De Gea exhibits the best data of the Premier’s goalkeepers. The goalkeeper has been decisive in many games for the Old Trafford club and, despite the fact that the team has lived through very bad times, the figure of the Spanish international has been reinforced in this first part of the season. De Gea gets the best rating in terms of the Post-Shot Expected Goal (PSxG) statistic, the advanced metric that quantifies the goals that goalkeeper should have conceded based on the probability that they will stop the shot. Own goals do not enter that metric.
It is a more refined way of quantifying the real influence of a goalkeeper based on how the shots he receives are and in the Premier De Gea it is the best, the one that most conditions the result of a shot. The one who has saved the most goals, to understand us. Thus, the United goalkeeper has a value of +6.5. He should have conceded 6.5 more goals than he has conceded. Quantifying this on the average every 90 minutes, it is found that he should receive 0.41 more goals per game than he is doing, according to the provider’s data StatsBomb via the FBREF site. In total, he has conceded 24 goals. José Sá follows. The Wolverhampton keeper even has a +6.8 in that + – PSxG. But adjusting to the average per game, the Portuguese goalkeeper is at 0.38. So slightly De Gea’s data is better. Sá has conceded 14 goals in the Premier. The third best-performing Premier goalkeeper according to this metric is the Spanish Álvaro Fernández. The Brentford goalkeeper has a + -PSxG every 90 minutes of +0.18.
Very far from De Gea are two goalkeepers of the stature of Mendy (Chelsea) or Lloris (Tottenham). The former has conceded only 12 goals, but his + -PSxG is +1.7; +0.10 in the average per game. Lloris is at +1.5, with a +0.10 per game. Mendy has conceded 12 goals only at Chelsea and Lloris, 19 at Tottenham. To highlight what De Gea has done, take a look at Ederson. The goalkeeper least thrashed in the Premier with only 9 goals against, he is, but not due to his direct influence, according to the metrics. Thus, the Brazilian has a negative PSxG! In other words, he should have conceded even fewer goals than those seven he has received if his performance had been uniform given the quality of the shots he has faced. Ederson has a + -PSxG of -2.3; he should have received -0.13 points per game. So City’s goal will be the least thrashed, but not the best according to the advanced statistics that his performance requires.
De Gea, better than his teammates in La Roja. Message to Luis Enrique
Since that defeat against Ukraine on October 13, 2020, De Gea has not played a single minute with Spain. Certainly, the goalkeeper’s performance had been weak. Permeable at that time under the clubs of the National Team and Luis Enrique decided to bet on Unai Simón. The Athletic goalkeeper’s performance has been correct. He has had ups and downs, but maintains the confidence of Luis Enrique. De Gea wants to open the debate. He did and won it at United, where Henderson could now be out in January. He was opposing United’s number one to have a free pass for the English team, but De Gea has blocked his way.
United’s PSxG is also better than Unai Simón’s and Robert Sánchez’s so far in their respective leagues. Simón, Luis Enrique’s starter, has conceded only 11 goals, but his + -PSxG is +1 for an average of +0.07. While Robert Sánchez in the Brigthon is also very far in that performance metric with a + -PSxG of +0.7, +0.05 for 90 minutes, having conceded 15 goals. De Gea received 24, but it should have been many more due to the calibration and the situation of the shots that he has had to face.
Thus, De Gea has left several fantastic performances this season. Villarreal knows it well, for example. Or Norwich who was stopped by De Gea with three saving interventions. And there have been many more, such as the afternoon against Wolverhampton at home, against Southampton or even in the defeat against City. De Gea has given many points and has appeared in decisive moments. What to say about that penalty that stopped West Ham at the last gasp. True, he also had a mole, as against Atalanta. But his mission was to reopen a debate in La Roja and in the field he is doing it. The PSxG has appeared as a metric to see the direct influence of the goalkeeper on the goals he receives, the probability that a shot is a goal is taken into account, mainly, depending on the place of the shot, towards which area of the goal it has been directed the ball and the speed at which it goes, variables that are taken into account after the shot.
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