Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana has yet to make the start to life at Old Trafford that he would have been hoping for and now opposition teams are targeting the stopper due to one characteristic in his game. The Cameroon international signed for United in a £47.2million transfer to replace David De Gea, but the transition has not been entirely smooth.
Onana has made several errors that have led directly to goals. At the same time, he felt forced to apologise after a mistake in the Red Devils’ opening Champions League loss of the season to Bayern Munich. Now, rivals have spotted a curious trend with the goalkeeper they believe can be taken advantage of.
The Telegraph has claimed that opposition analysts have noticed that Onana often stays on his line and invites shots on goal, as rivals have picked up his peculiar positioning. One team were instructed to shoot early at the 27-year-old as he remains as close to his line as possible – making the goal a bigger target.
While adept with the ball to his feet, Onana certainly has the ability to play out from the back but one noted weakness has been his reluctance to charge out and prevent efforts. Top goalkeepers tend to be off their line and quickly in order to give the attacker a smaller angle to aim for, but Onana has seemingly taken the opposite approach.
In the 3-2 defeat at home to Galatasaray, Wilfried Zaha scored from a long ball down the middle while United’s goalkeeper was stuck inside his own six-yard box. Against Nottingham Forest earlier in the season, Onana similarly stayed close to his own line and allowed Taiwo Awoniyi to move towards the goal before scoring with ease.
The idea that United’s goalkeeper is being specifically targeted for this characteristic will be a worrisome issue for Erik ten Hag, as it is unclear whether this is a tendency that Onana has been instructed to carry out or he is doing it of his own volition.
When asked if he would consider dropping Onana should his struggles continue, Ten Hag replied: “He can be one of the best goalkeepers in the world. We have seen already his great capabilities and also his personality. He will make a mistake and bounce back, and will do so again, I am sure.”
Despite having the backing of his coach, now that Onana’s tendency to stay close to his line has come to light he will be under the microscope once again for United’s upcoming match with Brentford on Saturday.
It remains to be seen whether a change will be made, as Thomas Frank’s outfit could be another team to target the goalkeeper’s reluctance to leave his line.
