Unpopular opinion but he's not as bad as people think he is. We can put prime Yashin under our goal and still concede left right and center with the way we set up and defend. I am not saying he has been very good for us (though I think he's come far better since early this year) but he's not as bad as people say. He might look clumsy and erratic which I think affect how people judge him. Also he is really good with his feet when ETH isnt stupid to ask him to hoof the ball upfield randomly.
24
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 51
- Clean sheets
- 13
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 6
He played well and distribution was calm under pressure. Even his shot stopping which has been widely panned this season was good, he parried the balls out to the side rather than back into a dangerous area. Nothing he could have done about the goal, unfortunately.
Was solid yesterday. Made three or four really good saves.
His best performance so far imo. I'm one of those who's already lost faith so he needs to string some good performances together before I'm convinced. Good today though!
Man Utd 3:2 Newcastle
New
Some good saves but his kicking was poor
Good game, made a couple of crucial saves when we were 2 1 up
Good performance, made some good saves.
Good saves, kept us in the game really.
Shame he gives them the ball back with his distribution, they also created a good chance from it. Probably best just throwing it out. Could be our midfield not really being ready to receive the ball or misunderstandings.
Shame he gives them the ball back with his distribution, they also created a good chance from it. Probably best just throwing it out. Could be our midfield not really being ready to receive the ball or misunderstandings.
Played a big part tonight with some good saves
If only we had a keeper who makes saves, though.
Agreed, he completely baffles me. Some of his distribution was worse than De Gea.
The most pointless stat of them all.
If only we had a keeper who makes saves, though.
The point is how completely unprotected he has been all season.
He's gonna have to improve next season if he wants to stay long term, that's for sure
I was about the write words to the same effect but you've captured the essence of the situation well.
Onana performed well enough this season to keep the job for a second season, but if his second season is a re-run of his first there can't be a third season for him at Old Trafford. His erratic play wasn't supposed to be an issue for a keeper with the experience that he already had.
Brighton 0:2 Man Utd
New
Love his character. Hope he improves next year and gets rid of some of the mistakes. There will always be some just like with every keeper in the league.
Last edited:
Would be good if he manages one more clean sheet this season.
Him standing on the ball doing absolutely nothing with it until an opposition striker closes him down is so irritating.
I think the issue of his kicking is def an issue but equally the fact there is zero movement doesnt help. Often options are limited and the long balls are just percentage kicks. Other keepers have 3 or 4 easier options....
His short passing and composure is obviously elite but we've not seen enough of it because the backline has clearly not been coached for it. However, his long kicking has deteriorated really badly the last few months. I don't mind him standing on it and waiting for a better angle etc as it at least gives us a chance to reset but he keeps sending just before the half way line, where we get countered from a simple header. He needs to always go long into the opposition channel so we can at least win the second ball and be in a more optimal part of the pitch i.e everyone behind the ball.
It's such an easy fix. In those specific situations, just kick it as hard as you can into the corner flag areas ffs. You're never going to find cute long, telegraphed passes into your striker or wide player around the halfway line with the terrible movement we have without the opposition crowding them on the first or second touch.
It's all about finding space to exploit. Very sensible.
Exactly, all the teams who play out from the back this way do it.
Agree and the nail on the head is around coaching as a team. He probably has kicked it long more times in this season than his whole career...
Yeah I don't mind his passes and delaying of it at all in the short areas but I think he needs to improve in the long kicking, where's trying to be too cute and in turn gets us caught out. Hopefully, we'll finally see some coaching next season.
Would you not think some of our players are like statues and hence the reason he holds it…
Just browsed through to catch up on the last few games and its clear the agenda is well and truly set. In a season where we've had no recognizable back 4, this thread barely gets half a page when he has good games, but countless comments filled with gutter drivel when he makes a mistake 
Fantastic interview. He comes across as really honest, genuine.
He talked about how he was flying high and had a big ego before coming to United. Then the first six months really injected some humility into him, only to make him stronger and more realistic about who he is and where he is playing.
Tweet
— Twitter API (@user) date
It's not Onana's passing that makes his footwork elite. It's his first touch on the ball when he's under pressure that separates makes his footwork elite. Opponents who wise up to this let him have the ball without any pressure and once Onana has time on his hands to pick out a pass he takes too long to make a pass and by the time that pass is made the opposition has had enough time to get organized. But Onana's first touch is outstanding, a vast improvement over his predecessor at the position. But if you back off Onana and close down the options to defenders he goes longball and his long passes are no better than De Gea's, apart from that one pass to Garnacho early in the season against Spurs that immediately led to a chance on goal.
Although his long passes out aren't his greatest strength the bolded bit is just not true, there have been a few occasions where he has put players through.
I also don't think it's a case of teams figuring him out, but us as a team out. It's about providing good options for the keeper when teams drop off and we don't always do that.
A few occasions perhaps, but very few.
Opponents have indeed worked out how to deal with Onana's exceptional footwork, which is to drop off him and let him slow the game down to a crawl. What happens, and we see this every game, is that Onana puts his foot on top of the ball waiting for an opponent to challenge him and when nothing happens, he stands there with the ball and finally sends a long pass that invariably goes nowhere. We're easy to work out up and down the squad, but it's really easy to work out Onana.
A few is fine when you realise he's actually a goalkeeper, how often do you think keepers do this sort of thing?
Are you suggesting that Onana is ignoring good passing options because he's hoping that someone will press him?
Martinez also does the foot on the ball . We need more who can do it and pass , he doesn't get pressed much either . The more this happens with more players who can do it , the higher the line will get .
I think he does sometimes, but it's mostly because our players are like statues
Onana is far more capable than De Gea in kicking long with his technique, awareness and actual willingness to attempt. Even with his long kicking going to absolute shite recently, he's probably put in 5+ good balls in behind or to find players just this season, which is probably more than De Gea's last couple of seasons combined.
The issue is two things 1) he keeps making the simple mistake of only going long towards the half line only (when it should be further so we can challenge for the 2nd ball) and 2) our poor movement/coaching. His quality/ability is not in question here for me. I agree though that opponents have worked Onana out regarding forcing him to go long but that is largely on the manager for me; so much of our play is improvised that he leaves our players just doing whatever they want e.g Onana long balls to halfway line, Garnacho/Rashford taking 10 shots a game etc.
Tweet
— Twitter API (@user) date
"I arrived the best goalkeeper in the world"
fecking what
fecking what
Not at all. What I’m suggesting is that the notion that Onana was ever going to transform our attack, which was repeatedly pitched as the justification for getting rid of De Gea, was daft. Onana clearly is better on the ball than De Gea, but our attack was no more effective than last season. That’s not Onana’s fault in the least. All things being equal, you’ll always take superior footwork from a keeper, but we downgraded shot-stopping ability while we upgraded footwork that made no difference in our ability to control midfield or create chances on goal.
I really like his personality, great interview with Neville I thought. I’ve maintained his second half of the season has been very good overall, so I hope he can continue to build on that next year and put the first half of the season behind him. More than that, I just hope we actually manage to play better as an overall team because I think in that settup he’s going to be a huge benefit to the side.
I don't mind players having the composure and awareness to put their foot on the ball to wait for a passing line to clear or a player to show.
It happens when teams and players are hard to press and the opposition don't bother pressing because they know you're probably just going knock it around them if they do. Obviously then one of the midfield need to show for the ball and at Utd that link player doesn't exist so it rarely happens. Scholes did it perfectly for years, you can see why ETH wanted De Jong.
I think if you watch back you're going to see Ferdinand etc doing this quite often too. Utd fans just aren't used to it anymore.