Fair play. It’s not like I was some adamant onana defender either - my belief was shaken to the point I had almost given up on him (he wasn’t anywhere near my top choice to begin with either). But I tried persevering to give him some time to settle in, especially as we became more shite by the day under EtH.
But there was a time here where it felt like he was literally being blamed for every goal we conceded (“should have saved”, “should have done better”) - even though it seemed like there’s literally not much any other goalkeeper could have done. With posters like
@Pogue Mahone and a few others trying to defend the GK almost on a daily basis! I’m not sure if it was purely because of his errors or because of the EtH links to his signing (more ammunition for the “outers” as if they needed it) - probably a combination of the two in reality.
But yeah, I’m extremely happy how he’s turned it around into being possibly the top performing GK thus far in the current PL season! Shows a lot of mental strength from Onana as well.
Yeah, it's also a bit ridiculous to have to admit mistakes a bit here, it's basically unpredictable if a player adapts well to another league, a new chapter in life, or whether he looked better than he was (or worse for that matter).
And since football is more alive when there's drama, it also makes sense that the debate rises to peaks when someone is either performing below par (at least to some/many) - or when they are still to arrive or return.
I think it's also decreasing when (almost) everybody's lost faith in someone. I can see Zirkzee pulling bigger numbers than Antony this year, even if about 60m euros cheaper. Antony would have to be started every game by Amorim to have him pull those numbers in replies again. And even then it has to be either because of people being pissed off by Amorim for playing an "obvious" failure, or him suddenly overperforming - at least based on his United resume - or being reinvented?
Zirkzee is still in his debate phase even if some are already done with giving him an honest chance. And enough people know some players need a whole season (if not more) to shine - in possibly surprising ways - even when ignoring regular confidence questions and such.
Especially in goalkeepers it gets boring to not have much more to say "solid" and such. So either a mistake or a bad game gets the drama to rise once more, or he has to make some crazy viral saves, or an assist or some such yada yada. There isn't as much room to say he would be unlocked in another position or next to another player, outside of perhaps shaky defense and controlling midfield to a degree, but even then you'd see the debates move to their respective threads instead. So, especially considering Onana himself shows solidity, Yoro increasing his stability even more or something just seems like too much of a reach (in some ways) to really unlock a long form discussion about Onana and his role in the team.
But it was also fair to consider Onana an assessment that ended up performing below expectations. He did. And since we're human beings it's normal to feel like you may have been wrong if the potential in your mind never comes to fruition in practice. But was that potential really not there? He was still the goalkeeper that altered City's pressing plans in the CL final because of his unique level of press resistance turning a pressing plan to wasted energy if set up correctly in his passing and clearance outlets. But whether it's a skill question or a fit/match question, a great player could always turn out to be a horrible signing. But even though we can only work with what we see, so you can work with your eye tests and statistics to analyze whether someone's succesful, the actual consideration to back someone, isn't an objective issue.
After returning from his suspension (and after 5 good games or so right after his return) Onana was very shaky at Ajax as well. That's why ETH dropped him. Enough to consider perhaps he lost it after a sabbatical. Then his last half year at Inter showed not just a return to form, but an increase in skill, his confidence seemed to have lost the "over-" factor. That's why ETH signed him (or suggested to use this opportunity to replace De Gea with one of the best possession-composed 'keepers out there to improve over the prior season's AWB-Varane-Licha-Shaw//Casemiro-Eriksen increase in stability and composure). But where the Ajax for was just a few months (tops) away from the end of his contract, and the Inter form came in his first season already, even though there was slight improvement... it was still fair to feel unsure about Onana, at least for the long term GK-responsibility.
That assessment wouldn't be wrong, it's just an assessment based on what you witnessed, what you interpreted about the situation, and what your considerations and estimations are to go forth in this direction, or alter course.
Just like there would have been fair reasons to let go of ETH earlier, there were fair reasons to keep him around after all the injuries and then the convincing FA Cup win. Just as there were reasons to keep him at least until Yoro, Mainoo, Malacia and Shaw would return, there were also reasons to let him go anyway due to the low and persistent levels of confidence in the team and club, and the dependencies (or - possible - bad luck or whatever you want to call it) being too much of a gamble to continue on this route with the confidence in your plan necessary to move forward together as an organization and as a football team aiming to be at or near the top of England and Europe.
In his case people are also not wrong for still thinking ETH is a good manager because of Ajax, Utrecht, whatever. Nor are people wrong when they consider him overrated the 2019 CL run and 2021 group stage dominance luck/opposition based rather than ETH-sourced.
It's all just too unclear what the causes of many things are. Are players really good, overperforming, or just an amazing fit in this specific role in this specific context? Was Onana really bad, underperforming or let down by his team or its plan? Is it a manager's fault, is it bad luck, a misfit or a bad (relatively) squad - or again underperforming because of reasons external to the manager?
We see the same for Amorim. It helps he just crushed City, but his track record also isn't huge, either. The early goal got people high, the rest of the game made it feel like a hoax to many. Now I assume most will think it's too early to judge decicively, but whether Utd will do well or not, can anyone say factually it's because of a great (or trash) manager, or because of (bad) luck, or just being a good (or horrible) match to this squad and the general club culture?
It almost feels like an unfair comparison already since he seems to be able to play Shaw, Mainoo, Mount and Malacia, and soon Yoro too. But still if he does well with them as center pieces it wouldn't suddenly mean that the ETH deniers are suddenly wrong. Just as his defenders wouldn't be incorrect for noticing that those players were essential for his plans and the current squad setup in general. It's all just unpredictable and in depth analysis can improve estimates and decisions regarding a football side's future, but there's no surefire path to take.
So losing your confidence when Onana underperformed makes perfect sense. Based on his earlier performances at other clubs it also made sense to keep believing his ability should start to show sometime, whether here or at a better fit elsewhere. Perhaps it's just a purple patch now for a goalkeeper still not suited to the BPL.
So yeah, the drama of football fans is extremely annoying and tiring, just as typing essays about football that don't say much more than a simple sentence like "life and the future are unpredictable" would have can be so unnecessary. But unfortunately I cannot purely objectively state those flipfloppers are wrong when they don't rate Onana.
I am pissed that he still doesn't have any much higher than average ball control and passing stats on PES, though. But Konami is an objectively bad company, so it makes sense.
- thanks bud.