Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag urges Andre Onana to “step up” his performances
According to The Standard, Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag is upset with the way Andre Onana has been playing for the team and believes that the goalkeeper needs to “step up” his performances.
For £47 million, Onana joined Old Trafford in the summer to take David de Gea’s spot as the team’s starting custodian. The Spaniard left at the end of his contract. With so many mistakes recurring almost every game day, fans might question the manager directly. However, it’s evident that Ten Hag still has faith in him.
Ten Hag acknowledged that while Onana has not been as good as expected, the player is aware he needs to do much better. It is difficult to adjust to life in a new league but Ten Hag retains the belief that Onana will certainly improve.
“He knows [he’s not been good enough], we know, he will do much better.
As with every player who’s coming into the Premier League, you need an integration period but he has to step up. Big United keepers like Peter Schmeichel and David De Gea started [slowly] and Andre knows that it is good to know a little bit from history.
“We live now, we live in the future and he has to make his future by giving better performances. I’m sure he will do.”
Onana, who was lucky not to give up a penalty in his Premier League debut against Wolves, has had a difficult start to life in England. Since then, he has committed several mistakes. Ten Hag stated that Onana needs to get better before his team travels to Sheffield United this weekend, but the United manager insisted he is fully certain it would happen.
While the 27-year-old has kept three clean sheets in his 11 outings so far, the fact that he has allowed an incredible eighteen goals in the other seven games may worry Old Trafford supporters. He doesn’t exactly give one confidence as the last line of defence.
Even though Onana’s career hasn’t started off well, a player with his talent needs time to adjust and showcase his best on a consistent basis. His attempts to regain confidence will not be aided by the daggers aimed at his back.
Man United would improve significantly in an instant with a self-assured and dominant Onana acting as the reliable last line of defence. But given that the team is having trouble in both the Premier League and the Champions League, it cannot arrive any sooner.
Next up is Sheffield United and hopefully Onana will do his reputation no harm on the night. Manchester United are expected to come away with all three points against the Blades but a clean sheet will certainly be welcome.
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- Chris Sutton unsure about how Andre Onana fits into the Manchester United squad
We believe that Onana’s performances are essential if the Red Devils are to advance to the Champions League knockout stages. The club might feel more confident heading into the important midweek encounter with FC Copenhagen if they manage to keep a shutout against Sheffield United.
