Andre Onana has been backed to respond to his costly errors against Galatasaray by Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag, who says the stats show he has been the second-best goalkeeper in the Premier League this season.
Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League clash with Galatasaray represented one of the low points of Onana’s young United career, as he was at fault for two goals in a thrilling 3-3 draw.
The Cameroonian was beaten by a weak Hakim Ziyech free-kick in the first half, before turning an almost identical set-piece delivery from the same player into his own net after the break.
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The draw leaves United needing a minor miracle to advance in Europe, while some have questioned whether Onana’s place could be at risk ahead of Saturday’s trip to Newcastle United.
According to Opta, the former Inter shot-stopper has made seven errors leading to opposition goals in the Champions League since 2018-19, more than twice as many as any other goalkeeper.
Ten Hag, however, pointed to Onana’s expected goals on target (xGOT) stats as he defended his number one at Friday’s pre-match press conference, backing him to respond to the criticism.
“You have seen how he reacts to a bad performance because he did after Bayern Munich, he was outstanding against Burnley,” Ten Hag said of Onana.
“He is a strong character and personality, so he will deal with it.
“If you analyse it well, you see his expected goals prevented is the second-best in the Premier League, so yeah, he is doing well.
1-5 – Most goals prevented with saves in the Premier League this season based on Opta’s expected goals model:
+6.3 – Thomas Kaminski
+3.7 – André Onana
+3.5 – Neto
+3.4 – Alisson
+3.3 – Guglielmo VicarioConfirmed.
Click below to read @OPTAANALYST‘s examination of Onana’s…
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) DECEMBER 1, 2023
“He knows in the Champions League he made some mistakes but overall, you can see in the first five months he is doing particularly well.”
According to Opta, only Luton Town’s Thomas Kaminski (6.3) has prevented more goals than Onana in the Premier League this season, with the United goalkeeper conceding 3.7 goals fewer than his expected goals figures suggest he should have.
Elsewhere, United still have selection issues in midfield ahead of Saturday’s trip to Tyneside, with Mason Mount, Christian Eriksen and Casemiro sidelined.
Eighteen-year-old midfielder Kobbie Mainoo won plaudits for a composed display on his first Premier League start as United beat Everton 3-0 at Goodison Park last week.
While Mainoo was then benched for Wednesday’s European outing, Ten Hag said that decision was about balancing his workload as he praised the teenager’s intelligent reading of the game.
”On Sunday he was ready,” Ten Hag said of Mainoo. “Then we had to manage three games in six days to get the best results in all of those games.
“We have more than 11 players and we have good options there, like Sofyan [Amrabat], who also played a very good game [against Galatasaray].
“We have many options but we have to manage the load of the players. It is also about freshness as well.
“It always looks like he has time because of his scanning, he is running free and then scanning to see the options to make the right decisions. He can delay, he can speed things up and he makes the right decisions.”
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