The United effect, eh? Not the first time a player's level suddenly drops extremely after joining us.He was louded as one of the best GK with his feet before he came here, but suddenly he is only decent for some of our fans. Ok.
24
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 49
- Clean sheets
- 12
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 6
-
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?
He's obviously not a shit keeper. His start here hasn't been the best, but people are going way overboard about a select few incidents. If he was genuinely not good, he wouldn't be widely regarded as one of the better keepers in the world, with the likes of Oliver Kahn and Manuel Neuer rating him as their favourite.
We've gone from a keeper who was only a shot-stopper and nothing else whatsoever, to a keeper who's good at all the "else" stuff while shot-stopping isn't quite his forté. It's like breaking up with a girl who was a drug addict, domestic abuser and sociopath but also a great cook, and finding a new girl who's lovely in every way except her cooking is a little bit below par, and then regretting it because you miss the last girl's cooking. It's irrational.
A year ago, we were pulling our hair out because we had a keeper who could do nothing but save shots. Now we have one who can do those things we missed. If he had also been the perfect shot-stopper on top of that, he'd have been the best keeper in the world and cost £100m and would have had offers from every club in the world, so there's no chance we would have got him.
Onana is realistically the best keeper we could have got to replace DDG. There were no better options available, and he'll do fine once the team as a whole is not in disarray. Keep in mind he's also playing behind a replacement defense because all the first choices are injured, and his main strength - distribution - is hindered by the fact that we're utterly impotent up front. Once that's sorted, he'll do well. The current state of the team is making his job very hard.
We've gone from a keeper who was only a shot-stopper and nothing else whatsoever, to a keeper who's good at all the "else" stuff while shot-stopping isn't quite his forté. It's like breaking up with a girl who was a drug addict, domestic abuser and sociopath but also a great cook, and finding a new girl who's lovely in every way except her cooking is a little bit below par, and then regretting it because you miss the last girl's cooking. It's irrational.
A year ago, we were pulling our hair out because we had a keeper who could do nothing but save shots. Now we have one who can do those things we missed. If he had also been the perfect shot-stopper on top of that, he'd have been the best keeper in the world and cost £100m and would have had offers from every club in the world, so there's no chance we would have got him.
Onana is realistically the best keeper we could have got to replace DDG. There were no better options available, and he'll do fine once the team as a whole is not in disarray. Keep in mind he's also playing behind a replacement defense because all the first choices are injured, and his main strength - distribution - is hindered by the fact that we're utterly impotent up front. Once that's sorted, he'll do well. The current state of the team is making his job very hard.
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I'm not a huge fan, but I wouldn't be writing him off just yet. He's had an unsettled back line, a non exisitent midfield and we've just recently started playing with an actual centre forward. We know he's very good with the ball at his feet, everything else he's not bad, just isn't great. He had some issues settling in, many players do when they come to the PL, with it being us of course they get highlighted. His real plus ie distribution was kind of negated in previous ganmes as he had no outlets, especially when Rashford was playing centrally. We are starting to get players back, let's see how he gets on then before we write him off.
If there obvious passes he's ignoring, I would be infuriated too. But there's usually no one showing up well enough for the pass. Teams that want to play out from the back aren't usually as static as we tend to be. The lack of movement makes you wonder if we're truly training to play out from the back.
OMFG
Go through the De Gea Performance thread, circa June/July 2023, for yourself. It was one pisstake after another how De Gea destroyed our attacks and how Onana, being a proper modern keeper, would "transform" our attack.
It was never just about helping with the buildup phase and the recycling of possession, but since this is now what we're shifting to as the reason for bringing in Onana, we are undeniably worse in our buildup play and recycling of possession. I will not blame Onana for the deterioration of our buildup and possession, but no sane person will argue that United have improved their buildup and possession play since the arrival of Onana.
At least not so far. And that's the point, the point being that our previous keeper was what was holding back our buildup and possession play. De Gea's howlers were reason enough to let him go, but apart from being at least a wash in terms of shot-stopping, the entire rationale for Onana was that he would improve our performance overall with superior buildup play and recycling of possession. That has only not happened, we are undeniably worse at both than we were last season, although I want to be clear that Onana shoulders none of the blame for that. The point is that it was hilariously, and pathetically, claimed here that if we just got rid of De Gea -- and getting rid of De Gea was how it was often described here -- that we would dramatically improve our buildup play and recycling of possession, and thus our attack. Even the lovechild of Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder can see that that has not happened.
I like him. I think expectations were unrealistic. Thought we all knew this transfer meant sacrificing saves for ball ability. Another thing that's not necessarily specific to this case is w reeally gotta stop thinking we're one bad position away from unlocking excellence in other sides of the pitch. The others still need to actually know how to keep the friggin ball for such a sacrifice to be worth it. Maguire was also supposed to be the ball playing CB to change everything, Varane was going to unlock Maguire, Sancho was going to unlock our right side. The adjacent position isn't why all our favs are limited. Time to get real.
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Fortunately for him, he isn't the main or only source of our problems, and is still adjusting to a new league so can be given some leeway. But let's not pretend that we wouldn't be taking the piss if he was playing for one of our rivals.
it was pretty much the same under ddg too. So much static in front of him that just forces gk to go long. Hell if anything i feel like we have been moving even less in front of onana than we were for ddg. Idk but it boggles my mind right now with what im seeing. Just have no idea how that could be want EtH wants them to do.
I quite like him, tbh. He's definitely got skill with the ball. Shot stopping needs to be better, but the defence and midfield also need to work harder to minimise the amount of shots he has to face. I feel that he has been spending too much time waiting for the right pass to make because there just isn't enough movement in front of him, which has been a problem of ours for such a long time. When he does kick it long, it usually rebounds off Rashford and we lose the ball. If we're going to be using this kind of goalkeeper, we need to be offering so much more in front of him. He's not suddenly a failure and not good enough at Man United. The problem is that we're not good enough all over the pitch and aren't functioning as a unified, well drilled team. Part of that is down to the chopping and changing because of injuries, which has made it hard to implement an idea because the parts keep changing within that machine.
To write him off after such a short amount of time is folly.
To write him off after such a short amount of time is folly.
I did, could only find these quotes from someone called lex talionis who repeatedly says it, but never actually provides the proof of the posts they keeping claiming said it first.
This is what’s been depressing me of late, Bruno & McSauce were particularly terrible for this against Bayern.
Bruno going for Hollywood balls and instantly inviting Bayern onto us, McSauce possibly just seeing things that others don’t.
Man Utd 3:0 Crystal Palace
An amazing stat I just looked up to demonstrate how much more we’re using the keeper in possession. PL official stats.
Season before ETH arrived DDG made 788 passes in his 38 league appearances.
Onana has played 6 games and is already on 213.
Season before ETH arrived DDG made 788 passes in his 38 league appearances.
Onana has played 6 games and is already on 213.
Excellent clean sheet today
Lovely saves, doing whatever to keep the ball out.
The save in the second half when he stopped it with his foot was nice especially as it's an awkward place where you are tempted to go with your hands sometimes
The save in the second half when he stopped it with his foot was nice especially as it's an awkward place where you are tempted to go with your hands sometimes
Solid saves v Palace. It would be ludicrous to argue that Onana’s footwork had anything to do with our improved buildup play and possession recycling, as such indicators have a lot more to do with quality midfield play — Casemiro and Amrabat — but when you win 3-0 and the keeper makes a couple of fine saves it’s entirely appropriate to acknowledge that the keeper did his job. Quietly, but effectively…which is how it should be.
It's funny to watch now often opposition players backing off the press once it's played back to him. Noticed it a couple of times last night
You will see Amrabat drop for the ball from him a few times throughout, with the right players and system Onana will be key in our first phase of play.
That’s amazing. Would put him on target for 1349 over the season. Almost twice as many as DDG. Which is two fingers to the “BuT YoU sAiD He’D cHanGe ThE waY we PlAy!!!” crowd. News flash. He has.
I’d still like to his passing be a little more incisive. Although I guess he’s avoiding any risky passes after having a disappointing start to his United career. The last thing he needs now is to concede a goal due to a misplaced pass. So it’s understandable he’s playing it safe. Hopefully the best is yet to come
Your agenda is painfully transparent.
That poster has created an imaginary argument about the keeper being responsible for attacking players scoring more goals. But, still refuses to acknowledge how having a keeper who is good on the ball will benefit the team as whole in terms of building up play in the first phase and recycling possession.
Onana had a good game last night, Palace were poor enough, but he did his job well, they have nothing to complain about today.
I think one thing that is bit obvious is that at times, oppo players avoid pressing him, which means they can go man to man and make it difficult for Onana to pick a free player in the middle or final third unless someone makes a run on the flank.
It is also obvious our players' movements aren't well coordinated yet to pull oppo players apart, so not easy for Onana to find someone in an open pocket of space.
but still, teams now worry about pressing us gung-ho as they risk an over the top simple pass that can expose the vacant spaces they leave behind which in turn makes our build up from the back a lot easier.
Yup. The first and most obvious difference is how much time he has on the ball compared to DDG. Being able to build up from the back without being under any pressure is a big advantage right out the gate.
It’s just a godsend to have that extra time, one of the reasons the best teams look like they play with so much intensity is their keepers will routinely do what Onana does through a game to give the outfield players time to recover. Then when the ball is back in play they are running about like mad men again.
Incidentally that’s where I’d say City are weakest when they play Haaland in my opinion, if Haaland and Doku start those are both players who are physically not able to press with the same intensity as other players for a long period - the trade off is the explosive threat they both carry which is very hard to stop when they have the ball but it will be interesting when we play them if we try to keep the ball and make them work hard to get it back vs previous years where we’d go long, they’d then patiently build and we’d be chasing the ball for way too long.
He's class - I knew he'd be a transformative signing for us.
Don't use that word around here. It's triggering to some
Potential to be, but not yet. Utd defensive line should be much higher for him to have the transformative effect people speak about.
Maybe it will take time for our defenders to get out of a low block mentally. We've had that since mourinho onwards.
I thought he's not very good?
Teams don't press us anymore and there's no panic at the back now, we're much more assured with him in goal and it's a massive improvement on the hand grenade football we played when De Gea was here.
Great saves and his usual composed passing. His impact is clear for all to see as teams just dont press us in the same way anymore.
Man Utd 0:1 Crystal Palace
Did well today at Palace. Goal was a worldie, nothing could have been done.
Yep, especially after the slight deflection off of Dalot. Just one of those goals.
Today was one of those games where I expected we would be using him in the sweeper role, pinging the ball out wide, coming out of his box to start attacks. We're seeing less and less of that side of his game already, which is the one thing I was looking forward to with him. Hmm.
I feel we don't use his passing range nearly well enough. Not money well spent
Was thinking exactly the same. 80% possession and he's just a few yards outside of our box nowhere near play. You see keepers with a fraction of his ability involved across the league. I don't understand it
I get people don't press us anymore, but still nothing really comes of having onana back there with the ball. He doesn't come out that much sweeping, and the passing is essentially like having maguire there passing. We need to start moving the fecking ball quicker and get back to pass and move
Maybe I'm being overly critical but I think he should have saved that today.
Goldridge just said he should have saved it.....no DDG agenda....
Still yet to see this ball playing ability, not a £55-60m upgrade on de Gea. No faith in him winning us games on his own like de Gea did.