Great is pushing it. I'm sure we'd all like him to become great but we have to judge him on the facts. This season he has been a very mixed bag, some terrible howlers, hints of bad technique/fundamentals but also a bunch of positives. If he can cut out the howlers next year he will be on his way to good and if he does it for a few seasons then we can call him great.
24
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 48
- Clean sheets
- 12
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 6
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
Agreed. One good thing out of it is it differentiates the biased and unhinged posters that I can easily put on ignore.
Only If you include his mistakes at the beginning of the season to judge his quality, a time when he was acclimatizing to the league and his chaotic defensive line. I don't do that thought. In fact I don't even judge new outfield players' performances for at least the first 6 months if they play regularly, let alone a new United goalie. The fact it didn't even take him a full season supports not just his quality but also his mental fortitude.
He literally repeated a mistake he made on opening day just last match. So if you're just judging him on the last 3 months and ignoring the first 6 then maybe you could say he's been great but surely you must see that diminishes the word great.
reads like a tag line of a blockbuster movie
That's a mistake that many keepers tend to make, especially if you have a suspect defense in front of you. I'm not including that in my judgement of his quality just as I won't include a mistake here or there from a generally great outfield player that leads to a goal. My judgement of his is mainly based on his time before United. The second half of this season is simply a confirmation of his quality and mental strength like I said.
Regarding the second part of your post, why do you ignore the mistakes of recent weeks? I mean just off the top of my head giving the ball away vs Sheffield, a rush of blood giving away a penalty vs Burnley and ANOTHER example of him being utterly useless at saving shots low to the ground vs Chelsea.
The last one there is particularly concerning because I've seen him at it in Ajax and Inter so clearly a fundamental flaw in his game, quite a glaring one and one that I think teams will target.
Re his mental fortitude; did you see the big show he made of berating Maguire in pre-season? Did you see the shambles over his African nation participation? Did you see him running way out of his goal to tell one of his team mates how to take a free kick during that AFCON? A lot of it to me suggests someone who's as unstable as his goalkeeping suggests.
Like said, here is the fan that fits into the 'replacing his fave' category and struggling to move on...
For some unknown reason Onana has done some kind of Jedi mind trick on numerous GK scouts and coaches who have probably watched him hundreds of hours, to fool them that he cant save low shots!!! One of the most fundamental parts of being a keeper. Barca as a youth player, well everyone gets that opportunity. Ajax and Inter, small clubs....
Can you imagine if this was true and he couldnt save low shots what the scores would be against him, yet that jammy sod flukes his way to inter and a CL final. Not only that, ends up here and makes more saves than anyone else in the prem!!! Bloody hell this lad is lucky......
Unstable, christ thats in the job description to be a goalie? A keeper that has a rush of blood to his head, never seen that before. feck me, all these nil nil draws in the PL cause other keepers are not making mistakes and save everything, even low down shots.
Take down your DDG posters and fold away the replica shirt, its time to move on....
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I've said time and time again I agreed it was time to move De Gea on. My doubts about Onana have absolutely nothing to do with De Gea and everything to do with what I've seen from Onana.
You keep bringing up how he was at Barca, he didn't make the grade at Barca and got shipped out to spend the majority of his career in the Dutch tulip pickers league. Inter then took a gamble when he was free (because he would have been available the whole time he was at ajax for a reasonable fee).
It's possible to be a poor goalkeeper and play in a CL final, you really don't have to look to far back to see that. That's really not the trump card you think it is, especially in light of how utterly ridiculous he was in the tournament for us this year.
You're mocking tone does nothing to change what i see with my eyes. Look up compilations of Onana at both those teams and you see the same stuff he's done here over and over. I remember hearing similar reports from inter fans when he signed too.
I even remember Andy Mitten saying on one of the Talk of the Devils podcasts saying about how there were real concerns about him within the club in the beginning. This was said in the context of his supposed improvement after not chucking any in for a couple of weeks. For me those concerns haven't gone anywhere and I'm clearly not alone in that.
He's already a meme and he'll keep giving his doubters plenty of ammunition, just watch.
Instead of blubbering a ton of nothing, can you actually say the 3 mistakes the poster mentioned did not happen?
No keeper is perfect and in fact if you watch old video of Schmeichel in his prime you’ll see more than a few howlers, but the Great Dane up big when we needed to.
Onana is growing into the role but he needs to purge the bad mistakes that cost us points. He made great saves, but saves you’d expect a top keeper to make, but the blunder to give up a pen was very poor judgment and not a normal mistake.
Onana is growing into the role but he needs to purge the bad mistakes that cost us points. He made great saves, but saves you’d expect a top keeper to make, but the blunder to give up a pen was very poor judgment and not a normal mistake.
why is it when Onana makes great saves, it’s always followed up with, ‘Saves you’d expect a top keeper to make’
his save against Burnley was arguably save of the season, you don’t expect keepers to make a save like that, it was absolutely world class.
Because it is literally true. The save by Onana (the left handed one I assume you're referring to) was a great save, but it really is a save you would expect a top keeper to make. Making a save that one would expect most top keepers to make doesn't make any less of a great save, but in this case it wasn't the kind of save you'd only see once a season. Great save, but we see great saves fairly often. This kind of save was even routine for De Gea. Still great, but routine for him.
If your point is to sustain Onana's reputation, please allow me to join you in praising Onana's performance yesterday before the colossal mistake. He was poor in the first half of the season but since AFCON he's been monster.
We don't need an exceptional goalstopper .. but we surely need a goalkeeper who doesn't perform howlers .. and can do a decent passing game ..
Onana can do neither
For eg, Ederson is not a great showstopper.. but his all round skills make him the best goalkeeper out there
Onana can do neither
For eg, Ederson is not a great showstopper.. but his all round skills make him the best goalkeeper out there
I feel the same way about Onana that I did with Jones, Bailly or Rojo. No matter how good they are playing, I'm expecting him to make a mistake.
I wouldn’t expect any keeper to save that, I’d be less surprised if a top top keeper saves it I suppose but 9/10 times that’s a goal in my opinion. Agreed and I would say that Casemiro takes a huge part in that goal. Onana too eager to fix the error and misjudged, but what Casemiro is doing I don’t know.
didn’t mean to come across arsey if that’s the way it sounded,
1. They're not routine for any keeper.
2. Why are you using Onana making saves you'd expect a top keeper to make as some sort of negative?
True, not routine for "any keeper", which by definition would include Third Division German clubs and Saudi league keepers. But for "top keepers" -- and I think it's fair to say that Onana is a top keeper -- that save (if we're talking about the left handed save) should be regarded as a great save, not a routine save. One expects top keepers to make great saves. That's probably why they're regarded as top keepers. I don't know anyone who refuses to regard Onana as a top keeper. THE top keeper...of course not, but A top keeper...without question.1. They're not routine for any keeper.
2. Why are you using Onana making saves you'd expect a top keeper to make as some sort of negative?
In no way was my statement that Onana made a great save somehow a condemnation of -- "some sort of negative" -- of Onana.
The point was to point out that although Onana made some great saves (there was a second great save, but I can't recall now how it went), but that he inexplicably conceded a pen. It wasn't as though he went for the ball and clipped a striker's toenail -- he plowed right through the Burnley forward without any good reason to do so. That I will condemn. But no, I do not condemn Onana for making great saves. I actually like to see our keeper make great saves.
Has to be one of the first to leave in the summer.
Next joke
Awesome, I couldn't have said anything better. The amount of BS posters come up with when they're into an agenda is unbelievable, all reason usually goes out the window. I should be used to it after some time on here but it's still shocking. You have posts with conviction that Onana is terrible and has somehow gone through his career hoodwinking everyone, and others are confident that they have found fundamental flaws in his game as if he is some young recruit we bought on potential, comparing him to Jones and Bailly. It's stuff you can never make up even in your wildest dreams.
Gotta find it hilarious we went from one keeper who was rooted to his line to one who sometimes over commits on aerials and punches players in the head instead.
He's had some major clangers this season but this version of Onana is an overall upgrade on the past two seasons of De Gea, however small that margin may be. The upside is that under a better organised team with a midfield that actually wants to midfield, Onana's game still has a lot of upside and potential for us. That's what we're banking on really.
He's had some major clangers this season but this version of Onana is an overall upgrade on the past two seasons of De Gea, however small that margin may be. The upside is that under a better organised team with a midfield that actually wants to midfield, Onana's game still has a lot of upside and potential for us. That's what we're banking on really.
Improved a lot in the second half of the season, but overall, he has been a net loss for us this season.
He has made some great stops, but every PL goalkeeper makes great saves. He has had more howlers than most this season and almost single handedly got us knocked out of the CL.
DDG was not great last year, but i would have rather kept him and used the money to improve the outfield. Even with our best back 4, i don't believe they are good enough on the ball to play out from the back, meaning we are not utilising Onana's key strength.
If ETH wants to make us into this counter attacking, transitional team, are we ever going to best us Onana's passing ability?
And lets be honest, his passing hasnt looked that good. I have seen him boot it out of touch as much as i have seen him find his man. Looks a completely different keeper than the Inter highlight reels.
He has made some great stops, but every PL goalkeeper makes great saves. He has had more howlers than most this season and almost single handedly got us knocked out of the CL.
DDG was not great last year, but i would have rather kept him and used the money to improve the outfield. Even with our best back 4, i don't believe they are good enough on the ball to play out from the back, meaning we are not utilising Onana's key strength.
If ETH wants to make us into this counter attacking, transitional team, are we ever going to best us Onana's passing ability?
And lets be honest, his passing hasnt looked that good. I have seen him boot it out of touch as much as i have seen him find his man. Looks a completely different keeper than the Inter highlight reels.
Think he'll settle down in year 2. A consistent backline would contribute to this.
To be fair I don't think it's a personnel issue, it's a ETH one. We more than have the quality to play football from the back, progressively and control games. Literally almost every team in the league is able to do this within context.
ETH just doesn't care enough or doesn't prioritise this. We went from 4-2-1-3 to practically 4-2-4 overnight, which is an insane leap. Worse is that he's not strayed from it despite our batterings and lack of control.
Too expensive unless we get really lucky with a Saudi club. Kepa is still under contract with Chelsea.
Can only hope he irons out the silly mistakes. He'll always have his shortcomings.
It’s such a shame he cost us with personal faults. He’s actually very good besides the personal mistakes, but it means very little when you make point dropping mistakes 5-6 times a year.
The mistakes he makes has little to do with the backline imo. A lot of them are just unprovoked and because he loses focus.
of course it’d be easier if he had almost nothing to do in goal, but that’s hardly realistic.
Kepa taught Real Madrid's keeper Lunin how to save Bernardo Silva's penalty. He has done a great job as a non-player.
Lunin actually learns from other players Rudiger and Kepa to win the shootout.
This is the Onana thread, why does DDG keep getting brought up? Can anyone point me to a single person
People here are acting like he was some infallible world beater until he came here. There's lots of evidence there on YouTube that the same mistakes happened at his previous teams. Apparently we can't consider that because its easy to make someone look shit if you show all the times someone's been shit.
If I had the time and resource I'd love to go through and freeze frame every goal the moment it goes passed him low because the evidence is overwhelming.
Yeah and he also made them with Inter's back line and Ajax's before that so I really struggle to believe it's purely down to United's defence. As a goalkeeper I never felt my CB's had much impact on whether I could get down for a low shot or not. I never felt my CB's affected whether I tried to catch a ball or tried to slap it away and instead slapped it in to the ground and net (see Galatasary - two direct free kicks - how tf can that be the CB's?)
People here are acting like he was some infallible world beater until he came here. There's lots of evidence there on YouTube that the same mistakes happened at his previous teams. Apparently we can't consider that because its easy to make someone look shit if you show all the times someone's been shit.
If I had the time and resource I'd love to go through and freeze frame every goal the moment it goes passed him low because the evidence is overwhelming.
Taught Sarri how to make subs too. Player coach Kepa
Apparently at Ajax they saw what he was doing in this regard and tried to change it. But they actually ended up sticking with it because it worked for him. I posted a link to the article in here before. I get that Onana isn't everyone's cup of tea, because he’s unorthodox in his style and in reality he doesn't give off the vibe that he is a natural goalkeeper. I think it's a case of fans not actually having a good idea of the total role of a goalkeeper in a team and how important it is to have a keeper that suits how you want to play in the long term.
We see comments now with Onana, "a top shot stopper saves that", when the evidence suggests that he's actually been one of the better shot stoppers in the league this season.
With DDG it was "he makes saves no one else can" when all the evidence suggested that while he made some excellent saves, his overall shot stopping was just about that of your avergae PL keeper.
I think the other problem people have is that they just can't move on from the idea of a goalkeeper having to consistently make big camera saves for him to be good. They just watch Utd, probably only the youtube highlights, and don't watch other teams, because if they did, they'd see that every other keeper in the league lets in saveable shots from time to time, if they didn't as you say every game would end 0-0. I always say, every shot on goal is potentially saveable, there are just a lot of variables that need to be taken into account, timing of the shot, sight lines, keepers reactions times, anticipation and footwork, which side the defender in closing off etc. In the PL, if you're off in your reactions and timing by even a fraction of a second you're not making a save.
I totally agree on his ability with low shots, but I also think it has vastly improved the last half year. That should be counted in too - he's been a much better shot stopper in the second part of the season. He was terrible in the first half, and good if not great in the second if you ask me. A real shame he has this lack of focus as he'd been as good as you can get a goalkeeper these days if not.
But I agree overall. It's a tendency in the goalkeeper that has these personal mistakes in them - it's for life. It's not something you just brush away. A goalkeeper who does this in their younger years rarely improves it much.
He has been improving! Just stop clattering opponents so obviously.
A sound analysis, which makes the obvious point that every PL keeper makes great saves -- which is why they become PL keepers in the first place. But the more important point is that the teammates and tactics ETH employs fails to utilize Onana's key strength. We don't build out from the back and don't control possession. It's chaos out of the back and haphazard chances being created most of the time out of nothing, such as Antony's goal against Burnley that arose from a poor pass by the defender that Antony intercepted and took in. I'm sure there are a few examples, but I can't think of a single example of a goal we've scored this season that began with buildup play starting from Onana.
There's definitely some confusion as to what routine means here.True, not routine for "any keeper", which by definition would include Third Division German clubs and Saudi league keepers. But for "top keepers" -- and I think it's fair to say that Onana is a top keeper -- that save (if we're talking about the left handed save) should be regarded as a great save, not a routine save. One expects top keepers to make great saves. That's probably why they're regarded as top keepers. I don't know anyone who refuses to regard Onana as a top keeper. THE top keeper...of course not, but A top keeper...without question.
In no way was my statement that Onana made a great save somehow a condemnation of -- "some sort of negative" -- of Onana.
The point was to point out that although Onana made some great saves (there was a second great save, but I can't recall now how it went), but that he inexplicably conceded a pen. It wasn't as though he went for the ball and clipped a striker's toenail -- he plowed right through the Burnley forward without any good reason to do so. That I will condemn. But no, I do not condemn Onana for making great saves. I actually like to see our keeper make great saves.
The tone of it is incredibly dismissive.
The errors he's made have also been made by top keepers, the people posting about his saves don't keep the same energy for that.
Onana shows glimpse of being a top keeper at times plus he's big, strong and like to do lots of passing. He has shown lots of leadership. Worthy to keep for one more season and review again.
Lack of focus is indeed evident. I do believe a bit of Synergy with a consistent back line would help. Hopefully as he ages he matures and his rashness fades.
Ages and matures? He's 28 ffs. Synergy with a backline doesn't affect if you can save a low shot or catch a ball instead of slapping it off in random directions.
Glimpse of being a good GK is simply not good for our club.
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I think he will mature, and I agree his low shot stopping, camera saves and superman punches are cause for concern. 28 for a goalkeeper still gives time for improvement but I don't think he will be here long enough for us to benefit. I think in a couple of years he will be moved on. We need calmness at the back.