The biggest shock from Louis Van Gaal’s press conference yesterday was the fact that David De Gea now appears to be well and truly persona non grata at the club and won’t be starting the game today for the visit of Spurs.
That was the news nobody associated with the club wanted to hear – unless perhaps you’re Sam Johnstone who now seems to have leapfrogged the likes of Sergio Romero to become the number one choice for the first team.
The Mail notes:
Louis van Gaal was on Friday night considering one of the biggest gambles of his managerial career as he pondered whether to hand young goalkeeper Sam Johnstone a Barclays Premier League debut at home to Tottenham.
On Friday Van Gaal made a stunning eve-of-season pronouncement, revealing David de Gea would play no part after struggling for focus amid a proposed transfer to Real Madrid.
It’s the kind of decision Van Gaal seems to have little or no trouble making, after all this is the man who subbed his goalkeeper in the final minutes of extra time in the World Cup, the manager who made a goalkeeper he’d known for over a decade train with the youngsters before publicly lambasting him. It’s not a drama for the United boss to discard goalkeepers it would seem.
With Bastian Schweinsteiger and Marcos Rojo lacking match fitness so unavailable to start here’s how the Reds could line up against the North Londoners.
[4-2-3-1] Sam Johnstone, Matteo Darmian, Chris Smalling, Daley Blind, Luke Shaw, Morgan Schneiderlin, Michael Carrick, Juan Mata, Memphis Depay, Ashley Young, Wayne Rooney.
Agree? Feel free to give us your take on how the Reds will look today….
You’re wrong De Gea won’t start am sure its Johnstone in Romero on bench and I think not starting Ander Herrera is a big mistake LVG would make
Herrera is a world class player n he partners well with Mata
if possible lvg should play Herrera because he has played well in the attacking midfielder