Erik ten Hag has hit back at the critics of David de Gea after the Manchester United goalkeeper made a crucial save in the win over Brentford on Wednesday night.
United broke their three-game Premier League goal drought as Marcus Rashford ’s effort earned them a narrow 1-0 victory over the Bees at Old Trafford. Ten Hag needed the three points following a poor run which included the 7-0 thrashing by Liverpool, a 0-0 draw with Southampton and a 2-0 defeat by Newcastle.
Brentford came into the game in great form, but did not create many openings until late on when substitute Kevin Schade went one-on-one with De Gea. The veteran goalkeeper made the crucial save and Ten Hag was quick to praise him in his post-match media duties.
"When you need David, he is there and when you lose focus, mistakes can happen,” he told BBC ’s Match of the Day. “We want to play as a machine and don't make mistakes. We make one mistake and luckily they didn't benefit from it and also it was the performance from David de Gea.
"Of course, this is a massive win in the Premier League, especially over Brentford. In 16 games (in the Premier League) they had only lost one. It is always difficult to play against them and to beat them but we did so I am proud of my team today.”
Ten Hag’s words came after De Gea came in for some flak following the loss against Newcastle on the weekend. Former Arsenal striker Ian Wright was one of the pundits to call out De Gea as a weak link that needs to be addressed in the summer.
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Speaking on the Wrighty’s House Podcast earlier in the week, he said: “The goalkeeper situation – you listen to the Jacob Murphy interview and you don't often hear stuff like that, it was brilliant to hear. At some stage something needs to be done about the goalkeeper. I want to see all of those things before I judge Erik ten Hag too much.”
Wright was referring to an interview Newcastle winger Murphy had given to Rio Ferdinand, in which he revealed that the Magpies had intentionally targeted De Gea on Sunday because they perceived him to be poor with the ball at his feet.
“Their first goal kick, De Gea was taking a while,” Murphy said on the Vibe with Five YouTube channel.
“This is a bit unusual – he was taking his time with it, he was asking everyone to go up field, then hit long. They were just taking a while, lots of pointing, I could sense from that, we were going to have a good game from there.”
De Gea’s current £375,000-a-week contract is set to expire at the end of June. The club are currently in negotiations with the Spaniard over extending his 12-year stay at Old Trafford, but he has rejected their initial offer. Nevertheless, he recently insisted he is happy to stay.
“Of course it is great to be here, it’s a massive club, I love the club and I’m really happy here of course,” he told Sky Sports. “It has been the same over the years, a lot of noise about everything in this club but the players, we just focus on games.”
