“Let’s see what happens later”
Andre Onana is confident despite a poor performance.
“Mistakes are part of learning, and I know that people criticize me because they expect a lot from me. But this is not a problem for me at all and I’m already used to it. It was the same at Inter Milan.”
Onana, who joined United this summer in a €55 million deal from Inter Milan, has had a disappointing start to the season. Onana, who has started every game since the start of the season, has conceded 27 goals in 20 league games and 15 goals in six UEFA Champions League (UCL) matches. While it’s true that United’s defense has been up and down at the moment, it’s clear that Onana’s individual performances have been disappointing.
Unlike his Inter Milan days, the number of glaring mistakes has increased. In his last UCL start against Bayern Munich, Onana conceded the opening goal in the 28th minute when he mishandled a Leroy Sane shot. Given the trajectory of Sane’s shot and his low xG (expected goal) value of 0.02, it was a goal that shouldn’t have been conceded. In his post-match interview, Onana said, “The team didn’t win because of me. This is the life of a goalkeeper. I think my mistake was the key to the game, and that’s why the team fell apart,” he said.
The mistakes continued. Onana, who also started the UCL match against Galatasaray, continued to look shaky and gave the opposition several chances. Finally, in the 31st minute of the second leg, he gave away possession to the opposition with a ridiculous miss in the buildup, and was on the verge of conceding a crucial goal when Casemiro’s foul on him led to a penalty kick (which was saved by Mauro Icardi). The result was 2-3. United then failed to win a single match in the fourth, fifth, and sixth rounds against Copenhagen, Galatasaray, and Munich, finishing last in the group.
The shaky form continued in the league. Against Brentford in the eighth round, Onana, who still wore the gloves, conceded a goal to Mathias Jensen in the 26th minute. It was a clear mistake by Onana, even considering the chaos in the box. As he continued to play, he made fewer mistakes, but he continued to be shaky, conceding a high percentage of goals in each game.
Onana has never met the expectations of his fans, and he doesn’t seem to mind the criticism. “At first they criticized me too, but look how it ended. Now I have an eternal love affair with Inter Milan. United is a bigger club and the expectations are higher, but I’m sure we’ll be able to laugh together if we do better in the future. Even back then, few people believed in us, but we showed what we could do,” he said with confidence.