Erik ten Hag has come out fighting in defence of goalkeeper David de Gea after the FA Cup semi-final.
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag is continuing to back David de Gea after an eventful few days.
De Gea was awful against Sevilla and questions have rightly been raised over his future at the club. Personally I would advocate moving on.
But the opinion which will really matter is Erik ten Hag, and he is continuing to back the Spaniard publicly.
Ten Hag backs De Gea
David de Gea made a number of important saves at Wembley through the 120 minutes to keep Manchester United in the game against Brighton.
He did struggle in the penalty shootout but fortunately Brighton did what Villarreal didn’t in 2021, and missed the target.
Erik ten Hag told his press conference after the game he was very pleased with De Gea’s performance, admitting he made errors against Sevilla.
But at the same time, Ten Hag said United’s outfield players did not do enough for the goalkeeper.
If United had fought back against Sevilla, De Gea’s mistakes would not have stood out as much.
He told his presser: “I was very impressed with him. He made some brilliant saves. It hurt when he made mistakes on Thursday.
“Often when you make mistakes as a keeper you get punished.
“We let him down, we didn’t fight back for him. We bounced back today though.”
Questions do remain over De Gea’s future, but there’s room to focus on the positives now after United’s win.
The exciting prospect of a Manchester derby FA Cup final win over Manchester City will fuel the rest of the club’s season.