David de Gea is set to start on Saturday, and he will be hoping to improve upon his preseason performances so far.

He hasn’t been awful. But he has showed early signs that he may struggle to cope with how Erik ten Hag wants his team to play.

In United’s 3-1 victory over Crystal Palace, in the final ten minutes De Gea pumped a long ball forward under the most minute of pressure when a simple pass to his centre back was available. It elicited a roar of “What the f*** are you doing!?” from the new boss.

Many fans had concerns over last season’s player of the year winner, in terms of his ball-playing ability and distribution.

However, despite Ten Hag’s outburst, that side of the game is not where United’s number one has struggled the most in these early fixtures. He has actually been okay at passing out from the back and his manager’s expletive would not have stood out so much had he been forced to yell it with any sort of regularity.

And in spite of many highlighting his reputation as a goal-line keeper, unwilling to venture onto opposition through passes, he has actually made a noticeable effort to sweep up behind his defensive line. This was most notable in the 4-0 drubbing of Liverpool, in which he was alert in stepping out to deny balls over the top to Darwin Nunez.

Where De Gea has really struggled is with set pieces, conceding two goals from corners in his three appearances. On both occasions, his defenders could arguably have helped him out by getting tighter to the cross-recipient, but the Spaniard has shown a familiar meekness in dealing with balls into the box.

But it’s more than that.

The goals De Gea have conceded have come late in matches, usually after his teammates have spent a good hour dominating the ball and pressing high to keep the keeper spectating for large parts of the game.

There is a simple fact with David de Gea – he is and always has been a goalkeeper who needs his blood warm to play at his best. Think of his best seasons at Manchester United and you will more than likely find yourself remarking “And he managed to do that in front of THAT defence!?”

The season gone by is a good example – a horrific season for Harry Maguire, with Diogo Dalot struggling to usurp an out-of-favour Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Alex Telles doing nothing to worry a Luke Shaw shot for form and fitness, as big-money Raphael Varane frequented the treatment table all contributed to keep the shot-stopper among the busiest in the league.

Give De Gea a crisis and he thrives, but does he have the concentration to make that all-important save when his joints are cold?

Ask followers of the Spain’s national side, and they will likely say no. Indeed, the best-paid Spanish player in world football is currently a doubt for their upcoming World Cup squad, which has more to do with his struggles to stay focused behind a possession-heavy team than it does his ability to find a short pass.

With variants of ‘tiki-taka’ in Spanish football prevalent, De Gea’s stock has incrementally fallen at international level, even while impressing for his club. On international duty, he simply doesn’t get the chance to show off his ability to make a flurry of saves, because his opponents rarely get to have a flurry of shots.

De Gea has proven over a series of turbulent seasons that he is among the best in the world at surviving an onslaught, but his exploits for Spain show that he is susceptible to the sucker punch.

Even under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, there was a series of games in which the defence looked good, but the team had an unfortunate habit of seemingly conceding every shot they faced, something the Norwegian pointed out after a 3-3 draw with Everton.

In Saturday’s match against his former club De Gea will be facing masters of sucker-punch-football and if United want to dominate this type of match, they will need their goalkeeper to show focus, particularly given they are currently without any alternative.