[Kostov]

Yes I'm delusional, that's why DDG was immediately snapped up by another top club and has been proving us wrong ever since...

Oh no...wait...he's still without a club in December, because nobody, literally nobody in World football, is interested.

Yeah and clubs will be lining up to take Onana from us after his heroics in the CL this season. Maybe we can get the 50m we paid for him back in january.

 

[Sarni]

I reckon his CL performances this season will go down as the worst ever. He's basically the reason why we won't qualify for the knockouts and it's not even that controversial to say that.

To those saying he should be benched, ETH will never do that with his Ajax favorite. We are stuck with him as long as ETH is there. It took Antony some truly horrendous run of form and personal controversies to be benched for a couple of games, there's no way Onana is going anywhere.

 

[ti vu]

What's his future? Do many keepers turn it around at this point? Have any keepers had this much of a drop off from previous heights and re-found form?

At the highest level only Van der Sar came to mind and he needed a huge step back to rebuild himself up.

Szczesny is another case. But he was younger, and was not exactly hyped up to be best GK before the fall at Arsenal. Then going to Serie A and built himself up where he carved out a decent career at Roma, Juventus, being regarded as one of the most consistent in the league.

Big profile GK seems to be extremely rare to recover from the the fall from grace.

 

[Rossa]

Very debatable. De Gea's worst run of form was quite a bit worse than what Onana has done so far (De Gea was at fault for 8 goals in 13 games at the end of 18/19, as opposed to Onana being at fault for 7 goals in 21 games), and also had other periods during his last five years where he dropped quite a few clangers in short succession. However in between those bad patches he'd also have periods where he wouldn't make many mistakes. The key is whether Onana will do the same, or whether these mistakes are going to be the normal for him. It's simply too early for any of us to know for sure, but obviously we've got to hope it's the former. If it's the latter than he'll go on to be even worse for us than De Gea.

Only time will tell.

7 goals? Really... how is that measured? That was 5 in the CL alone. He's let in some really soft goals, albeit not howlers all the time, but goals you would expect most PL goalies to save. It's more than 7

 

[Gordon Godot]

7 goals? Really... how is that measured? That was 5 in the CL alone. He's let in some really soft goals, albeit not howlers all the time, but goals you would expect most PL goalies to save. It's more than 7

Its definitely more than 7, some goals he's given benefit of the doubt but you would expect a top keeper to save. DDG's errors also need to be seen in context of long periods of excellent shot stopping. He earned some credit. Not sure the obsession with DDG comparisons, we knew we needed an upgrade, Onana just isnt it. I will keep saying it, he was available on a free last summer. Reya despite his current difficulties was a cheaper and better option

 

[Gordon Godot]

I reckon his CL performances this season will go down as the worst ever. He's basically the reason why we won't qualify for the knockouts and it's not even that controversial to say that.

To those saying he should be benched, ETH will never do that with his Ajax favorite. We are stuck with him as long as ETH is there. It took Antony some truly horrendous run of form and personal controversies to be benched for a couple of games, there's no way Onana is going anywhere.

Exactly this. Onana has single handedly cost us CL progress with his errors across multiple matches. Again, why ETH will be gone by end of season, his signing are woeful.

 

[Tiber]

Poor shot stopping, mediocre passing. What a pair of golden boys Ten Hag picked in Antony and Onana

 

[MadDogg]

7 goals? Really... how is that measured? That was 5 in the CL alone. He's let in some really soft goals, albeit not howlers all the time, but goals you would expect most PL goalies to save. It's more than 7

It was from my own eyes, not anything official. He let in five goals in his first eight games that I considered mistakes, but then didn't concede any more like that until the two in this game.

That's not to say that there weren't any goals in there that couldn't have been stopped, but saying that most PL goalies would have saved them is certainly wrong. They are more ones that you would hope the keeper might get to, rather than expect him to. Statistically Onana is actually well ahead of the majority of keepers in the league this season. Which is a bit surprising but does show he certainly hasn't been as bad as people make out. Well, in the league anyway, the CL is certainly a different story as he's obviously been bad there.

 

[fps]

Once again Man Utd have paid top dollar for a player who is being outperformed by literally any number of good pros in his position across mid-ranking European teams.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

7 goals? Really... how is that measured? That was 5 in the CL alone. He's let in some really soft goals, albeit not howlers all the time, but goals you would expect most PL goalies to save. It's more than 7

Shouldn’t take you too long to list 7 examples?

I would say there was two last night. One against Bayern. After that I’m struggling to think of “howlers” but am willing to accept there might be another four if you can name them?

 

[Pogue Mahone]

It was from my own eyes, not anything official. He let in five goals in his first eight games that I considered mistakes, but then didn't concede any more like that until the two in this game.

That's not to say that there weren't any goals in there that couldn't have been stopped, but saying that most PL goalies would have saved them is certainly wrong. They are more ones that you would hope the keeper might get to, rather than expect him to. Statistically Onana is actually well ahead of the majority of keepers in the league this season. Which is a bit surprising but does show he certainly hasn't been as bad as people make out. Well, in the league anyway, the CL is certainly a different story as he's obviously been bad there.

Exactly. The stats prove the exact opposite of the idea that he’s regularly letting in goals most keepers would save. In the league anyway. His CL stats are probably horrible.

 

[Rossa]

It was from my own eyes, not anything official. He let in five goals in his first eight games that I considered mistakes, but then didn't concede any more like that until the two in this game.

That's not to say that there weren't any goals in there that couldn't have been stopped, but saying that most PL goalies would have saved them is certainly wrong. They are more ones that you would hope the keeper might get to, rather than expect him to. Statistically Onana is actually well ahead of the majority of keepers in the league this season. Which is a bit surprising but does show he certainly hasn't been as bad as people make out. Well, in the league anyway, the CL is certainly a different story as he's obviously been bad there.

Using your eyes is often a better metric, so agree with you there - plus it makes for more fun discussions as many seem to think stats are fac(h)ts.

He's let in some really soft ones that are not mistakes per se, but he should save them. The one on the near post against Arsenal for instance - he gets his hand to it, but he still fumbles it in - not a huge mistake, but he should save it.

Against Everton, Everton supposedly had an xG of 2 point something. However, all of their finishes were crap except for that amazing save on the long range shot. xG does not account for crap finishing.

 

[Andrew Richmond]

I could be wrong but I think DDG saves at least two of the three goals conceded. The two free kicks certainly, the third is open for debate, great strike, but still you have to wonder about his positional sense.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Using your eyes is often a better metric, so agree with you there - plus it makes for more fun discussions as many seem to think stats are fac(h)ts.

He's let in some really soft ones that are not mistakes per se, but he should save them. The one on the near post against Arsenal for instance - he gets his hand to it, but he still fumbles it in - not a huge mistake, but he should save it.

Against Everton, Everton supposedly had an xG of 2 point something. However, all of their finishes were crap except for that amazing save on the long range shot. xG does not account for crap finishing.

He made a class double save before Mainoo’s goal line clearance. That wasn’t just poor finishing.

 

[MadDogg]

Shouldn’t take you too long to list 7 examples?

I would say there was two last night. One against Bayern. After that I’m struggling to think of “howlers” but am willing to accept there might be another four if you can name them?

Forest's 1st goal
Brighton's 3rd
Bayern's 1st
Galatasaray's 3rd (in the first match)
Brentford's goal
Galatasaray's 1st and 2nd (in the second match)

Those are the seven that I consider outright mistakes. There have been a few others that have been a little soft, but most keepers concede a lot of goals that are 'a little soft'. It's not like every goal that goes in is some kind of unstoppable wonder goal. De Gea post 2018 certainly conceded plenty. The key is to save the majority of those shots, and also save a decent amount of harder chances. Which Onana has mostly been doing after his horror start to the season.

 

[mctrials23]

I don't know how anyone can say he is good enough at this point unless he turns it around massively.

I was all for the guy but after last night you just can't defend him anymore. In my mind we were getting a goalkeeper who was much better with the ball at his feet but perhaps not quite as good at shot stopping when compared to DDG. Thats a tradeoff I was happy to make. What we have is a guy who is comfortable with the ball at his feet, doesn't have stellar distribution and is just sketchy when it comes to making saves. He makes plenty of mistakes or near mistakes even when they don't directly lead to goals. He just makes me nervous between the posts and I imagine he does the same for his defenders.

 

[ti vu]

Shouldn’t take you too long to list 7 examples?

I would say there was two last night. One against Bayern. After that I’m struggling to think of “howlers” but am willing to accept there might be another four if you can name them?

Brentford was a howler. Brighton third goal was soft. Copenhagen third goal was soft. Arsenal second goal could have been saved. Arsenal third goal he's stuck where he was instead of anticipating and coming out to close out shooting angle after Jesus feint and evaded the tackle (got helped from our defender so it's not outright 1 vs 1). Galatasaray first goal was him backing off when he could have helped dealing with the bouncing ball. Causing Casemiro sent off and a penalty that was missed by Icardi.

Nottingham Forest 1 vs 1 is bad look even though doing things right may not have been able to prevent the goal. Galatasaray third goal was similar when he was stuck where he was, and his nerve kicked in where he went down making the finishing decision for Icardi easy in 1 vs 1.

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

Posting again here as there are two threads for the same thing…

Basically we had a keeper that was good with his hands but bad with his feet and now we have one that is good with his feet but bad with his hands.

We just need a keeper who is good with both, like Alisson.

 

[tomaldinho1]

De Gea has become like that ex partner everyone has, the last few years of the relationship were terrible but, as time passes, you forget just how bad it was and think of the better times. Eventually you completely warp the memory you have of them into some honeymoon like period.

 

[Tiber]

Posting again here as there are two threads for the same thing…

Basically we had a keeper that was good with his hands but bad with his feet and now we have one that is good with his feet but bad with his hands.

We just need a keeper who is good with both, like Alisson.

His passing is overrated. More than a couple of clunkers last night and even when doing better how has it changed our style of play after all the hype?

 

[evil_geko]

Feel for him

As anyone should, he is a great lad. Abusing he is getting on here is beyond clownish and embarrassing.

 

[sammyhol]

He is probably the worst in the PL in terms of core goalkeeping skills isn't he...

I cant think of a single keeper I have seen with worse fundamentals.

- Cant save low hard shots
- flaps at crosses
- parries everything, lots into dangerous areas
- never gathers the ball first time
- as bad as i've ever seen at 1 on 1s... how many times has he been sat down already this season?
- long distribution no improvement on what we had previously
- slows the game down every time he has the ball at his feet
- gives away lots of chances with sloppy short distribution

The only vague positives you can apply to him is he has made a few good acrobatic/reflex saves with the ball above waist height, and does the odd bit of skill on the ball where he looks "calm".

An awful goalkeeper.

 

[Rossa]

Shouldn’t take you too long to list 7 examples?

I would say there was two last night. One against Bayern. After that I’m struggling to think of “howlers” but am willing to accept there might be another four if you can name them?

Howlers

• 1 against Bayern
• 1 against Galatasaray at home that resulted in a red card and goal against
• 2 against Galatasaray away
• 1 against Brentford
• Should have been sent off against Wolves

Not howlers, but shoddy

• First goal at home against Galatasaray - poorly positioned. If he had either gone to challenge the ball, they would not score, or alterntively stick to his line as he should, they would not score
• Second goal against Tottenham
• 1 against Arsenal - Rice, near post
• 3rd against Brighton - not a mistake, but it's definitely possible to save it.
• 2nd against Newcastle - it's a loose shot that he should be expected to save, albeit close to the upright.
• The one on one vs Nottingham - never a mistake when it's a one on one, but that was poor

If you add the ones that are not howlers, I would say he could have prevented as many as 11 goals

It took a while longer than you suggested though, as I had to watch just to see how bad my memory is/was. Studio said 5 just in the CL - which would be the fifth?

Feel free to disagree. BTW, I actually like him. I think he has the proper attitude and is proactive. I also think we'll get much more out of his ball playing skills when we can (hopefully) soon start with our preferred starting XI. He's not a bad goalie, and he's been playing well for some time now, but he needs to cut out those howlers. The defense needs to trust in their goalie.

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

Raya was my preferred realistic option in the summer. He would have been cheaper than this clown and is cooking up a storm at Arsenal

 

[Rossa]

He made a class double save before Mainoo’s goal line clearance. That wasn’t just poor finishing.

But wouldn't you be mad if he didn't save it? Sure, it is a nice save, and he also pushes it slightly wide. However, if he lets that in, I would be fuming, just a little.

These are the standards he should be held to - highest level.

 

[Pickle85]

His goalkeeping technique just looks so off. Dives when he doesn't seem to need to. Slow to move his feet. Palms things into dangerous areas. He just seems poor at goalkeeping fundamentals.

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

His goalkeeping technique just looks so off. Dives when he doesn't seem to need to. Slow to move his feet. Palms things into dangerous areas. He just seems poor at goalkeeping fundamentals.

Give me a big Northern European keeper any day. Or have they gone out of fashion these days?

 

[Berbaclass]

He made a class double save before Mainoo’s goal line clearance. That wasn’t just poor finishing.

People don’t want to give him credit for all the good stuff he’s done right now.

 

[Yagami]

Maybe we should try him in midfield instead. He's already got the Xavi la pelopina turn down.

 

[Gavinb33]

Raya was my preferred realistic option in the summer. He would have been cheaper than this clown and is cooking up a storm at Arsenal

Raya has not been cooking up a storm at all, he has just a more settled team in front of him but he has made a lost of mistakes

 

[Hughes35]

He's just not a good keeper. I said it after his first game or two. His technique is all over the place. Our scouts need shooting.

De gea needed upgrading.... but we downgraded. Cut our losses and try the young guy we have or buy somebody else.

 

[Pickle85]

Give me a big Northern European keeper any day. Or have they gone out of fashion these days?

Yes please! I'll take one Peter Schmeichel with a side of Oliver Kahn thanks.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Howlers

• 1 against Bayern
• 1 against Galatasaray at home that resulted in a red card and goal against
• 2 against Galatasaray away
• 1 against Brentford
• Should have been sent off against Wolves

Not howlers, but shoddy

• First goal at home against Galatasaray - poorly positioned. If he had either gone to challenge the ball, they would not score, or alterntively stick to his line as he should, they would not score
• Second goal against Tottenham
• 1 against Arsenal - Rice, near post
• 3rd against Brighton - not a mistake, but it's definitely possible to save it.
• 2nd against Newcastle - it's a loose shot that he should be expected to save, albeit close to the upright.
• The one on one vs Nottingham - never a mistake when it's a one on one, but that was poor

If you add the ones that are not howlers, I would say he could have prevented as many as 11 goals

It took a while longer than you suggested though, as I had to watch just to see how bad my memory is/was. Studio said 5 just in the CL - which would be the fifth?

Feel free to disagree. BTW, I actually like him. I think he has the proper attitude and is proactive. I also think we'll get much more out of his ball playing skills when we can (hopefully) soon start with our preferred starting XI. He's not a bad goalie, and he's been playing well for some time now, but he needs to cut out those howlers. The defense needs to trust in their goalie.

No way is the Wolves one a howler. Nor should he have been sent off.

The "shoddy" ones are all from the league, where his save % (and the stat where they take into account the quality of the chance) is the second best in the league. So it just doesn't fit with him regularly missing saves that other keepers would make. Especially when you consider that he hasn't made that many miracle saves (apart from the Haaland header anyway)

I'm on the fence with him. I have worries about his fundamental technique. It will take me a long time to get over the way he tried to keep out Gala's second goal. It was so so bad. But I do think he is an effective enough shot stopper, in a very unconventional way. And his composure on the ball and speed off the line is a big improvement on what we're used to. He does need to cut out these howlers though. As you say, if the defence can't trust their keeper it can wreck the whole project.

 

[sammyhol]

No way is the Wolves one a howler. Nor should he have been sent off.

The "shoddy" ones are all from the league, where his save % (and the stat where they take into account the quality of the chance) is the second best in the league. So it just doesn't fit with him regularly missing saves that other keepers would make. Especially when you consider that he hasn't made that many miracle saves (apart from the Haaland header anyway)

I'm on the fence with him. I have worries about his fundamental technique. It will take me a long time to get over the way he tried to keep out Gala's second goal. It was so so bad. But I do think he is an effective enough shot stopper, in a very unconventional way. And his composure on the ball and speed off the line is a big improvement on what we're used to. He does need to cut out these howlers though. As you say, if the defence can't trust their keeper it can wreck the whole project.

You make a couple of points here that I see very differently... The fact the only miracle save you can think of is the Haaland one suggests something very different to me. That means you can think of several occasions of him conceding a goal when he shouldn't have, but can only think of one single occasion where he made a significant goalkeeping contribution that he had "no right" to... now think back to how regularly De Gea made stand out, match winning saves... even in his wobblier years.

Secondly, I can't believe you think his speed off his line has been good. There has been the odd time that he has been positioned far up the pitch when we are in possession (see last nights pirouette), but with balls over the top he has been welded to his line to an even greater degree than De Gea was, and that was arguably De Gea's worst trait.

I don't even think most of his mistakes/wobbles have been punished by us conceding thats the really worrying point for me.

 

[Buster15]

Yes his goalkeeping style is for me comparable to Wan Bissaka's dribbling, just awkward and doesn't look natural, but that's most likely just his style and he's obviously proved himself as a GK. Agree that he's kind of pushing the ball away in unusual directions when he's stopping a shot.
Butslow playing out of the back is usually when we're leading and there's no need to do it quick, otherwise he starts fast.

I need to see a whole season of him to make my mind up, so far he's mixed very solid with embarrassing goalkeeping, would like to see a larger sample to know what can be expected for longer periods of time The clangers are worrying, because from history, keepers who tend to make them, tend to repeat them.

I do agree with that. Still early days I guess. And hopefully the GK coach is working with him. Because he definitely needs it.

 

[RedorDead21]

I reckon his CL performances this season will go down as the worst ever. He's basically the reason why we won't qualify for the knockouts and it's not even that controversial to say that.

To those saying he should be benched, ETH will never do that with his Ajax favorite. We are stuck with him as long as ETH is there. It took Antony some truly horrendous run of form and personal controversies to be benched for a couple of games, there's no way Onana is going anywhere.

That and we have Antony replacements at the ready compared to the GK position. But yeah the fact both were brought in by him is the main issue regardless.

 

[Gordon Godot]

I do agree with that. Still early days I guess. And hopefully the GK coach is working with him. Because he definitely needs it.

So we spent £50m on a keeper who needs fundamental coaching and went on a free last summer. And we wonder why the club is such a mess.

 

[Marcelinho87]

Raya has not been cooking up a storm at all, he has just a more settled team in front of him but he has made a lost of mistakes

exactly, in our team Raya would have wilted into nothingness such is the shambles ahead of Onana.

Not excusing the faults but pointing out he’s had a very unsettled start here.

 

[Pickle85]

exactly, in our team Raya would have wilted into nothingness such is the shambles ahead of Onana.

Not excusing the faults but pointing out he’s had a very unsettled start here.

He's been a huge part of his own unsettled start though. You can't really separate one from the other and saying Raya would have wilted into nothingness is pure speculation. He looks a far better goalkeeper than Onana, shaky start or no.

 

[antonyrightfoot]

My issue with Onana is not about his poor shot stopping skill which we all knew was average at best, my issue is his passing and distribution are pretty average as well which make him completely pointless. I know people will disagree but we should try sign Ramsdale from Arsenal imo