De Gea’s distribution was particularly poor on Thursday night (Picture: Getty)
Erik ten Hag admits he ‘can’t ignore’ David de Gea’s poor performance with the ball against Real Betis but insists he will stick with the Manchester United goalkeeper this season.
With ten Hag’s greater emphasis on building play from the back, de Gea’s distribution in goal has come under the spotlight this season with the manager recently hailing the Spaniard’s improvement with the ball at his feet.
But the goalkeeper’s passing was notably poor in Thursday’s Europa League last 16 clash against Real Betis.
While United ran out 4-1 winners, the first-half was littered with incidents where de Gea failed to find teammates further up the pitch, often sending the ball straight out of play.
In one inexplicable moment with the scored tied at 1-1, the goalkeeper drilled the ball straight into the path of Betis midfielder Juamni, who picked out teammate Ayoze Perez in the box.
Bruno Fernandes managed to get his body across to take the sting out of the shot with Betis watching the ball bounce agonisingly across goal and off the post before being hacked away to safety.
Asked about de Gea’s performance, ten Hag admitted it was a major problem on the night but hopes to see a major improvement on Sunday at home to Southampton.
De Gea will start against Southampton on Sunday (Picture: Getty)
‘From today I can’t ignore [de Gea’s distribution] but we’ve seen many games he did really well,’ he said.
‘I don’t know what the reason was today, there was a lot of wind, different ball, maybe some problems with that. Sunday he will do better.’
He continued: ‘We work on that. David works on that. We have seen in the season that he’s improving and he will keep improving I’m sure.’
De Gea was last week presented with a special trophy by Sir Alex Ferguson to mark his achievement of racking up the most clean sheets in the history of the club.
He has entered the final six months of his contract at Old Trafford and remains in talks over signing a fresh deal on reduced terms.
United signed Jack Butland on loan from Crystal Palace during the January window to serve as de Gea’s understudy with the 30-year-old still to make an appearance for his new club.
MORE : Paul Scholes says Manchester United duo ‘need a rest’ after Real Betis win
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There were plenty of moments for concern on Thursday.