Manchester United overcame Spurs 1-0 thanks to a brilliant performance from David De Gea. While United were very tactically astute in the first half, the second half was largely dominated by the home side who peppered the Man Utd goal with shots.
The Spaniard, however, stood tall and did not let anything pass and came up with several crucial saves.
Former Tottenham midfielder Jermain Jenas while analysing the game for BBC’s Match of the Day claimed that De Gea was largely the difference between both the sides.
Although Jenas felt Lloris actually came up with a few crucial saves himself, he suggested that De Gea’s positioning set him apart from the Tottenham captain.
Jenas said: “I actually think Lloris had a good game, he pulled off some vital saves.”
Comparing Rashford’s goal with De Gea’s save when Kane was put through on goal, the pundit added: “But when you’re looking at these two scenarios, they’re almost identical. When [Lloris] was running back towards his goal, he’s missed exactly where he is.”
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“He’s a bit too far from his near post, whereas you look at De Gea here, he’s slightly inside the post. He’s reading where Kane’s going to hit this ball.”
“He’s inside the post and if you look at Kane’s position compared to Rashford’s position, you would say it’s much more difficult opportunity for Rashford to score that goal.”
“But because [Lloris] is so far across, he’s opened up that other side for Rashford to hit that ball, whereas De Gea is not only more inside, he’s pre-empting where the ball’s going to go. He knows that he (Kane) wants to shoot across goal. It feels like it’s straight at De Gea, but his positioning makes it feel that way.”
“You can see on [Lloris’] face he’s disappointed.”
Lloris has come in for a fair bit of criticism recently with a few Spurs fans even calling for Gazzaniga to start over the Frenchman. However, in fairness few goalkeepers in the world are going to come off looking good when compared to De Gea.
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