Erik ten Hag DEFENSES David de Gea after his costly blunder condemns Man United to defeat at West Ham…while insisting the Spaniard should sign a new contract despite criticism from fans and pundits
Erik ten Hag insisted he wanted David De Gea to extend his contract with Manchester United on the night the goalkeeper’s blunder cost them at the London Stadium.
De Gea’s roar in the 27th minute, as Said Benrahma’s 20-yard hopeful shot slipped over his glove, has cut United’s lead over Liverpool to one point.
De Gea, who is paid £375,000 a week, has been in talks about a new deal for some time. Reports say he must take a pay cut to stay at United, and Sunday night’s mistake led supporters to discuss whether a new goalkeeper is needed instead.
The Sports Agenda section reported on Sunday that the talks are going positively.
“We want him to stay and we want him to extend his contract,” said Ten Hag. He has the most clean sheets in the Premier League. Without him we wouldn’t be here in this position.
“I believe there are no worries. It happens. You have to deal with it as a team, show character, be resilient, bounce back and this team will do that.
Erik ten Hag insisted that David De Gea extend his contract with Manchester United
De Gea’s mistake gave West Ham the only goal in the Premier League game on Sunday
De Gea reflects on his mistake after his fumble gave West Ham the lead on Sunday night
“We started well, we dictated the game, we created chances, we didn’t finish them and then one mistake. In three days, two individual mistakes make us lose matches.’
Ten Hag was referring to Luke Shaw’s handball at Brighton that led to United’s 1-0 defeat. In the race to secure Champions League football, with Liverpool chasing United, Ten Hag added: ‘It’s not about Liverpool. It’s about us. We have everything in our own hands.’
This victory led West Ham to relative safety in the Premier League. “It leaves us much better, much harder for the other teams to catch us,” said David Moyes. “They will find it very difficult to get the points.”
Captain Declan Rice added, “It’s huge. We envisioned this game as one we could win in front of the home fans. That’s our best performance at home this season – forefoot, aggressive, one-on-one, on the ball – everything was a really positive performance.
‘As a player, the whole world is watching. For me, for the guys, you put on the shirt, you go out and you want to do it. You play against Manchester United. You want to do it and we did it, so I buzz.
‘As players you can’t help but look around you. To win this one was big, to give ourselves a gap between ourselves and the bottom. Mathematically, you need 40 more. On Thursday we have our (Europa Conference League) semi-final and then we go to Brentford.’
De Gea looked to get a whole hand on the shot, but could only help it into the bottom corner
The Spaniard can only watch in horror as the ball twists past him into the net
De Gea’s mistake was seized upon by BT Sport’s pundits, with Peter Crouch saying: ‘He’s had a shock. We can’t dress it up. If you look at De Gea’s position, he can’t get on the front foot. It’s a terrible mistake.’
Former United defender Rio Ferdinand added: ‘No you can’t (justify the mistake). It’s a big mistake, I think he will take full responsibility.
“His left foot slips a little bit, but that’s no excuse. He has full contact with the ball, a whole hand on the ball, it’s not like he stretches and gets fingertips, he has a whole hand.
“He misses it completely and it’s a big, big mistake.”
(TagsToTranslate)dailymail
