Andre Onana has had a difficult start to his Manchester United career.
Erik ten Hag made a great effort to reunite with the 27-year-old goalkeeper, given their time working together at Ajax. When a deal worth €51million (£43.8m/$55.7m at current exchange rates) was made with Inter Milan to bring the Cameroon international to Old Trafford in this year’s summer transfer window, it was hoped he would elevate United’s play, combining consummate shot-stopping with fantastic passing ability.
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Onana was envisioned as an essential piece in manager Ten Hag’s plans to turn United into the best transition team in the world. The range and intelligence of his short passing were deemed important tools for improving United’s ability to build from the back and play through any pressing attempts from opposing teams.
Twenty-four appearances into Onana’s United career, things have not gone as planned.
His mistakes in multiple Champions League matches fed into the club’s embarrassing elimination from European competition for the season during the week, having won only one of their six group games. Onana has also been erratic in the Premier League.
Several factors contribute to Onana’s underwhelming start to life at Old Trafford. Injuries to left-back Luke Shaw and centre-back Lisandro Martinez have reduced United’s ability to build play and progress the ball in a measured manner. In the absence of those two from the back four (as well as Casemiro from central midfield), Onana has often resorted to kicking long to a rotating cast of midfielders and attackers who have been unsuccessful in winning the majority of their aerial duels.
Onana has had a difficult start to his United career (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)A difficult situation has been made worse by Onana’s unorthodox goalkeeping style.
Fans and pundits have questioned his positioning when facing shots, and his behaviour before leaping to make a save in either direction does not always follow conventional wisdom, leaving many to believe he is more susceptible to conceding easy goals. It is an argument that has followed Onana throughout his career.
He prefers a wider stance than is generally recommended to young goalkeepers, believing that the manner in which he plants his hands and feet gives him more power and stability when diving to the ground. During his time at Ajax, this stance was queried, before tests at the Dutch club revealed Onana’s method did indeed see him get to the deck quicker than other ‘keepers.
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Onana’s shot-stopping technique requires a phenomenal sense of timing and high athleticism to work at its best, but he has been lacking a little in both areas since arriving at United.
His tricky adjustment period to life in England can be seen in another aspect of his shot-stopping form: Onana is parrying shots back into dangerous areas at a rate not seen in previous seasons. The following graphic illustrates every save he has made for United in the Champions League and Premier League:
- Parried Safe denotes attempts he palms away from the goal or out of play
- Collected are those shots Onana gathered into his path and controlled
- Parried (into) Danger denotes saves rebounding towards the six-yard box
- Caught covers the shots Onana has fielded and controlled first time
- Fingertips are the ones he barely got a hand to, but did manage to save.
In recent games, Onana has displayed an increasing habit of parrying shots back into dangerous areas, particularly towards his left (the right of goal from the opponents’ point of view).
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A good example of this can be found in the 3-0 away victory against Everton on November 26.
As Everton bear down on goal, Onana does well to close down the angle for a near-post shot, and parries away the eventual initial effort from Dominic Calvert-Lewin. However, this save sees the ball spin out into the path of Dwight McNeil, who has an additional attempt on goal.
Everton nearly score from here, but midfielder Kobbie Mainoo manages to get back and clear off the line.
Onana’s parrying was also seen in the 1-0 victory over Luton Town two weeks earlier.
He again starts in a good position to deal with an effort towards his near post — this time, it’s a header by Carlton Morris. Onana makes the save, but rather than palming the ball around the post and out of play for a corner, it stays in play. United’s Harry Maguire is quickest to the ball this time, and fellow centre-back Victor Lindelof eventually collects it and curbs further danger.
In the 1-0 away win against Fulham on November 4, few United defenders are ready for Harry Wilson’s long-range effort. Onana makes an acrobatic save to stop it going into the top corner, with the ball again spinning back into the six-yard box, where Scott McTominay has to stop Andreas Pereira scoring a tap-in.
Are these parries back into dangerous areas a problem?
Well, the data says Onana is having a good start to life in the Premier League despite everything.
Only four teams in the division have faced more shots than United (237), but they rank second behind only Liverpool among the 20 clubs in save percentage (73.4), with their 35-cap Cameroon international’s acrobatics making him an essential protector against defensive errors.
Onana has faced 76 non-penalty shots on target in his 16 Premier League games and is outperforming his expected goals on target (xGOT) conceded figure — a measure of how many goals an “average” goalkeeper is expected to be beaten by if facing the same volume and type of shots — with his saves deemed to have kept out close to an additional three goals.
However, things have been different in his six Champions League appearances, where his mistakes meant three extra goals were conceded… and the eye test will tell you the data is being generous.
Was Onana always like this, or has something changed since he left Italy in the summer?
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Here’s a look at his save data in Serie A and the Champions League for the only season he spent with Inter after leaving Ajax:
There’s no difference from last season to this one in terms of Onana getting opposition attempts away from his goal or out of play, but there is an increase from 17 per cent parried into danger with Inter to 21 per cent at United. So he’s collecting fewer shots safely since moving to England.
Things are made worse by how United’s back fours react to Onana’s saves compared to the defensive unit he had in Milan. Injuries and a lack of consistency in Ten Hag’s defences mean players are still to adjust to how Onana parries and aren’t as ready to sweep up any loose balls.
It’s an issue that can hopefully be solved as the goalkeeper grows in confidence and builds more playing chemistry with his team-mates. (Your patience in waiting for such a day to arrive may vary.) He retains the faith of his manager, who he played under for five seasons at Ajax, and is likely to be United’s No 1 until the end of the season.
The numbers suggest that Onana isn’t having a bad debut year, but data only tells part of the story.
Watch him in a United shirt for long enough, and you will see an unconventional goalkeeper being overwhelmed by the large number of shots he has to face each game — 4.81 per 90 minutes in the Premier League, compared to 3.46 in Serie A with Inter and an average of 3.27 across his six Eredivisie seasons at Ajax.
Unable to properly demonstrate his passing ability and having other foibles placed under the microscope, he’s being pushed to his limits.
Only time will tell if Onana can become the goalkeeper Ten Hag needs to take United to the next level.
Unfortunately, time isn’t an abundant resource at this club.
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(Top photo: Getty Images)
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