It’s always said that a penalty shootout is the chance for the keeper to become the hero, but David de Gea is the polar opposite after failing to stop 11 penalties in a row before missing his.
There’s been plenty of talk going into the final about de Gea against Dean Henderson in terms of who should be starting, and that’s going to be a major topic over the next couple of days.
We’ve seen managers in the past making a bold choice before the shootout to change the keeper in the final minute to boost their chances in the penalty shootout, and these stats suggest that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer should’ve done that tonight:
There was no point saying it as Solskjaer did not have the courage to take Rashford off, but replacing De Gea with Henderson had to be considered. Not saved any of last 21 #mufc pens – excluding shootout – and that shootout could hardly have gone any worse for him. Feel for him.
— Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst) May 26, 2021
David De Gea has conceded 25 penalties in a row for Manchester United.
Might wanna bring on Henderson for this shoot-out. #UELfinal #UEL
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— Football Tweet (@Football__Tweet) May 26, 2021
De Gea’s last penalty save was back in 2016.
During that time, Dean Henderson has saved 6 penalties.
— UnitedReds (@UnitedRedscom) May 26, 2021
Solskjaer made numerous decisions in this game that have come back to bite United, with the main one being the refusal to put any subs on at the start of extra time and it just handed all the momentum to the Spanish side.
He’s also getting some stick from the fans tonight after not having the bottle to put Henderson on for the shootout:
All I’m saying is @deanhenderson would have saved one and scored his own
— Uncle Brand (@brandhampton) May 26, 2021
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has to know David De Gea and his poor penalty saving record. Why was one of his subs not Henderson? Baffling and has ultimately cost his team. This is on Ole tonight for that decision and not making subs earlier. #MUFC #VILMUN
— Liam G (@liamg1878) May 26, 2021
Solskjaer knew De Gea hadn’t taken a penalty since 2014, but he still didn’t replace him with Dean Henderson.#OleOut #VILMUN
— Sergey Karataev (@rice_vegetables) May 26, 2021
Dean Henderson has saved 8 out of 19 penalties in his career while De Gea has saved only 11 of 64. Pathetic from De Gea and even more pathetic from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
— Country Billy (@adidasnatural15) May 26, 2021
This defeat’s absolutely down to Solskjaer’s stupidity. Even a kid knows @D_DeGea can’t save penalties. Henderson should have been introduced. @ManUtd fought hard, unfortunately they’ll never win a trophy under Solskjaer, ever. This was their best chance. #ManUtd #MUFC #UELfinal
— Shamik Chakrabarty (@shamik100) May 26, 2021
Poor decisions by Solskjaer
Should have been harder and taken De Gea off in extra time
His penalty record is terrible
Henderson would have made a difference #OleOut
— Leigh_007 (@KKL100812) May 26, 2021