Manchester United's David De Gea or Tottenham's Hugo Lloris? Who is the better goalkeeper?

Sooraj Kamath - Writer 14:19 08/11/2018
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  • The goalkeeping quality in the Premier League is phenomenal. With teams outside the “big six” also boasting of incredible shot-stoppers in Jordan Pickford, Martin Dubravka, Rui Patricio and so on, the Premier League can claim to host the best of goalkeepers.

    We attempt to analyse some of the top goalkeepers and help you decide who’s the best in the business.

    First up is David De Gea and Hugo Lloris who are definitely among the top goalkeepers in the world. The Spaniard has performed at the top level for about five years now and the Frenchman is a World Cup winner.

    Liverpool’s Alisson and Manchester City’s Ederson will feature next but first, let’s look at De Gea and Lloris.

    WHAT THE STATS SAY

    This is an area where both De Gea and Lloris excel. De Gea has played all 11 games for Manchester United in the league and has kept just one cleansheet. Many would argue that Manchester United’s defence is fragile and easy to tear open, which makes De Gea’s task between the posts even harder. But the xGA (expected goals against) stats will be taking this into consideration

    Lloris missed four games due to injury and Michael Vorm had to step in to take charge of the posts. In the seven games that Lloris featured, he kept a cleansheet on four occasions.

    The Frenchman’s saves per goal ratio of 0.71 is more than three times that of the Spaniard (0.22). The quality of the defence influences the quality of the chances the opponents are provided with and the xGA should normalise every factor and provide a common platform to compare the shot-stopping ability of the players.

    The xGA/GA (goals against) ratio should give a good reading of how the keeper is performing, taking into comparison the quality of the shots he faces. De Gea has an xGA/GA of 0.955 and Hugo Lloris has an incredible ratio of about 2.03.

    The loop-hole in this approach is that it does not take into consideration the quality of the players who takes the shot. However, the deviation is unlikely to be so much as to tilt this statistic in De Gea’s favour.

    There are absolutely no questions about the Spaniard’s quality, but the fact remains that he’s had a rough patch since the World Cup and loses out to his French compatriot.

    SHOT STOPPING RATING:

    De Gea: 8/10

    Lloris: 9/10

    David De Gea of Man Utd

    DISTRIBUTION

    De Gea’s distribution for Spain under Julen Lopetegui was solid enough. However, he plays for a team where playing the ball out from the back is not in line with the philosophy of the manager.

    The 28-year-old passes the ball about 26 times per game with an accuracy of 53.5 percent. Most of De Gea’s passes are long, cross-field balls which explains the unimpressive passing accuracy.

    On the other hand, Lloris has an accuracy of 69.7 percent for his 33 passes every game. This has more to do with Tottenham’s style of play than Lloris’ distribution ability.

    Both the players are clearly not great with their feet when they are compared to the likes of Ederson, Alisson, Bernd Leno and Kepa Arrizabalaga. But the Frenchman gets a marginal victory here.

    DISTRIBUTION RATING: 

    De Gea: 6.5/10

    Lloris: 7/10

    COMPOSURE

    Of the two players, one has played a World Cup final and the other has had to deal with having one of the worst defences his club has fielded for over a decade. The composure of such players cannot be questioned.

    In the first match of the season, De Gea put In a stellar performance to provide United a 2-1 win over Leicester City. There were more than just murmurs in the media about the Spaniard’s apparent decline after a forgettable World Cup.

    But De Geas has stepped up big to provide his team a win on the opener, amid all the negativity around him. He made two incredible saves in that game, including a spectacular effort to deny Damian Gray from close range.

    Jamie Vardy was left in space and had his half-volley saved by the Spanish international. The game would surely have ended in Leicester City’s favour had it been any normal keeper.

    There isn’t much to talk about the composure of someone who’s performed on the biggest stage of world football. However, Lloris did have his nervy-moments in the game and begged Mario Mandzukic to score Croatia’s second goal.

    Hugo Lloris sees red in Eindhoven.

    Hugo Lloris sees red in Eindhoven.

    The 31-year-old’s moment of the season came against West Ham when his fingertips denied Marco Arnautovic’s header from entering the top-corner.

    Lloris was given his marching orders for a harsh, last-man tackle on Hirving Lozano when Tottenham met PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League.

    Spurs went on to drop two points after conceding in the death. One might argue that he was left with no choice, but although Lloris can boast of a host of virtues, composure is not particularly one of his best traits.

    COMPOSURE RATING

    De Gea: 8/10

    Lloris: 7/10

    VERDICT

    Both the keepers are two of the finest and David De Gea has performed consistently for the past few years behind a horrendous United defence that’s probably getting worse every season.

    Lloris has had some of the best centre-halves in the league in front of him and has managed to out-perform his Spanish compatriot this season.

    However, numbers can’t do justice to the performances these custodians put on display every weekend. Lloris (23/30) edges De Gea (22.5/30) but these numbers are for reference and not inference.

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