Under pressure goalkeeper David de Gea facing a fight to find favour with Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United The Dane, while not as naturally gifted as De Gea, offers solidity, reliability and, until Phil Jones's bizarre own goal against Newcastle, better communication skills. Worryingly for United, they have been down this road before when it comes to replacing a dominant, world-class goalkeeper and the trauma of replacing Peter Schmeichel lasted six years until Van der Sar arrived from Fulham in 2005. Ten goalkeepers played for United between Schmeichel and Van der Sar, with none measuring up. Some, like Massimo Taibi, were worse than others, but even a World Cup winner like Fabien Barthez struggled to cope with the intense scrutiny that comes with keeping goal for United. Mark Bosnich, whose burden as Schmeichel's replacement is now being felt by De Gea as Van der Sar's successor, says that Ferguson must settle on a first-choice. "He's got to decide who he's going to stick with, whether it's De Gea or Lindegaard, regardless of how much money he's spent on De Gea, if United are going to win any trophies," Bosnich said. I accept you have to rotate players, but in the key positions, and being a goalkeeper is a really key position, understanding must be second nature. Ferguson is unlikely to announce one or other of his goalkeepers as first choice, however. The Scot had his fingers burned by claiming De Gea would play at Newcastle, only to drop him because of a "couple of mistakes" against Blackburn. So while Lindegaard is set to keep his place against Manchester City in the FA Cup on Sunday, the Dane will be swiftly removed if he is at fault for costly goals in future outings. United's back four does appear more settled with the more confident and demonstrative Lindegaard behind it, but Ferguson and the club's goalkeeping coach, Eric Steele, remain convinced that De Gea's potential will be fulfilled and that his teething problems this season will be forgotten. The readiness to forgive him his mistakes to build his confidence has gone, however. Trophies take precedence over applying the cotton wool treatment to a young goalkeeper. De Gea can now reflect on his form, improve on his weaknesses and wait for Lindegaard to make a mistake and allow him back in. United's problem, however, is that the next goalkeeping mistake is unlikely to be too far around the corner, so De Gea might be back sooner than he expects.