2022 is upon us, and football continues to provide all the usual drama, excitement and chaos that we saw in 2021. As the game continues, so does our NextGoalWinner POTM awards. This month is the first for the year, and also brings about a new first for the awards, in that it is going to the first ever goalkeeper. One man who, despite his side struggling to excite their fans as many expected with the arrival of new man Rangnick (guessed who it is yet?). Mr David De Gea has been simply sublime in what has been otherwise quite a turbulent and disruptive time at Manchester United, and a real beacon of quality in an otherwise disappointing side.

In the month of January 2022, De Gea made more saves than any other keeper, with a total of 22 stops in the month, a really incredible feat which is massively impressive and we will break down further in the post, while perhaps also highlighting defensive frailties of the rest of the squad. Nevertheless, the Spanish shot stopper takes the No.1 spot for January 2022 in our awards and becomes the first goalkeeper recipient.

If you have anything to add to our NextGoalWinner POTM decision, or disagree with our pick, head over to Twitter (@NextGoalWinBlog) and let us know what you think.

Match By Match

January 3rd: Manchester United 0-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers – In United’s first game of 2022 it was a massive disappointment for the Red Devils, with De Gea failing to keep a clean sheet once again. However, as can be said for most of United’s goals conceded in the past few years, the blame lies primarily at the feet of the defenders rather than the hands of the keeper. De Gea managed a 6.8/10 rating from FotMob, however this rating doesn’t do much justice, considering he made 5 saves in the game, including 4 from inside the box and 3 were diving saves. Continuing the playing out from the back, he managed 17 accurate passes, with 12 in his own half, showing the distribution is being used rather than the 5 passes/long balls into the oppositions half. Not a stunning performance, however he did as much as could be asked with the attack failing to make up their goal deficit.

January 15th: Aston Villa 2-2 Manchester United – The next performance from united was 70 minutes of quality, in the first half in particular. However, with a 2-0 lead looking comfortable, the arrival of Coutinho for the opposition brought the game back to a dramatic conclusion with Villa netting twice in 5 minutes. Without wanting to sound like a broken record, De Gea really can’t be too disappointed on an individual level, however he was visibly fuming with his defence who let the game get away from them. With a 6.3/10 rating from FotMob, he again doesn’t appear to have set the world on fire with his performance, however he made 7 saves, including 5 within the box, 1 diving save. With 11 accurate passes, he again was used for distributing the ball out to defenders, however the final 15 minutes of the game will have the keeper surely disappointed once again with his defence as the wait for a clean sheet goes on.

January 19th: Brentford 1-3 Manchester United – The results picked up in the second half of the month for United, however the clean sheet wait still continued for De Gea, as Ivan Toney netted late on, showing the defensive mentality on not seeing out the games and a lack of concentration for the full 90, surely something Rangnick will be displeased with. Although it’s 3 points on the board, De Gea will again be wanting words with the likes of Varane, Lindelöf and Maguire, as despite making 8 saves in the game, the late goal conceded means he had to wait once again for a clean sheet, and this time the frustration was obvious as he strived for a near perfect performance. Out of his 8 saves, 6 were made from inside the box, he made 1 punch clearance and completed 6 accurate passes. He was peppered with shots and did almost hold out for that 0 on the scoreboard, but it wasn’t to be.

January 22nd: Manchester United 1-0 West Ham United – Finally, after 6 games since the last clean sheet, David De Gea got his wish, as his side held out West Ham and snatched the winner with the final kick of the game. Earning a 7.5/10 rating from FotMob, this one has gone down as his best performance of the month, however statistically it was arguably his weakest. With the clean sheet as the biggest statistic, he also made 2 saves, with 1 from inside the box. What this performance highlights, is that the defence were holding West Ham back from getting close to the goal, an d consequently, De Gea got his clean sheet and looking purely on paper, it was a fairly comfortable day at the office, even if watching the performance it didn’t quite seem that way.