[Champ]

Said it when we were after him, said it when we brought him and will say it again now,
He's not a great keeper, he's a mistake waiting to happen and is not an improvement on De Gea no matter which way you look at it.

All this talk of progressive goalkeeping allowing our back line to play higher up is complete and utter hogwash.
Onana can't play high due to his poor positional sense, and a keeper doing so doesn't really allow the team to move forward and play high, it really is relatively immaterial to a tactical setup.

We've seen Arsenal swap GKs relatively quickly, City done it with Bravo, will be interesting what happens here.

 

[SilentWitness]

He will improve on the pitch and his character to do the interview and admit faults was good too and something you've been severely lacking in this team.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Said it when we were after him, said it when we brought him and will say it again now,
He's not a great keeper, he's a mistake waiting to happen and is not an improvement on De Gea no matter which way you look at it.

All this talk of progressive goalkeeping allowing our back line to play higher up is complete and utter hogwash.
Onana can't play high due to his poor positional sense, and a keeper doing so doesn't really allow the team to move forward and play high, it really is relatively immaterial to a tactical setup.

We've seen Arsenal swap GKs relatively quickly, City done it with Bravo, will be interesting what happens here.

Always find it weird when people have a perfectly valid reason to criticise a player (poor shot stopping so far) but get all carried away and start making shit up to find new, fictional ways to have a go. His positional sense is perfectly fine. He has always played high up the pitch and does it very well.

 

[1988]

Shockingly bad start from him. Hopefully it's just a dip in form and confidence. Hope he'll come good after a few wins in row and a few clean sheets.

 

[TSop]

Hes the third most expensive keeper of all time....

 

[erikcred]

Gets respect from me. Dont get the love for bashing new players and at least he has the right attitude. I also felt that his passing was very good and we finally utilized it. Go on Andre

The fact he's new should also not be some sort of shield against any criticism of his on-field performances.

What I don't get is this gushing over his interviews. Yes, says all the right things. But hardly what we signed him for.

 

[Champ]

Always find it weird when people have a perfectly valid reason to criticise a player (poor shot stopping so far) but get all carried away and start making shit up to find new, fictional ways to have a go. His positional sense is perfectly fine. He has always played high up the pitch and does it very well.

Despite the multiple lobs on pre season where he was far too high up the pitch?

Or the fourth goal last night where he was routed to his line?

Or, rather more picky, but the second goal he left a huge target on his left hand side, was covering the near post way too much probably because he didn't trust himself to save any near post shot.

His positional sense isn't the greatest, just watch him at Inter as well, same things happen.

 

[matsdf]

Not worried about him at all. Let's get our proper back four up and running, and I think the pros massively outway the cons.

 

[Crimson King]

Hes the third most expensive keeper of all time....

Doesn't really mean anything when Kepa is the most expensive. We also bought Onana in 2023, when prices for players in any position are mental. I imagine that would be pretty much the going rate Utd would have to pay for a starting GK these days.

 

[Oranges038]

Said it when we were after him, said it when we brought him and will say it again now,
He's not a great keeper, he's a mistake waiting to happen and is not an improvement on De Gea no matter which way you look at it.

All this talk of progressive goalkeeping allowing our back line to play higher up is complete and utter hogwash.
Onana can't play high due to his poor positional sense, and a keeper doing so doesn't really allow the team to move forward and play high, it really is relatively immaterial to a tactical setup.

We've seen Arsenal swap GKs relatively quickly, City done it with Bravo, will be interesting what happens here.

Absolute nonsense.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Despite the multiple lobs on pre season where he was far too high up the pitch?

Or the fourth goal last night where he was routed to his line?

Or, rather more picky, but the second goal he left a huge target on his left hand side, was covering the near post way too much probably because he didn't trust himself to save any near post shot.

His positional sense isn't the greatest, just watch him at Inter as well, same things happen.

By “multiple” you mean “one”, right?

His positional sense is fine. It’s one of his strengths. That’s how he gets away with playing so high up the pitch so often.

 

[KeanoMagicHat]

Said it when we were after him, said it when we brought him and will say it again now,
He's not a great keeper, he's a mistake waiting to happen and is not an improvement on De Gea no matter which way you look at it.

All this talk of progressive goalkeeping allowing our back line to play higher up is complete and utter hogwash.
Onana can't play high due to his poor positional sense, and a keeper doing so doesn't really allow the team to move forward and play high, it really is relatively immaterial to a tactical setup.

We've seen Arsenal swap GKs relatively quickly, City done it with Bravo, will be interesting what happens here.

He played 214 games for Ajax doing that. There's literally a video 'Onana doesn't like staying in goal'

 

[RedC]

Honestly, I’d advise him to stop doing the media duties for a while. Fronting up game after game will start to make me people resent you. Maguire, Bruno, De Gea etc. were all the same. Stop apologising. Just let your football do the talking.

Maguire fronting up to mistakes he's made, what planet are you living on

 

[Champ]

Absolute nonsense.

How so?

A keepers usual average position should be just within their own box when discussing a team controlling the game, this position will have minimal impact on where the back line position themselves,

 

[Champ]

He played 214 games for Ajax doing that. There's literally a video 'Onana doesn't like staying in goal'

So a video of Onana rushing out of his goal, whereby at least half of the clips were of Onana not needing to be where he found himself, and was lucky to have not conceded is proof that Onana can indeed show good positional sense and play higher up the pitch?

Not sure you've really made your point in the best way with that video.

Look, he's great with his feet, he can obviously play football but his positional sense and awareness is lacking in comparison to other top GKs,

 

[PaulRich]

To be fair when you're a bit low on confidence and form the last thing you need are the bellends he has playing in front of him.

 

[Di Maria's angel]

He will improve on the pitch and his character to do the interview and admit faults was good too and something you've been severely lacking in this team.

Can you not? You ruined a streak of around 300 posts complaining about Onana. Also don't think anyone wants to read a sensible post.

 

[Champ]

By “multiple” you mean “one”, right?

His positional sense is fine. It’s one of his strengths. That’s how he gets away with playing so high up the pitch so often.

Two lobs in pre season, which then led to him actually playing much deeper the next game, noticeably too, which for me shows his weakness when trying to play high.

 

[Bole Top]

I think we all need to remember a simple fact. unless you're trully stacked and well coached team, clubs on average score about 2 goals per game during the season. Inter, with Onana there, scored 71 goal in previous season. Liverpool scored 75 and they have Allison. Barca scored 70. the simple fact is, most attacks don't result in goals and those who do in vast majority of cases have nothing to do with how good your goalkeeper handles the ball.

in a perfect scenario it's a nice bonus, the same way a good corner kick taker is. in a well coached team with good midfield and functional attack you don't even think about goalkeeper's passing stats. I bet majority of you don't even know the name of Napoli's keeper.

the problem is, current struggling United can't offer that perfect scenario where you only think of that bonus. not only we simply aren't at that level yet, but he's also showing he's worse than De Gea at actual goalkeeping.

we needed a new goalkeeper if not for this, then for the next season. just don't expect drastic change just because he's here. and make no mistake, if he continue with blunders, nobody will care about his passing stats.

 

[erikcred]

I think we all need to remember a simple fact. unless you're trully stacked and well coached team, clubs on average score about 2 goals per game during the season. Inter, with Onana there, scored 71 goal in previous season. Liverpool scored 75 and they have Allison. Barca scored 70. the simple fact is, most attacks don't result in goals and those who do in vast majority of cases have nothing to do with how good your goalkeeper handles the ball.

in a perfect scenario it's a nice bonus, the same way a good corner kick taker is. in a well coached team with good midfield and functional attack you don't even think about goalkeeper's passing stats. I bet majority of you don't even know the name of Napoli's keeper.

the problem is, current struggling United can't offer that perfect scenario where you only think of that bonus. not only we simply aren't at that level yet, but he's also showing he's worse than De Gea at actual goalkeeping.

we needed a new goalkeeper if not for this, then for the next season. just don't expect drastic change just because he's here. and make no mistake, if he continue with blunders, nobody will care about his passing stats.

Good post. If anything, all this noise about his passing may be causing him to put pressure on himself to do more of that.

I felt that with yesterday's shot, he was already thinking about starting an attack even before completing the save.

 

[Oranges038]

How so?

A keepers usual average position should be just within their own box when discussing a team controlling the game, this position will have minimal impact on where the back line position themselves,

Because it is.

In the simpest terms. The role of the keeper in a high pressing team is to back up the press, that means he actually has to spend most of his time away from the goal and much of it outside the box when the ball is up the other end of the pitch. This is to push his defenders up and enforce the press from back to front, maintaining distances between defence, midfielders and forwards to ensure an effective press and then he's there to mop up any loose balls that come over the top.

For me the regular starting position should be around 12 to 18 yards out, and he should be roaming up to about 40 yards when the ball is being pressed at the other end of the pitch to push the defence right up to the half way line.

 

[Greyfog]

He will come good. Maybe will need competition against someone that can also pass to raise his overall game.

Ederson was sh|t up until 2nd half of last season partly imo, due to the competition with Ortega, who is decent with the ball at his feet and a better stopper.

 

[NicolaSacco]

Doesn't really mean anything when Kepa is the most expensive. We also bought Onana in 2023, when prices for players in any position are mental. I imagine that would be pretty much the going rate Utd would have to pay for a starting GK these days.

I think you could still argue that, for a club with a finite transfer budget, spending £50m on a keeper was not the optimum allocation of limited resources. I think in that sense you could argue that he is expensive *for Utd*, perhaps an unnecessarily high and avoidable cost, given overall constraints.

 

[Crimson King]

I think you could still argue that, for a club with a finite transfer budget, spending £50m on a keeper was not the optimum allocation of limited resources. I think in that sense you could argue that he is expensive *for Utd*, perhaps an unnecessarily high and avoidable cost, given overall constraints.

DDG needed to be replaced. We couldn't give him a new contract. It was probably something that should have been sorted some time ago, before it was an issue in the summer.

I think Onana will fine in the long run.

 

[MegadrivePerson]

Said it when we were after him, said it when we brought him and will say it again now,
He's not a great keeper, he's a mistake waiting to happen and is not an improvement on De Gea no matter which way you look at it.

Is this the same De Gea that still can't find a new club?

Did you honestly expect the team to completely understand and adapt to playing with a goalkeeper that is the complete opposite style of De Gea in the opening six games?

 

[NicolaSacco]

DDG needed to be replaced. We couldn't give him a new contract. It was probably something that should have been sorted some time ago, before it was an issue in the summer.

I think Onana will fine in the long run.

I think you’re very likely right in your first para, not so sure about your last. Time will tell.

I’m sure you are not actually saying this, so I’m not trying to put words into your mouth, but Onana being the best available signing is unrelated to De Gea needing to leave. The latter being true doesn’t make the former true.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I think you could still argue that, for a club with a finite transfer budget, spending £50m on a keeper was not the optimum allocation of limited resources. I think in that sense you could argue that he is expensive *for Utd*, perhaps an unnecessarily high and avoidable cost, given overall constraints.

We needed a new keeper. Giving DDG a new contract would just be doubling down on what was already an obvious mistake.

Whether the 50m spent replacing him was spent wisely will only be something we know for sure when Onana's had some time to put this poor start behind him. And/or other keepers bought for similar fees at the same time look like much better buys. David Raya will be one to keep an eye on. He seemed like a much better option, in my opinion. If he looks the business for Arsenal it will be very annoying.

 

[Apokalips]

He has had a poor start, but I think he has the personality to fight back and I really appreciate his honesty in appraising his own shortcomings and being brave enough to face the music about it. I feel that his attitude is right, so hopefully his performances improve to match that. He seems like a fighter and definitely has more of the character that we need in our squad.

Those saying DDG would be better, are being nostalgic.

 

[NicolaSacco]

We needed a new keeper. Giving DDG a new contract would just be doubling down on what was already an obvious mistake.

Whether the 50m spent replacing him was spent wisely will only be something we know for sure when Onana's had some time to put this poor start behind him. And/or other keepers bought for similar fees at the same time look like much better buys. David Raya will be one to keep an eye on. He seemed like a much better option, in my opinion. If he looks the business for Arsenal it will be very annoying.

Yeah, it does surprise me that Utd didn’t seem to go for Raya, you surely could have got him once he knew De Gea was leaving.

 

[Crimson King]

I think you’re very likely right in your first para, not so sure about your last. Time will tell.

I’m sure you are not actually saying this, so I’m not trying to put words into your mouth, but Onana being the best available signing is unrelated to De Gea needing to leave. The latter being true doesn’t make the former true.

I think he might have been the best available for what the manager wanted. That part of his game hasn't been a problem. Perhaps for the price point as well...there's certainly other GKs I would have preferred, but would have cost a lot more. A lot of people mentioning Martinez at Villa...that wouldn't have been an easy transfer. Similarly Costa at Porto, who also has an error in him anyway, but might have been a better long term signing.

We would have probably needed to keep Dean Henderson for even longer than we did! Imagine if it collapsed on deadline day and we went into the season with Heaton or Henderson as #1?! Inter were willing sellers. It was a signing that made sense.

With a stronger, organised defensive structure he'll be fine. Ederson and Allison are both great GKs who have made high profile errors. Now, I'm not saying Onana is as good as them, but I don't think the gulf is as big as some people are making out this morning. The difference is that, at the moment, their teams do the business in front of them, more often than not.

 

[padzilla]

All goalkeepers make mistakes, it's how they respond that matters. I am not sure any keeper would benefit from the clown show in front of them to honest.

We needed a decent centre half in the summer as Varane is never fit and Maguire and Lindelof just aren't good enough. We got Jonny Evans on a free transfer.

 

[Drifter]

Not the most mobile keeper,the first goal, he went down like a log. He had a better second half

 

[Champ]

Is this the same De Gea that still can't find a new club?

Did you honestly expect the team to completely understand and adapt to playing with a goalkeeper that is the complete opposite style of De Gea in the opening six games?

No, but I expect the keeper to achieve the minimum expected from a player in such a position, which so far Onana has failed to do.

 

[Champ]

Because it is.

In the simpest terms. The role of the keeper in a high pressing team is to back up the press, that means he actually has to spend most of his time away from the goal and much of it outside the box when the ball is up the other end of the pitch. This is to push his defenders up and enforce the press from back to front, maintaining distances between defence, midfielders and forwards to ensure an effective press and then he's there to mop up any loose balls that come over the top.

For me the regular starting position should be around 12 to 18 yards out, and he should be roaming up to about 40 yards when the ball is being pressed at the other end of the pitch to push the defence right up to the half way line.

A high press does not need the keeper to be 40 yards out to work, of course it won't work if the keeper is routed to their line, but equally when pressing from the front it really won't make any odds where the keeper stands.

The defence should be on the half way line as a matter of habit whether the keepers up or not, that's basic football positioning.

 

[TempusFugit]

Onana has been shaky so far but he seems strong mentally and pulled off some decent saves in the 2nd half even after his mistake to gift them a goal. I just hope he cuts out the mistakes and becomes really good for us.

We aren't helping him in anyway when our opponents can basically pick a spot inside our own penalty box. How many times have players strolled into our our 18m area this season alone? Our midfield is utterly incapable of making an interception, leading to our CBs being under constant pressure. Look at all the goals we've conceded from cutbacks, how free our opponents are to take shots at Onana. We need to do something about it, we are probably the easiest team to score against in the PL right now.

 

[TSop]

Doesn't really mean anything when Kepa is the most expensive. We also bought Onana in 2023, when prices for players in any position are mental. I imagine that would be pretty much the going rate Utd would have to pay for a starting GK these days.

Really....

Off the top of my head

David Raya

Doesn't really mean anything when Kepa is the most expensive. We also bought Onana in 2023, when prices for players in any position are mental. I imagine that would be pretty much the going rate Utd would have to pay for a starting GK these days.

Really...

England alone..

Raya £13m
Nick Pope £17M
Martinez £26m
Ortega £5m

All cheaper and better than Onana

 

[poleglass red]

still very early but he doesn't seem to pull off the great saves top keepers make. Some of the goals we've conceded so far, he could have done better. He seems confident on the ball, but everywhere else ie shotstopping, coming for crosses, coming off his line, he seems uncertain. He doesn't seem like he's able to get down quickly enough to make saves. We've seen goals conceded that aren't even going in the corner of the net. I'd never write a player of after 6 games or so, but I am worried about him. I hope he turns it around and quickly because the UK press love to put pressure on our players who make mistakes.

 

[RvNPas]

He is very similar to Fab Barthez Onana will win EPL here just like Fab haha.

 

[Sara125]

Funny thing is, if this was City, he'd be totally fine cos he wouldn't barely have to make a save.

He is basically Ederson.

I agree. They have to formula right- Ederson isn’t and doesn’t need to be a great shot stopper (not to say he is crap but just he doesn’t *need* to be amazing) as the opposition can barely even get in or around city’s final third for them to even have a chance to make loads of shots, but what he is good at (distribution and on his feet etc.) helps because they have the quality to play out from the back so that’s how they play.

This is basically Onana but our system is the opposite (we are crap so opposition have a field day and make shots whereas we don’t have quality to play from the back) so it doesn’t work.

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

I feel like he’s been told to stay on his line pretty much now