Manchester United’s heroic no.1 David De Gea is refusing to take all the credit following his Man-of-the-Match performance in the 1-0 win over Tottenham, preferring to instead pay tribute to the team’s “great defensive performance”.
De Gea was the stand-out contender in our star man poll, as voted for by fans on the Official Club App, by picking up a resounding 91 per cent of the votes cast.
That was after a string of world-class saves that denied Spurs a leveller and Marcus Rashford’s first-half strike proved to be the winner.
Our Spaniard made a staggering 11 saves in the game, which is the most by any goalkeeper in a single Premier League game this season.
Talking to MUTV and Sky Sports after the game, David stressed the importance of the team’s defensive performance.
“I think we just had to win, we controlled the first half and in the second they put us under a lot of pressure and they had chances, but we defended well and we have the three points,” he said.
“I was feeling very well after the first two saves. I don’t even remember some of them so I am happy with everything. Every one of them [my saves] was important for the team to help keep a clean sheet, to help the team to win so every save was important. It was a tough game for every player, we were attacking well, we create chances and this is United,” he continued.
“They [Victor Lindelof and Phil Jones] have been top too, but not just them, the whole team, we have to defend from the striker to the goalkeeper so it was a great performance in the defensive way and we need to keep this level, keep winning games and fight for the top four.”
De Gea revealed that hard work on the training field over in Dubai was evident with Rashford’s well-taken goal, and also stressed the importance that United fight for a top four spot under Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer.
“We scored a beautiful goal, but in the second half they put us under pressure, they played well as they are a good team, they created chances but I think we defended really well and we deserved to win so we are really happy,“ he said.
“We trained in the week on the goal, the counter attack, the quick transitions so it was a fantastic goal. We were training a lot in Dubai, really hard sessions under the sun so it was very good and we showed today that we did a good job in Dubai and today we were amazing.
“It is very important for the club, for the players, for everyone, to finish in the Champions League, in the top four and we are fighting for it and it is good to see the team playing like that. He [Ole] brings some happiness. I think the players are playing very well, the team is strong now, very strong. We know how to control the games, how to keep the ball, how to create chances and it is very good for us. This is the real Manchester United.”
De Gea’s performance did not go unnoticed among his team-mates, with a number of players and the manager all paying tribute to him. manutd.com
