia; or 6' 4" - ESPNFC.com) and reaction time.  Video at the bottom of Dempsey's eventual break through, helped, reasonably enough, by De Gea's greatest weakness, handling crosses just on the edge of the 6-yard area.

Here we see Dempsey at the point of contact...De Gea has his hands below his knees, chest low to the tops of his thighs, weight balanced and forward.  He has a very wide stance though that's more due to his preparation to dive to his left (the wrong way as it turns out)...

Here the ball is well on it's way, and while De Gea is going the wrong way, he's still very much on his feet.

To the left, the same moment, from behind the goal.  To the right, the moment when De Gea kicks out his right leg to deflect Dempsey's shot around the post.  That little move is made possible by the preservation of his athleticism through staying up on his feet (though low to the ground).

A couple things to note here.  De Gea is an outstanding soccer player, period.  He is, as one might expect of a Spanish GK, very skilled with his feet.  That coordination can only help when forced to make kick saves such as this one.  De Gea is one of the few GKs who avoids assiduously going to ground too early.  Even at the top level, GKs get conned into hitting the ground too soon, or flopping backward (in fear?  lack of balance?) and thereby allowing a ball to pass through the space where their head and shoulders just were.  De Gea's discipline in this save, his willingness to stand in front of a shot to the bitter end, allows him to maximize his size, reaction time and athleticism.

In the video of Dempsey's late equalizer, however, we can see where a 6' 3" (or 4") GK may suffer a little for being slightly built; he just doesn't dominate his goal area the way a player of his many talents is expected to.  He's young...only 22 or so, and will certainly fill out in the next few years, assuming they have a weight room at Man U.  If his mentality can "fill out" as well, and he can become brave and physical, he'll be in the class of Neuer, Hart** (maybe his stock is slipping?), Mignolet (Sunderland...having an amazing season this year) and perhaps Howard, on his good days.

**Hart's lesser moments look like this: