Assessing Andre: Has Onana been the upgrade Man Utd needed in their net?

Ian Watson
Man Utd goalkeeper Andre Onana
Andre Onana has been a positive in United's mixed start to the season.

We’re four games into Andre Onana’s Manchester United career, which makes judgement long overdue. Has he been the upgrade Erik ten Hag hoped for?

The goalkeeper, signed from Inter Milan for £43.7million, was widely heralded as a major upgrade and key to helping Erik ten Hag imprint his vision on this United side.

Has that borne out? Let’s examine the early evidence. Firstly, a look at Onana’s primary function: stopping the ball going into Manchester United’s goal.

For all the talk of how the new signing would be United’s first line of attack, it remains every goalkeeper’s priority to be a solid last line of defence. Otherwise we could stick gloves on a No.10 and bin the No.1s, weird lot that they are.

The raw stats:
Games: 4
Goals conceded: 7
Clean sheets: 1
Saves: 15
Shots on target faced: 21
Saves percentage: 66.7%
PSxGA: 6.1
PsxGA +/-: +0.1

So, roughly, he’s stopped as many and conceded as many as he might be expected to. What about those seven goals?

After a clean sheet in his first game, during which Onana made a series of blocks against a Wolves side who would struggle to finish a brew, the new keeper conceded his first goals at Tottenham in a 2-0 defeat. Pape Matar Sarr’s opener was a finish from close range and Onana could do little once the Spurs midfielder made a good connection with a potentially awkward first-time, close-range finish. Spurs’ second goal, credited as an own goal for Lisandro Martinez, was so catastrophic that Onana deserves credit for keeping a straight face.

Things started very awkwardly in the Forest game. Onana conceded twice in the first four minutes and the opener prompted plenty of derision. Taiwo Awoniyi raced clean through from inside his own half after a United corner, reaching the penalty area by which time many had expected Onana to engage with the striker. But the keeper remained at home, staying close to his line, declining the opportunity to narrow Awoniyi’s angles.

It is an approach many goalkeepers are favouring in one-on-one situations, preferring to hold and react in the hope of forcing the forward into overthinking while seizing on the reaction time gained to employ a more specific technique for whatever type of shot they face, rather than simply making themselves as big as possible in the hope of blocking. It can be effective; it can also leave goalkeepers looking a bit daft.

Onana screwed himself by buying Awoniyi’s subtle dummy, sitting himself down in his six-yard box before the Forest forward stroked the ball into the gaping net.

Forest’s second was just as shabby from United’s perspective. A set-piece from the right hit Willy Boly’s bonce and while the marking from Casemiro and Aaron Wan-Bissaka was dire, Onana also failed in his movement. As the ball was redirected towards his left, Onana was sprang slightly right, leaving his stance too wide to adapt. Had he been set properly, he would have given himself the opportunity to at least push off his left foot.

Then to Arsenal. Onana conceded moments after enjoying Marcus Rashford’s opener with the travelling United fans but there was little he could do to prevent Martin Odegaard’s equaliser. Peter Schmeichel, though, felt ‘the goalkeeper should have saved it’ when asked his view on Arsenal’s all-important second goal in added time.

The deflection, off Jonny Evans, is crucial. Without that, the ball hits Onana, if it even makes it that far. His position, slightly off centre, closer to the near post, rightly acknowledged the positions of his defenders, who queued up to guard the back two-thirds of the goal. Still, even with the deflection, Onana got at a big paw behind the shot, but the pace of the ball was greater than the strength in his right wrist. Could he have saved it? Yes. Should he have saved it? Possibly. Schmeichel knows his goalkeeping onions, doesn’t he?

Arsenal’s third: Gabriel Jesus finished off a rapid counter-attack after sending Diogo Dalot to the shops. Again, Onana stayed deep but, again, the striker stayed calm and rolled the ball to the keeper’s left. If Onana wants to make one-on-ones a battle of wits by holding his ground, he needs to hope that his future opponents are rather more easily fazed than Awoniyi and Jesus.

Of course, it would be absurd to judge Onana, or any keeper, solely on the goals they concede. He has made saves – 15 of them. Just none yet of the jaw-dropping variety that De Gea used to exhibit occasionally that made you wonder if the poor distribution and refusal to come for crosses was worth tolerating. Which is fine. When goalkeepers start looking to create moments to impress, that’s when judgement becomes skewed and mistakes happen. So far, no major f*ck-ups.

Which was the fear given his style on the ball. Those who expected Onana to be pirouetting away from pressure have been left disappointed so far. The only risks have been carefully considered in his passing. And the contrast with his predecessor could hardly be greater.

It is stark without the numbers. United’s defenders and midfielders look so much more assured showing for the ball and offering it back to their keeper.

One moment, a rare bright spot in the defeat to Spurs, perhaps highlighted that contrast more than any other. United were almost hit on the counter-attack (they didn’t learn their lesson before Forest, evidently) from their corner but a longer pass into space in the United half from Cristian Romero only found Onana, positioned more than 40 yards from his goal, from where De Gea would have needed a map to find his way back. Not only did Onana cut out the danger, he sprang United on a counter of their own with a gorgeous long pass that switched play and found Alejandro Garnacho in open space on the opposite flank. Onana’s approach deserved better than the finish Garnacho applied.

It is clear that Onana has that long pass in his locker, but for the most part, his passes have been played short. Not just square or sideways.

In every game so far, Onana has played through presses with a penetrative pass to pierce two opponents, either into a a midfielder, or defender briefed to step inside to receive and turn. The angles are often as narrow as the margins but Onana’s range and decision-making has been largely flawless so far.

It presents a new poser to United’s opponents: press and risk being played through; or sit off. Last season, while the ball was at De Gea’s feet, the first option offered reward without the risk. De Gea, under slight pressure, would kick for territory, not possession. Now, as Arsenal did for periods at the Emirates, teams are sitting off United.

No problem for Onana. The Cameroonian has often dribbled to the line of his centre-backs, each pulling wider to open the corridor for their keeper, before putting his foot on the ball and waiting to force the opposition to make the first move. Which isn’t as easy as it sounds. It takes a level of nervelessness not every keeper possesses to stop dead and still amid the chaos of the Premier League.

Not that Onana’s cojones were ever in doubt. The ex-Inter Milan keeper’s style has thrived consistently in far bigger games than the four he’s played so far for United. That is reflected in his character in Ten Hag’s goal. While De Gea was sometimes meek and often passive, Onana is purposely visible around his box and beyond, cajoling and castigating when either is necessary.

Manchester United keeper Andre Onana clatters into Wolves' Sasa Kalajdzic

Sometimes such confidence can take keepers down dead ends and he ran, or rather jumped, down one against Wolves. Onana’s debut could/should (delete as applicable to your allegiance) have closed with the concession of a penalty when he came for a late cross which Sasajdzic reached first. Onana was perhaps still high on a successful take moments before as Wolves sought a deserved equaliser, but his judgement was clouded or rash.

Still, having a keeper willing to leave the safety of his line even once in a while remains novelty enough for United fans to forgive Onana any early misjudgements upon balls being pumped into the box.

The early judgement overall on Onana? Good. Maybe very good. Neither great nor garbage, as such verdicts tend to be in the modern game. But overall, there is plenty of encouragement for United fans that the upgrade talk is well-founded.

Read more: Sancho the scapegoat? Ten Hag should not feel obliged to shield Man Utd star

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