Manchester United loanee goalkeeper Dean Henderson was Nottingham Forest’s star player as the newly-promoted side won their first home game in the Premier League for 23 years.
Henderson produced several key stops including an imperious penalty save from Three Lions teammate Declan Rice to hand Steve Cooper’s side all three points.
Henderson’s performance came less than 24 hours after David de Gea‘s embarrassing display in United’s 4-0 drubbing at the Brentford Community Stadium.
The Spaniard was responsible for his side conceding the first two goals, letting in a relatively tame shot for the first and giving under-pressure Christian Eriksen a hospital pass before the Dane was harried off the ball for Thomas Frank’s side’s second of the day.
In particular, the United No.1’s ball distribution and ability to play out from the back came under intense scrutiny and was heavily highlighted as a result of Henderson’s brilliance against the Hammers.
Dean Henderson 🆚 David De Gea:
11 Saves 5
5 Crosses Claimed 0
2/2 Keeper Sweepers 1/1
1 Penalty Saves 0
0 Errors leading to goals 1
2.3 xG Prevented -1.0Hmmmm… 🤔 pic.twitter.com/8g29rgu4qq
— Statman Dave (@StatmanDave) August 14, 2022
Erik ten Hag wants his man between the sticks to be the initiator – something De Gea has shown an inability to do.
This was evident when the team abandoned the manager’s ploy to play out from the back, instead electing to go long each time.
Cooper was full of praise for the 25-year-old, insisting that his best was yet to come.
In comments that will no doubt add fuel to the fire for the already embattled De Gea, Cooper remarked, “At times, you need goalkeepers to have big moments.”
The Forest manager told BBC, “The obvious thing was the penalty save but his distribution was good and his decision-making was good.”
“We are a team that wants to play with the ball but we had to play with a bit of caution in the second half and Dean handled that really well and he was good with his positioning.”
“He did well, as he did well last week. Now he has to do well next week.”
