The Armoury

Right, you've not seen much of De Gea this season have you?

Brilliant shot-stopper, fantastic reflexes but there's more to it. He's got the potential to be fantastic, but he's a maturing player, just not the finished product.

Bear in mind that at no point have I actually said he's a bad player. I haven't even criticized him, but there are better goalkeepers in the league and he hasn't cemented his place in the United team...that's Ferguson saying that, not me.

I honestly think he's made fewer mistakes than any keeper in the league this season. I can remember 1 that was costly, and that was arguably Vidic's fault more than his. He's becoming increasingly more confident in the air (I don't think he came once and didn't win the ball against City) and his distribution as a keeper is second to none. He still needs to improve his command of his back four, but I feel thats something that will come when he feels secure in his role and has a stable back four in front of him.

Why he is rotated with Lindegaard is anyones guess, I think Lindegaard was signed being told he'd play a lot and needs to be given his chance, but De Gea has played every big game this season with the exception of Liverpool away (where he had a shocker last season), it shows you that Ferguson recognises his ability.

If we forget all the nonesense and pre-conceived notions of De Gea, since Christmas he's been in a very select group of Premiership goalkeepers, since the start of the season I doubt anyone has been better; Hart's made his share of errors, Reina's been awful, Cech's solid but never the player he once was.

He's definitely not a weakness for us.

I'm going to put it out there that Ferguson wants to avoid having a similar issue that he had when Van Der Sar was injured/needed a rest. The keepers that came in like Foster or Kuszczak never really looked confident in themselves, so perhaps by keeping Lindegaard playing a game or two in every 10 he feels he'll stay fresh and confident he can step in if De Gea is out.

I don't tend to buy into the idea a keeper needs to be top class coming for crosses and top class commanding his area, he just needs to keep the ball out of the net, De Gea does that very well and has cut out a lot of silly errors (something I put down to his age and also lack of English) last season.

For me Lindegaard is good enough for United as a backup and I'm confident he can step up if needed.

Absolutely crucial skills that separate top goalkeepers from mediocre ones. There's nothing more painful to watch than a keeper flapping at balls into the box. When you can look at 5+ corners a match and at least 10 more crosses in open play it's important to know your keeper can deal with those balls. As for command of the area, look at how someone like Petr Cech marshalls his defence to understand what makes him such a superb player.

Are Casillas and Valdes good at coming for crosses? I genuinely don't know, just asking if anyone has watched them enough in La Liga to form an opinion on that.

What's Victor Valdes got to do with great goal-keepers?

He was immense a few seasons ago, arguably as good as anyone else. He's gone off the boil since then unfortunately.

Valdes and Casillas are both great keepers but do make the odd howler, especially Valdes.

Valdes has never been of the same quality as Casillas or Buffon (as two examples of great keepers).

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2248779/Arsene-Wenger-stay-Arsenal-Gary-Neville.html

The speed at which the football media operate today is like a blender that is constantly having food chucked into it and chopped into a thousand pieces but never has any end product. There’s never any substance at the end of the process. Or it’s like a sausage machine that just churns out more mincemeat rather than sausages.

"We have gone through a period where we had restricted potential, financially," Wenger said. "[That happens] when you move into the new stadium, but we have come over that period and now hopefully can be a bit more convincing [with transfers and contracts]."

Never heard of him.

I read somewhere yesterday that he's scored 25 goals in his last 50 games from centre back