Spain boss Enrique issues idle threat after De Gea gets blame again

David de Gea TEAMtalk

Spain boss Luis Enrique has defended David de Gea after Spain’s 1-0 loss to Ukraine and says pointing the finger at the keeper has “become a turn on”.

Spain were on the wrong end of a shock Nations League defeat in Ukraine with Manchester United stopper De Gea under scrutiny

Luis Enrique’s Spanish side remain top of their group by a point as a result, but they left Kiev with nothing after Viktor Tsygankov came off the bench to win the game.

Andriy Shevchenko set the hosts up to defend and stifle their visitors and they successfully held their clean sheet, allowing Tsygankov to secure the points.

He did so in the 76th minute, breaking straight between the central defenders to collect Andriy Yarmolenko’s precise pass and fire past De Gea.

De Gea looked helplessly out of position as Spain’s 15-match unbeaten run came to an end. Questions will be asked of the United stopper, who was way off his line, allowing Tsygankov to lift it over and around him.

De Gea’s form has been under the microscope at United, with many pundits suggesting Dean Henderson could replace him as No.1 this season.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has always defended De Gea and Enrique did exactly the same on Tuesday night

“Blaming De Gea is an obsession and has become a turn on,” Enrique told a post match interview with El Chiringuito.

“The responsibility for each goal belongs to the whole team.

“We need to improve and create more scoring chances.


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Enrique threat

“I am happy with what I have seen today within the squad that opinion has not changed.

“If David is blamed for a game like this, switch it off and we’ll leave.

“If you attack in a continuous way, you know there are transitions. When a team defends and keeps it at 0-0, they grow, and in one action they’ve caught us. We have to congratulate them.

“Nothing happens because in one or two games you don’t score goals. We created chances to kill them off. It was a game clearly under our control, with opponents closing the passes and the passing lines.

“We created chances with Adama [Traore] through his overlapping. In the end, we went into panic mode. I’ve lost lots of these games in my career.

“The opponent is growing and then in a transition. The conclusion is I liked the attitude of the players. I like what I see.”

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