A big call to question the bravery of De Gea.. but it would be a bigger call to drop him
WHILE Mino Raiola might deserve all the flak coming his way, there is a certain amount of irony about p u n d i t s – a n d , yes, journalists – criticising him for opening his mouth.
F o r m e r p l a y e r s a r e handsomely paid to speak forth on all sorts of issues but agents have to t ake their commission and keep it shut.
Raiola might have made a t a l e n t o u t o f v e r b a l l y di sre specting Manchester United but he is a grown man and can say what he wants.
He i s asked a question and answers i t . Honestly, presumably.
I f t h o s e w o r d s a r e a distraction to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer or any of his players, then they are in the wrong j obs. If Raiol a’s utt eri ngs strayed into criticism of the way Solskjaer does his job, then the Norwegian would simply shrug them off.
Probably in the same way he shrugs of f much of the c r i t i c i s m f r o m m e d i a professionals.
But when barbs are aimed by an ex- professional at a current professional, they can pierce any emotional armour.
Because he gets paid good money to go on TV, Paul Scholes can – unlike Raiola, it seems – say what he wants.
And a f t e r Manch e s t e r United’s departure from the Champions League, he saved hi s two- f oot er f or keeper David de Gea.
“( He) bottles it here,” said S choles. “He i s scared of getting himself hurt. He turns his back away, he actually makes himself smaller, which is criminal…”
Fo r s o me o n e s u c h a s S c h o l e s t o c a t e g o r i s e a Manchester United player as a coward is brutal.
S chol e s belongs t o t he school of thought that says characters such as Raiola should quieten down.
But soon after, Scholes is not just criticising De Gea for his role in RB Leipzig’s third goal but is stigmatising him.
As a bottler, a shirker, as someone guilty of dereliction of duty, a coward.
Many have said that only the player himself knows if he has shirked a challenge but, to the untrained eye, it pretty much looked like standard De
Gea keeping. How many times do you see De Gea dive facefirst at an attacker’s feet? It is not the way he operates. His feet are his greatest ally, as United fans have seen many times over the last nine years.
It did not work out when Justin Kluivert kept his cool. But a bottler? It was a cute finish.
The irony, though, is that, bottler or not, De Gea i s providing Solskjaer with a question that could yet define him as an elite manager.
Does Solskjaer have the backbone to stand up and drop De Gea for a game of the magnitude of a Manchester derby?
He s houl d have. Never mind RB Leipzig’s third goal, De Gea has b e e n i n a n unconvincing run of form for some time now.
S o l s k j a e r h a s , a t h i s disposal, someone who many would c onsi d e r t h e b e st English goalkeeper i n the land.
The confidence and the voluble way he commanded the United defence – you could hear his instructions e choin g ar ound t h e vast London Stadium last Saturday – stood out in the one and a half games of Premier League football Dean Henderson has experienced for the Reds.
It is a big call for one of the biggest domestic matches of the season.
But maybe after asking his old pal Paul to apologise to De Gea, it is one Solskjaer should finally make.