Manchester United coach Eric ten Hag praised the collective defensive capabilities of his team, which contributed to David De Gea, the team’s goalkeeper, winning the Golden Glove Award as the goalkeeper with the most clean sheets in the English Premier League matches.
De Gea kept his net clean for the 16th match in the tournament, to outperform Brazilian Alisson Becker, the Liverpool goalkeeper, and contribute to his team’s approach to participating in the Champions League next season, as he needs to score only one point from his two remaining matches in the English Premier League to reserve a seat in the continental competition. .
De Gea committed several mistakes this season, including the goal that conceded during United’s 1-0 loss to West Ham United at the London Olympic Stadium, as well as against Seville, Spain, to cause the team to exit the European League.
Despite this, the Spanish goalkeeper proved his quality during the Bournemouth match, after he made three wonderful saves from Dominic Solanke, David Brooks and Kiefer Moore, to keep United winning the match.
Ten Hag believes that De Gea was a major factor in the good defensive record of his team, becoming the third best line of defense among Premier League clubs, but stressed at the same time that it was a collective effort.
The Dutch coach also praised the contributions of the two defense hearts, Victor Lindelof and Raphael Varane, in the team’s exit with a clean sheet, which led it to be in the first four positions in the championship standings.
The British news agency (BA Media) quoted the statements of Ten Hag, who said: “Clean sheets are always very important for success in the season.”
Ten Hag added: I think it tells us something about our structure, our plan, and it also indicates the dedication of the team players and their ability to implement the plan correctly.
The United coach explained: Of course we have some players who have great individual abilities in pressing and in defence. At the end we also have a very good goalkeeper who will save you with his saves on opponents’ shots.
He continued: If you are talking about clean sheets, this includes the whole team, but the two defenses played a very important role as well.
Ten Hag explained: I think they played really well, but I think that in many matches in the last two months, Victor and Rafa have done amazing performances, in terms of being in the right place and excelling in duels.
Manchester United is set to conclude its Premier League matches this season by facing Chelsea and Fulham at home.
