De Gea has become arguably the world’s best keeper since joining United from Atletico Madrid in 2011, but the Spain No.1 made an uncharacteristic mistake during Sunday’s Premier League against top-four rivals Arsenal at the Emirates.
Granit Xhaka let fly with a swerving effort 12 minutes into the clash, and despite having a clear view of the shot, De Gea was wrong-footed as the spin deceived him to hand Arsenal the lead.
During half-time Sky Sports pundit Carragher said: “I’ve got a bit of sympathy for De Gea.
“The way Xhaka strikes it and how these balls move, it moves quite late, I think he just comes across thinking it’s going to be a routine save coming right at him. It gets to the penalty spot and just seems to deviate.
“In slow motion it looks like he should do more, but in real time you see that wicked movement and I wouldn’t be too harsh on him.”
While Redknapp offered a sympathetic view of De Gea’s actions, fellow Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp was less impressed.
“[De Gea] looks down the line and has a great view of it, there’s no one blocking his way, and he just moves to his left and the ball swerves to the right,” he said. “It is poor from his point of view.”