Manchester United and the Struggle to Replace Goalkeeping Greatness

[@Midtable1881]

Of all the understudy keepers post-Ferguson, I think Sergio Romero was one of the best.

[@ymca4547]

Yes! Very underrated!

[@E_O_S_]

Top goally great attitude too

[@BryonComprehension]

Was shocked when him and tom heaton werent mentioned

[@explodethebomb]

@@BryonComprehension Heaton made 3 total appearances, never being more than 3rd choice

[@rxn0059]

@@explodethebombTOM HEATON MENTIONED 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@PoliAstroN]

De Gea… what a keeper. He’d have been hailed as one of the best of all time if he played between 2000 and 2010. Instead he got stuck with… that team. 2010’s to 2024. Shocking

[@ovo_ant6450]

Schmeichel and De Gea in their prime were best in the world. Incredibly difficult to replace that. So was Edwin and we struck gold with De Gea but we had to be patient. First 1/2 years were very tough but Sir Alex was right to stick with his talent. Genius.

[@jpracing893]

Van Der Sar was also the best in the world at one point probably between 07/09

[@E_O_S_]

Van Der Sar was d best ever .

[@david_fitzmaurice]

De Gea was never the best in the world. He was a great shot stopper and that was it. He made a load of mistakes, panicked with the ball at his feet and couldn't command his area.

[@shoto1600]

And also in 1995

[@explodethebomb]

@@david_fitzmaurice There was a few years where it was definitely either de Gea or Neuer, during which time de Gea wasn't making many mistakes

[@Stash-i9g]

Love this channel. Great writing, no hyperbolic AI slop . Happy New Year Flashback xx

[@flyingaviator8158]

The voice is literally AI

[@moxictasculinity]

@@flyingaviator8158stop lying.

[@Hellomynameis93]

@@flyingaviator8158it’s not 😂😂

[@flyingaviator8158]

@@Hellomynameis93 really? I was so sure haha

[@HonestTom1892]

Fabien Barthez was ahead of his time.

[@hschsc1300]

Today, he would be the best goalkeeper in the world.

[@lemauntory2951]

Wayyy ahead. Pep would love him in today’s game

[@konzza]

​@@hschsc1300 The average goalkeeper has only got bigger. He's almost 30cm too short, and possibly wouldn't be given the chance to play as pro at any decent level.

[@only1biggs]

barthez and veron were both held back by the lack of tactical nous of the english league and managers at the time, fergie included (albeit he won titles in other ways). both incredible players

[@shoto1600]

He certainly was, but his over exuberance did cost United many points

[@Just_Proudy07]

Releasing De Gea and signing Onana was.......... CRIMINAL, De Gea was a valuable member of the team and he saved Manchester United so many points........... The amount of goals Onana has conceded just proves the point

[@DieudonnéMEVONOMVOGO]

Don’t fix your midfield which is the oldest in the world. Clown 🤡 ! United arguably have the most stupid fans in the world.

[@IamKenneddy]

No, releasing Dave was the best decision. However we could have signed someone better than Onana

[@PangNPlay]

I've been searching for years for a video that explains in great details about past United GK and so happy to finally found one, also those rare footages just awesome! Wish you were also cover Sergio Romero and Victor Valdes. But great job anyway. Thanks!

[@jacobscarr2334]

Tim Howard was a solid keeper who had a very good career at Everton. I think United was probably a move too soon for him - if he'd of gone to a club like Everton first and then gone to United it might of been a different story.

[@philipglover3295]

As a United fan I never knew why they never signed Edwin Van Der Saar from Juventus as soon as it was clear Schmichel was leaving

[@reddevil6585]

He wasn’t rated that highly at the time, thats why juve bought Buffon, Fulham managed to by vds and united only paid 2m For him Hindsight is 2020 But I could see players like Anthony, zerkee & onona would not justify fees paid

[@earl.c]

Playing style-wise, young Van Der Sar was closer to Barthez than old Van Der Sar

[@konzza]

​@@reddevil6585Never understood why he wasn't rated at Juve, or no bigger club than Fulham was interested at the time. He had firmly established himself among the worlds elite goalkeepers at Ajax

[@reddevil6585]

@ I mean juve bought Buffon who was young and great goalie for many years for 32 m Juve still got 7m pounds for him from Fulham which was a lot for a goal keeper at the time. Man utd got him for a bargain 2m price and got quite a few years out of him dispute signing him at 34. And From what I heard he barely trained due to injuries of something

[@John17489]

Fun fact he was the first non Italian gk Juve had signed in their history

[@Madkid73]

Barthez, was world class. But he wasn’t at Man U. His time at Old Trafford kind of ruined his legacy. But boss work for showing how good he was 👍

[@reddevil6585]

@@Madkid73 he wasn’t that good but first choice gk for a great France side. He was only 4.5m around the time Buffon was 32m & United had to pay off his contract to get ride of him or something unless I’m mistaken

[@shoto1600]

No he was purchased for £7.8m

[@mikeworkman2393]

I couldn’t disagree more. I always thought he was butt

[@souster98]

love this channel. always interesting topics, and you put a lot of research in watching back the matches and it shows. Great job and looking forward to more!

[@mattjameskendall]

These videos are so good, a half hour felt like 5 minutes watching this. Helps that I support Liverpool, I spent about 25 minutes pretty thrilled.

[@bangarJb]

Great video dude. Please make a GK series cause this position is not talked about enough. Love to see a full video of De Gea's history at United and of his rise and fall. His Real Madrid saga. Or a how Madrid sold of Casillias. Amazing vid dude!

[@jake2.035]

As a 10 year old boy and fan of Arsenal, even I loved Barthez... Him and Lehmann were such big character goalkeepers back then.

[@ymca4547]

David De Gea was never the same after that Ronaldo hat-trick in the 2018 World Cup.

[@shoto1600]

Looked a shell of a man, but thankfully at Fiorentina he started to regain that confidence

[@VirkStar321]

Ye but in his last two seasons at Utd he was excellent Ye his last season he had a few mistakes but he genuinely saved us way more points than the mistakes he made that season And the season before where we finished 6th I believe we would have been in the bottom 5 had it not been for his saves. I do think ppl over exaggerate his bad form..

[@stevencotton1105]

I have watched your videos for a long time , you have made me care about Celtic , the history of the players just because of your videos , seeing you do a United video has made me want to comment You sir are a amazing and I hope nothing but growth for your channel this year , I love watching your videos

[@zachnaulak]

Barthez truly ahead of his time.....he'd be atleast in the top 3 best if he's in this present time. And probably made it as the highest transfer fee for gk.

[@jensstubbestergaard6794]

Schmeichel, Edwin van der Sar and De Gea are the best keepers in Man. Untd. and in British soccer history.

[@yunbha4418]

​@@jensstubbestergaard6794 Petr Cech is on that list

[@MrSmith1984]

Its says a lot about the Martin Edwards Regime at Old Trafford that Manchester United failed to sign Gianluigi Buffon in either 1999 or 2001. Especially when Fergie rated him as a replacement for Peter. Such a signing would have solved their goalkeeping issues until 2018 or 2019.

[@Whipko]

Great documentary! footage & context, writing a comment to help the algorithm.

[@vinceely2906]

Man Utd struggled before Schmeichel too. Even Jim Leighton who had done Fergie proud at Aberdeen couldn’t cut it.

[@harrysboy]

Been wanting to see the Barthez back heel for over 20 years, so thank you 😊

[@darrenclarke3454]

best video yet for me. good work. thank you

[@TheJchavez69]

Fantastic video ! Very in depth with some great footage !! I remember us signing Ricardo thank god the jersey shop didn’t haven’t the letter R in stock would have gotten him on my jersey

[@Mal_Freeman0451]

Most teams have this problem, because there are simply not as many top players in any position as there were back then. The amount of elite keepers playing at the same time back then was astounding compared to now.

[@sevans606]

Love your voice. Keep up the brilliant work

[@zamiyaFlow]

When De Gea began at united, he was brutalized by fans for his mistakes, I remember this clearly

[@brendanenglish-xu8sy]

We did not need to replace De Gea. We signed Van der Sar when he was at an older age than De Gea and we waste €80,000,000 odd on Onana who has made multiple mistakes in big matches although he alone is not to blame for utds woefulness. De Gea is the most in form GK in Europe right now at Fiorentina.

[@DieudonnéMEVONOMVOGO]

Onana won the FA cup for you last season and will win another trophy this season before he wins at least one title per season. We know you will still try to downgrade him. Unfortunate for you that does not work on a Cameroonian. There’s nothing an Unqualified person tell to Cameroonian. When reading the understanding of football of many of you, it’s just stupidity.

[@nikhildeodhar143]

I do think De Gea needed to be replaced. Already in Ole's 2nd season, he had started showing some errors, a horrible penalty saving record, and yes, poorer distribution compared to his peers. However, I have no idea why Onana was the one chosen as the replacement. He has better distribution than De Gea. Sure. But even when I saw his Ajax games, his shot stopping was *very* average. Personally, I think United should have tried to get Kobel from Dortmund if they really were willing to spend 80 million. Or Gulasci from RB Leipzig as a temporary solution. Or just stick with Dean Henderson until a better keeper is found.

[@Darchie]

Travesty getting rid of De Gea for that clown. De Gea is the most underappreciated goalkeeper of the modern era

[@woofy2968]

Could you do a video on Mostovoi? Always seems to be overlooked nowadays…

[@KiloSierraGolf]

Struggling to replace goalkeeper?! They're struggling in everything.

[@DrJoeyMagnum]

More fantastic content dude, you can never guess what you’re going to get with this channel

[@drew_peabawlz]

I remember all of these keepers for m De Gea is my favourite and in my opinion the best of these but you could easily pick between De Gea, Van De Sar or Schmeichel and not worry at all

[@E_O_S_]

You must be young Van Der Sar was probably the best goalie ever in the world 👍🏻

[@drew_peabawlz]

@E_O_S_ no I'm an 80s kid I just really like De Gea but Van de Sar was so cool and collected he was great

[@E_O_S_]

@@drew_peabawlz in a few years down d line I'll probably see De Gea even more legendary,I did highly rate him (and he should stil be at united)its just Edwin was an all round top professional 👍🏻

[@craiglockwood7744]

Half a million dollars spent and in return you got 13 major trophy's with Schmeichel... Hard to replace... Always in the goalkeeper GOAT conversation. Van der sar was amazing and de Gea was very good.

[@Bale4Bond]

The fact that we only got this little amount of money for Van der Sar…Jesus Christ

[@Chriswatt313]

Letting de gea go was stupid,his wages were big but he would let in about 20 plus goals less a season,Aron ramsdale is a keeper Man Utd should look at ,he was brilliant at arsenal but they still got emi Martinez….he would be fairly cheap aswel (ramsdale)

[@youknowhuwitis]

Ramsdale can stay at Southampton

[@sngs9565]

Goalkeepers are bound to make mistakes just like all the players might give away the ball....Unfortunately, the Goalkeepers mistake impacts the result immediately....

[@NickyG_vz]

Inconsistent and erratic is such a great way to describe Barthez lol. Great video

[@srodsmb7340]

That Barthez story is sad, from a World Class keeper to someone that lost all his confidence and constantly making mistakes.

[@zenarcher9633]

De Gea always had a howler in him.

[@Titot182]

Barthez - legend on the racetrack as well!

[@Devsfootballclub]

Easily one of my favourite channels in football right now 🙌 if only Bosnich could have kept things together better!

[@AlexanderGreensmith]

Wow I completely forgot about the Mendes on Carroll ghost goal, but remember how huge the news story was as a kid. Good times.

[@Mrmhibbert]

Edwin was the best United keeper ever... I grew up watching United pre Schmeichel and saw Barthez and DeGea but Van Der Sar was the best

[@E_O_S_]

Without a doubt number one by far

[@Ammotive28]

Fabian Bartez is the best sub-6ft keeper I’ve ever seen.

[@smallies7154]

Mad that van der sar cost 2 million

[@master_chef7807]

The complete thrashing of Onana feels extremely overblown. He hasn’t been the best by any means, but he has been far from awful. His distribution and vision on the pitch has been very good, and he’s made some HUGE saves for the club. He doesn’t have those quick reaction saves like de gea, but he’s far from the worst keeper out there

[@AlexanderGreensmith]

Happy new year to the underrated football content creator GOAT north of the border

[@Irfan87]

Onana is one of those keepers with a mistake or two in him. But he has STATISTICALLY been the best keeper in the league in an abysmal United team. He had a shaky start, but again, hes been great ever since and hes passing is arguably the best among his peers.

[@fibessnaredrum2775]

Shame he can't save shots right at him..

[@Kalinho83]

Cokain is a hell of a drug, Taibi was even worse than I remember and daaamn Andy Goram was such a beast!

[@1bert719]

I've always been irritated that United traditionally do not develop goalies through the system. Of the major number 1's to have a genuine impact at old trafford only Gary Bailey could be said to be developed via the system. Several decent goalies were let go without a genuine chance to show there worth while many mediocre keepers were bought in only to leave without any impact. Arsenal under Wenger suffered a similar issue attempting to replace Seaman.

[@afraidofbridges4053]

if de gea was born 10 years earlier he would be talked about in the same convos as buffon

[@ICUdangjik]

Love this channel

[@Kepchok318]

Onana is a disappointment like no other

[@davidedwards8365]

That Neuville goal criticism is harsh. That’s a brilliantly placed shot

[@flashbackfootball1367]

Yeah maybe you're right. Just watching it over and over, how it goes in off the bar and how Barthez was a whisker away from it made me wonder if someone over six foot would have tipped it over. Generally though the main thing that annoyed me watching Barthez in those second and third seasons was that he didn't always stretch his arms out fully, sometimes even pulling back his hands!

[@shuraamano]

Look where we are now without Degea. 14th.

[@theTruthLifeNWay]

Onana is a character for sure and has some great moments but his lack of assuredness and consistency is very concerning Getting rid of De Gea was a HUGE mistake

[@juliolleshi751]

Crazy thing is, when they signed bosnich in 99, Fergie had agreed to sign van Der Sar but edwards had already shaken hands with bosnich. If only they pulled out of that deal.

[@flashbackfootball1367]

Is this true? Coz that's mental if it is?

[@juliolleshi751]

@ yeah I think sir Alex even said it in his book. They’re his own words about it. We could’ve had van Der Sar for another few years.

[@mayjowish]

Chelsea has the same problem both up front and with gk. Drogba's best replacement was diego costa and since they never found a solid striker, same with cech and courtois. You should make a video about it

[@theboat2328]

Loads of parallels between the United careers of barthez and onana

[@randisallah]

I think Onana is better than Bosnich and Taibi. More similar to Barthez, looks world class one week and then drops a howler the next. But i do think he's much better than what he's been at Utd, he even made Pep have to adjust his tactics for the Champions League final because of his distribution. Utd these days is just a cursed chalice at this point and history seems to be repeating itself, sad thing is if history does indeed repeat itself then there's still worse to come....😮😮😮

[@gizibaikk]

Tbf, United now are struggling to replace any players in literally all position. Not just GK. Even their coach! The club is rotten to the core.

[@ShaunRogue90]

I fully believe Bayindir given half a chance would trump Onana at this point.

[@bendegorro754]

United always have that period. After the time of a great goalkeeper, will come the fukkery GK. After Schmeichel, come Bosnich and Taibi. After Barthez, come Tim Howard. After van der Sar, come David DeGea. But fortunately, De Gea able to recover and step up. Now come the era of Onana. I'm sure in Summer 2025, United will bring new GK and he will be a great GK.

[@justjames1348]

If this channel started doing epl he could make content for 20 years. This guy is unreal

[@jekanyika]

Who has their stag night the day before the wedding?

[@youknowhuwitis]

Used to be traditional

[@fintanduffyable]

Barthez had 2 howlers in 1 match versus Henry threw the ball right too him

[@VegaPhil]

Remember last season when Ten Hag tried to tell everyone that Onana was statistically the best goalkeeper in the league…..💀

[@ZannyG_StandFree]

Meslier would be a big mistake, I think maybe someone like Costa or Kobel could be really really good, of course it depends on our budgets. Maybe Meslier would be a good back up

[@thesoultwins72]

I still think it was absolutely disgraceful the way Utd treated De Gea. They should have kept him instead of spunking £40+ million on that comedian O-No-Na

[@russell-di8js]

Moving from Man Utd to Man City is not as you state "The unforgiveable!" It has been done by numerous players over many years, so please don't exaggerate & remember Dennis Law another undoubted Utd great who's goal actually helped to relegate Utd while in a City shirt.

[@lwandomadikizela2213]

Barthez was a baller for Manchester United but that shocker against Arsenal he never recovered since. Taibi was a disastrous signing and that Le Tissier weak shot summed up his time. Carroll and Howard weren't bad but they weren't the keepers to win us major honours. Thank goodness we signed Van Der Sar and dominated the Premier League yet again. De Gea had a shaky start when Van Der Sar retired but he became the best keeper in the world for a terrible Manchester United squad. Had the fax machine worked and De Gea moved to Real Madrid, I can guarantee Manchester United would be mid table or worse and wouldn't come close to top 4 let alone compete for the Premier League title. Yes De Gea had weaknesses in his game but he's the reason why Manchester United didn't sink further than we are now and Ten Hag has blood on his hands for letting De Gea go for nothing and replaced him with Onana and sold Henderson to Palace replaced him with Bayindir. Two awful keepers that got us fighting relegation.

[@nimish_l5727]

Compare the back 4 in front of those GK with the back 4 DDG had from 14-22 probably then you'll understand how good he was. The whole obsession of having a "ball playing" GK made the fanbase wanting DDG out. And now UTD are getting punished of having a good ball playing but average shot stopping keeper and here's the funny part Onana still plays long ball.

[@timotheusn.h.nakashona1001]

So Barthez invented the modern gk role.

[@paulduncan9161]

Ahahaha Man Utd want to buy Meslier? Please, please let this happen

[@Connor-f6s]

They shouldn't have let De Gea go, and/or should've signed Donnaruma when he was still a kid

[@layz6864]

Can we get bartez back as a technical coach 😂

[@bonzodog6872]

Has Onana ever actually caught a ball or does he flap at everything

[@1greenMitsi]

hang on a sec - didnt Fergie try to sign VDS before he went to Juve? Pretty sure VDS had a Man U and Juve contracts to choose from

[@juliuscaesar8163]

love schmeichel

[@josephusrivero3533]

Oof who’d be a goalkeeper 😂

[@billywhizz19]

Who was the keeper that was around with de gea early on. I think he went to preston

[@Keddeadkedemption]

Anders Lindergaard I think

[@kryten6569]

Fergi ran for the hills before he tarnished his career...he left the club in a right mess ..say what you will be had no youth also no replacements

[@mwizachavura8399]

Barthez was a great keeper 😂

[@jensstubbestergaard6794]

Mads Hermansen the best keeper in the league and also from Brøndby.

[@NathanMckenna-d3c]

Should of kept Dean Henderson when they had him he is a great goalkeeper.

[@ILKILO1]

Onanas twice the goalkeeper De Gea is.

[@takeitdown-y4r]

Barthez was overrated, he was fine, he made a meal of every save, making it look like it was a good save, but in fact it was a completely normal save, none of his decisions made any sense either but he managed to get away with them all the same

[@ahmadburhanhabibi]

Meslier is even worse than Kane as a keeper 💀

[@RichardMason-gj9ue]

These 2 keepers we have now are the worst we’ve ever had

[@mortenfrosthansen84]

What are you on about??? United has had one great goalkeeper after another. Sometimes even 2 at once..

[@HandsUpforThePanther]

The issue with united is fans themselves. Onana has been decent and fans continue to say mean spirited things. Fans put pressure on players like Onana, "omg he's so shit, sell him" and proceed to insult the man. Fans are the issue, with social media, players make get offended and take it to heart. And if you say "he's on 300k a week, he's fine" bull crap- eat shit then, don't be delusional and mean spirited.

[@gizibaikk]

Exactly. That's why almost all of their new players has always underperformed. Their environment inside and outside the pitch are way too toxic.

[@muzgash]

If only United had better fans they would be in the Top 3 for sure

[@HandsUpforThePanther]

@@muzgash as a United fan, its very hard to not just give up on football.

[@AnumaOnline]

Remember Ten Hag got rid of De Gea, Pogba & Ronaldo because he didn't want any of them earning more than himself 😂😂😂

[@VKBOSS2]

stop spreading such nonsense

[@seanpaulluke]

GIVE IT TO BARTHEZ

[@rxn0059]

I’d rather keep Bayindir than have Meslier I’m not even joking

[@a3predict563]

Barthez was a brilliant GK.

[@smallies7154]

Buffon ond cech were better than gea. Barthez was a bomb scare

[@rekzahogk6476]

Yeah dont include De Gea in this, he wasnt a great goalkeeper by the time he left.

[@only1biggs]

de gea made so many mistakes when it mattered.. did he make good saves for a few years? sure. but, "that's his job" and done in mediocre teams.

[@daveseville7394]

Onana is so crap

[@massifothrwrldly]

Yea but he isnt as bad as Taibi or Bosnich as he has his moments.

[@ciaranburke6252]

No foster mention ?

[@flashbackfootball1367]

Yeah, my main focus with this video was the era between schmeical and van der sar, and after De Gea - so I kind of skimmed over the Van der Sar and De Gea eras, also why I didn't mention Dean Henderson either