Spain number one goalkeeper pick Unai Simon reveals ‘a bit crazy’ reasons behind David de Gea’s Spain World Cup omission
Following David de Gea’s omission from Spain’s World Cup roster, Spain’s number one goalkeeper Unai Simon has admitted that the way goalkeepers are evaluated is ‘a bit crazy’
In recent months, Manchester United stopper De Gea has fallen out of favor with Spain manager Luis Enrique due in part to his inability to play at a high level from the back. He has been replaced in La Roja’s lineup by Robert Sanchez of Brighton and David Raya of Brentford.
Simon of Athletic Club remains Enrique’s first choice between the posts, despite his infamous gaffe in Spain’s Euro 2020 round-of-16 match against Croatia, when he allowed Pedri’s pass to slip under him and into an empty net.
“I’ve made a lot of terrible mistakes since I was a kid, crazy goals,” Simon told the Guardian.
“The best thing that can happen is you get the same ball again, control it and play. If it’s a technical error, of execution, not a conceptual one, all you can think is: OK, next pass. A conceptual error is different: that means we haven’t understood what the manager wants. If it’s a pass played too short to the full-back, say, and it’s been intercepted, that doesn’t mean the next one goes to the centre-back instead: it’s the same ball. You can’t stop playing that pass.”
De Gea is still an outstanding shot-stopper despite the trend of treating goalkeepers as outfielders, as Simon explained. This remains the primary metric by which they should be evaluated.
“Sometimes I think we’re getting a bit crazy in how we look at keepers,” he said.
“What is his primary job still? Stop the ball going past him. A modern keeper, like [Marc-Andre] ter Stegen, has both.”
Spain number one goalkeeper pick Unai Simon reveals ‘a bit crazy’ reasons behind David de Gea’s Spain World Cup omission
