David de Gea was the first Manchester United player to emerge from the dressing room after the Brentford debacle. De Gea requested to speak to the media to accept responsibility for his mistakes after one of the worst results in the club's modern history.
It was brave of De Gea to speak first and he told Sky Sports that he cost United the three points. "After the first mistake and the second, it was very tough for the team to get playing. It was a horrible day," he said. Brentford's first goal should have been a routine save for De Gea but the ball trickled through his hands. De Gea also gifted the second goal with a hospital pass for Christian Eriksen.
De Gea has never been overly comfortable with the ball at his feet and that was highlighted again that afternoon. Brentford's first two goals were indeed De Gea's fault, but the Spaniard did not need to take full responsibility for the defeat. United spectacularly capitulated across the pitch and he was not responsible for that. It was unfair for him to shoulder the burden of that embarrassment.
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United have taken 12 points from Liverpool, Southampton, Leicester and Arsenal in the Premier League since Brentford, conceding just two goals throughout that undefeated period, which would have been more without De Gea's shot-stopping interventions.
De Gea has bounced back from two poor individual performances against Brighton and Brentford, but the limitations in his game have not suddenly gone away. His distribution remains a problem and supporters are starting to grow impatient with that obvious weakness.
There have been games this season, like when United defeated Southampton 1-0 at St. Mary's Stadium, where fans' frustration at De Gea has been audible from the terraces. De Gea is guilty of dithering on the ball and halting momentum at the back.
He remains a world-class shot-stopper, but he's no longer a world-class goalkeeper. To be considered in that category in the modern game you must possess skill with the ball at your feet and that's the area in which De Gea has markedly fallen behind his peers.
De Gea's short-range passing is often not executed well and his long-range passing is even more regularly wayward. This prevents the players ahead of him from beginning transitions with speed and it allows the opposition to settle back into their positions.
De Gea kept his third clean sheet of the season against FC Sheriff last week, but he returned to Manchester after that game and that's where he'll be staying across the international break, as he was left out of Luis Enrique's Spain squad again.
Enrique has named Brighton's Robert Sanchez, Brentford's David Raya and Athletic Bilbao's Unai Simón in his Spain squad for this month's Nations League fixtures and De Gea has been left at home - that is damning but certainly not a surprise.
“I need a goalkeeper that transmits peace and calmness to me, that doesn’t mean they won’t make mistakes, errors are part of football. What they generate I like a lot," Enrique said in June. He was addressing the elephant in the room with De Gea.
Enrique has not rated De Gea during his time as Spain's manager. Brighton's Sanchez withdrew from the Spain squad in March and there was still no room for De Gea. Barcelona B goalkeeper Arnau Tenas, 21, was called up to replace him instead.
Although De Gea was United's most consistent performer last season and was deservedly lauded for his displays, the circumstances played to his strengths. He was able to focus on shot-stopping, which he had far too much practice of.
That was not a normal season and it is hoped no goalkeeper at the club should ever have to deal with that level of exposure again. Erik ten Hag has made a strong start to his rebuild and he wants his side's starting position to be higher up the pitch.
Ten Hag will eventually need a proactive goalkeeper and De Gea has not evolved to fulfil that role. The 31-year-old is now in the final year of his contract at the club, but it's understood the club plan to exercise the option of another year on his current deal.
It seems a nonsensical decision to give De Gea another year, considering his limitations with the ball at his feet. It is a delicate subject, given he has been a genuinely outstanding servant, but elite football clubs simply can't make decisions on sentimentality.
United should not extend De Gea's contract - this season should be his swansong at Old Trafford.
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